[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2086-E2087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 A TRIBUTE TO ARTHUR AND ISABEL WATRES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOSEPH M. McDADE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, October 10, 1998

  Mr. McDADE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the many 
contributions of Arthur Watres and his mother, Mrs. Reyburn (Isabel) 
Watres, to Lacawac in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.
  Thanks to the Watreses, Lacawac has a brilliant future, but Lacawac 
also has a rich history. The property which makes up Lacawac was a 
grant of land from the British crown to the family of William Penn 
which was acquired by James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. In 1849, a large portion of this land was acquired by 
Burton G. Morss, who built a sawmill and tannery on the Wallenpaupack 
River at Ledgedale--then a sizable frontier town.
  The tannery burned in 1895, and Morss closed his business. At the 
turn of the century, William Connell bought the property in order to 
build a summer estate. Connell began his career driving a coal wagon. 
He worked hard, saved and bought the company following the Civil War. 
He later served in the U.S. House of Representatives and unsuccessfully 
sought the Republican nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1902.
  When William Connell died in 1909, none of his eleven children wanted 
to maintain the estate. They all lived in Scranton, and Lacawac was a 
long train ride to a rough and dusty coach ride away.

[[Page E2087]]

  Lacawac was then touched by another remarkable man, Colonel Louis A. 
Watres, a major figure in Scranton for 50 years, who went to work after 
completing the fourth grade. He continued to educate himself throughout 
his life. He clerked for Judge John Handley, read for the bar and 
established himself in practice. He also pursued a successful political 
career as County Solicitor, State Senator, Lieutenant Governor of 
Pennsylvania, and two-time Republican nominee for Governor. He quickly 
rose through the ranks of the Pennsylvania National Guard to become 
colonel of the 11th Regiment during the Spanish American War. Colonel 
Watres organized the Spring Brook Water Company which became part of 
the Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company. It was a Wallenpaupack dam 
project that made it necessary to acquire the Connell property.
  Colonel Watres' two grandchildren visited Lacawac for an occasional 
picnic or weekend over the years. The awesome natural beauty of Lacawac 
appealed to Arthur Watres, and he moved there with his recently-widowed 
mother, Mrs. Reyburn Watres, in 1948.
  The entrance road was almost impassable. The dock had collapsed into 
the lake. The roof of every building leaked. The screening was gone. 
The staining of the shingles and painting of trim had been neglected 
for two decades. Porches and sills were riddled with termites and 
timber ants.
  The Watreses joined the Nature Conservancy. At the suggestion of Dr. 
Richard Pough, that organization's first president, they arranged for 
scientists from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences to visit 
Lacawac. At that time, Lacawac was found to be the southernmost 
unpolluted glacial lake in the United States and an ideal baseline lake 
for research.
  The Watreses formed the Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation in 1966, and 
turned over the lake, most of the infrastructure and much of the land 
to the Foundation. After many difficult years, the board was 
reorganized in 1990 and the relationship with the Lehigh University 
Earth and Environmental Sciences Department was formalized.
  Lacawac lies within 100 miles of 140 institutions of higher learning, 
and the Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation is committed to drawing to this 
beautiful, natural laboratory a strong and significant scientific 
community to work for the benefit of mankind.
  Mr. Speaker, we are all richer for the natural beauty around us. 
Thanks to the foresight of the Watreses, the magnificence of Lacawac 
continues both to inspire the love of our region's natural beauty and 
to encourage responsible scientific and personal stewardship of the 
land.

                          ____________________