Owen speaks at Eagle Lake Noon Lions Club

EAGLE LAKE – On Thursday, July 20, Christine Owen, director of the Prairie Edge Museum, spoke to the Eagle Lake Noon Lions Club about two prominent men in Eagle Lake History: Captain William L. Donovant (18441902) and William Thomas Eldridge (1862-1932).

Owens spoke about how in the late 1880s, both men partnered in lucrative entrepreneurial enterprises in the Eagle Lake area, co-owning extensive cotton, sugar, and rice plantations, building houses and hotels, as well as constructing and running the Cane Belt Railroad. She said business management misunderstandings developed into grudges which turned into jealously which erupted in rage, as one partner shot and killed the other on a railroad coach on the train which they both owned.

To learn the dire details of this drama, the public can visit the museum and ask Owen what happened next.