DISCLAIMER: Please do not enter any private property if not legally authorized to do so. If you are unsure about a property's legal status, please consult with the owner(s) before entering.
There are many beautiful streams, lakes, and rivers in Texas, but there’s just something absolutely unique about this pristine blue oasis hidden away deep in the woods of East Texas. It’s known locally as “The Blue Hole” and its beauty is almost as unique as the story behind its formation and development.
The Blue Hole started its existence in 1893, and it soon became known as Kyle's Quarry, named after William Wesley Kyle from Beaumont, Texas. It was a sandstone quarry that supplied stone to build the Sabine Pass Jetties Extension. Later on, builders used stone mined in the quarry to construct the Galveston sea wall. As amazing as it may seem to us now, workers removed the heavy rocks using wagons pulled by oxen. The stone was then transported the nearly 200 miles to the Gulf Coast. This is a trip that would today take a car hours of speeding down a smooth, paved freeway. Now, for an ox pulling a cart of solid stone from the quarry down less then perfect roads; well, you get the idea! However, everything changed in a blast, literally. In 1920 miners were blasting dynamite in an attempt to dislodge more sandstone, when a geyser broke through and revealed an underground spring. According to the report, the high-pressure natural spring shot water up into the air for days. Eventually, the waters flooded the space that had originally been hollowed out by the rock mine, and The Blue Hole was born.
The geyser accident may have meant the end of a quarry, but it also signified the beginning of something new and unique. Once just a glorified hole in the ground, the Blue Hole was now a very high alkaline water source. Although that meant that no animals could live in it, it also meant that absolutely no algae or other bacteria could grow here, giving it its clean, inviting appearance. This beautiful oasis soon became quite popular with the locals, who enjoyed viewing and bathing in its sparkling blue waters, which were also thought to have healing properties due to its high alkalinity. In 1918, Edwin Dumble published his University of Texas bulletin, titled, “The Geology of East Texas”. Here, he explained that the hard rock found in this type of quarry is very light gray or gray blue in color, made up of quartz and chert. It also contains angular fragments of hard white-ish and green-ish clays which are what’s believed to give the Blue Hole its distinctive blue-green color.
A “David Frankens” bought the Blue Hole in 2013, and he added $1.5 million dollars in upgrades, including a common area, beaches, and a cabin that sleeps six, all made with material found around the Blue Hole. But despite these upgrades, Frankens said that the most important part of preserving the Blue Hole was to keep everything authentic and natural, and he went to great efforts to protect his property, and to keep it clean and beautiful.
More recently, the Blue Hole and the rest of its surrounding property was listed as for sale for a little over 3 million dollars at www.landandfarm.com, although a different website, www.landsoftexas.com, lists its sale price as 5.3 million dollars. Most of the advertisements have since disappeared, and www.landsoftexas.com lists this property as “out of stock”. So there’s a possibility that the property has been sold already, although as of tax year 2020, the Jasper County Tax Assessor’s website still listed this property as being co-owned by David Frankens and a wealthy businessman from Huntington, Texas named Lloyd Gillespie.
So, I’m sorry, but you can put those 3 million dollars back in your pocket. Or give them to me! :D
Despite being located in private property, the Blue Hole is a one-of-a-kind, historical location in Texas, and its story and beauty will undoubtedly continue to make waves long into the future, regardless of who owns it, or of the amount of times that its ownership changes hands.
Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure. Please don’t forget to like this video, and subscribe to Xplore RC if you’re enjoying my content, as well as clicking on the notification bell to be notified of any future videos that I produce. I’ll see you on the next one!
Music: Fiji Paradise
Artist: The Cynic Project
Sources:
https://www.landandfarm.com/property/...
https://www.landsoftexas.com/property...
https://www.wideopencountry.com/the-b...
https://daytrippintexas.com/blue-hole...
Picture credits:
Jonathan Gerland
Republic Ranches
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