{mosapa album="Dams"}
HIGHLAND LAKES — Six dams on the lower Colorado River created the chain of waterways making up the Highland Lakes. They are Buchanan, Inks, Wirtz, Starcke, Mansfield and Tom Miller dams. They were built under the auspices of the Lower Colorado River Authority.
“The Highland Lakes chain developed over a 50-year period by LCRA and were created to serve a common purpose,” said LCRA spokesman John Williams. “As you go down the chain, you see the unique reasons that drove the decision to build those dams.”
The dams help with flood management, they supply water and provide electricity. The idea was to harness the natural power of the Colorado River by creating manmade lakes. The headwaters originate near Lamesa and flow through the Highland Lakes and Austin down to Matagorda Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
The Lower Colorado River is the 18th largest river in the country.
At the top of the chain of waterways are Buchanan and Inks dams, which Williams said originated before LCRA was created.
“Construction began in 1931 by the Central Texas Hydroelectric Company,” he said.
The original purpose of the two dams was to generate electricity. But the Great Depression took a toll on the company and it filed for bankruptcy. Three years later, LCRA was created and construction resumed.
Buchanan Dam was completed by 1938.
This 70-year-old structure spans more than two miles and is one of longest multiple-arch dams in the nation. It is named for U.S. Rep. J.P. Buchanan.
Inks Dam, also completed in 1938, has no floodgates and the power plant is the smallest in the Highland Lakes chain. A small amount of water can be released through hydroelectric generation, but the bulk of floodwater passes over an uncontrolled spillway.
Mansfield Dam and Lake Travis were constructed between 1937 and 1942. They were the only structures in the Highland Lakes chain specifically designed to contain floodwaters in the lower Colorado River basin. In 1938, the completion of the dam was accelerated after a severe July flood.
The dam sits on the western edge of Austin.
“That year, all we had up and running was Buchanan Dam,” Williams said. “The water flooded the entire basin. The floodwaters were so huge Buchanan had to open 22 floodgates.”
After the flood, LCRA raised the height of Mansfield Dam to provide additional storage capacity for flood control. Originally named Marshall Ford Dam because of its location, it was renamed in 1941 for U.S. Rep. J.J. Mansfield, who assisted in the project’s development.
Tom Miller Dam at Lake Austin was built between 1938 and 1940. It is at the foot of the chain and built on top of two earlier dams that were destroyed by floods. The first was built from 1890 to 1893 and the second from 1909 to 1912.
“The reason they were destroyed is because they were built before Mansfield Dam,” Williams said. “That gives you some idea of the power of the Hill Country floods and the need for dams like Mansfield.”
Wirtz Dam near Horseshoe Bay, built from 1949 to 1951, created Lake LBJ. It was built in tandem with Starcke Dam south of Marble Falls to provide additional hydroelectric power. Lake LBJ provides cooling water for LCRA’s Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant along Horseshoe Bay. Originally called Granite Shoals Dam, it was renamed in 1952 for Alvin J. Wirtz, who served as first general counsel of LCRA, and the lake was renamed for President Lyndon B. Johnson, an advocate for the LCRA.
Starcke Dam on Lake Marble Falls Dam is the smallest dam in the Highland Lakes chain and the last one completed. It was originally named Marble Falls and renamed in 1962 for Max Starcke, LCRA’s second general manager who served from 1940 to 1955.
For more on the dams, visit www.lcra.org.
