When Geraldine Ellis Watson’s father was a teenager around the 
turn of the last century, he spent a summer floating down the 
Neches River, called Snow River by the Indians. Watson grew up 
hearing his tales of the steamboats, log rafts, and the flora and 
fauna of East Texas. So when she was sixty-three years old, she 
decided to repeat his odyssey in her own backwater boat.

    Reflections on the Neches is both the story of her journey and a 
natural and social history of the Neches region of the Big Thicket. 
The Neches, one of the last “wild” rivers in Texas, is now being 
subjected to dams. Watson’s story captures the wildness of the 
river and imparts a detailed history of its people and wildlife. 
Profusely illustrated with drawings by the author, Reflections on 
the Neches will appeal to all those interested in the Big Thicket 
region and those indulging a feeling of wanderlust—and float 
trips—down the river.

_________________________________________________________

GERALDINE ELLIS WATSON lives on her private nature preserve
in East Texas. She was a plant ecologist and park ranger for the
National Park Service for fifteen years.


Number Three: Temple Big Thicket Series


What people are saying about this book

"Reflections on the Neches should become an environmental 
classic."—Thad Sitton, author, Backwoodsman: Stockmen and
Hunters along a Big Thicket Valley