Lake Cherokee Puts Rusk County on the Sabine Water Map

Lake Cherokee sits twelve miles southeast of Longview, with water in southeastern Gregg and northeastern Rusk counties. Cherokee Bayou feeds it, and the bayou feeds the Sabine River. From the road the lake reads as wooded East Texas shoreline. On paper, though, it is a company-owned reservoir run by Cherokee Water Company. The dam and spillway sit on Cherokee Bayou, not on the main Sabine channel.

Work on the dam started in February 1948 and finished on November 19 of that year. The lake was built for three jobs: water for Longview, water for industry, and recreation in the same basin. Southwestern Power Company also uses lake water at the Knox Lee Power Plant.

That mixed purpose gives the Rusk side of Lake Cherokee its texture. It is Sabine-basin water, Piney Woods shoreline, power-plant work, and weekend recreation in the same view.

Lake Cherokee is the quieter map feature that explains why this corner of Rusk County looks toward both Longview and the river country to the north.