Denison Dam Turned a Red River Reach Into Lake Texoma

The Red River northwest of Denison changed shape in less than five years. Congress authorized Denison Dam on June 28, 1938. Work on the dam, spillway, and outlet works began on August 22, 1939, and finished in February 1944. The water behind that federal project became Lake Texoma.

The project had several jobs from the start: flood control, power generation, water conservation, and recreation. It entered flood-control service in January 1944. The first hydroelectric turbine came online in March 1945; a second followed in September 1949. At completion, Denison Dam was the country's largest rolled, earth-filled dam.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still operates the reservoir. From Grayson County, the dam is the piece that explains the map: what looks like broad natural lake country beyond Denison is a 1940s engineering landscape laid across the Red River.