Till the year 2003, the ReelFoot Lake was the only authorized commercial fishery breeding crappie for the nearby restaurants. ReelFoot Lake is the only natural lake in the US state of Tennessee . Scarce agricultural practices have led to faster sedimentation of the lake due to the plantation of cotton and soybeans along the beach. The common practice of “burning out” the nearby ditch lines every fall also quickened the siltation of the lake. According to the popular belief, the lake was formed due to the collapsing of the area after the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes and the flowing back of the Mississippi River . The ReelFoot area was the site for “Night Riding” and mayhem in the initial years of the 20 th century and in due course led to the employment of the state militia by Malcolm R. Patterson, the governor of Tennessee in the year 1908 to re-establish law and order. Since the year 1930, water levels in the ReelFoot Lake have been to some extent regularized by the formation and function of a spillway which is located at the southern limit of the lake, the place where the Running Reelfoot Bayou flows out of the lake. In 1939, the local people tried to blow up this structure with no serious damages. This structure is now considered outmoded by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service. The lake is believed to be named after a famous Indian chief who was known as “Reelfoot” among the white people for his deformed foot. According to the American author and humorist, Irvin S. Cobb, the name of the place is related to the dislocated and reeled foot of a Negro from a cornfield.
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