HORDS CREEK LAKE. Hords Creek Lake is on Hords Creek-part of the Colorado River basin-five miles northwest of Valera in western Coleman County (at 31°50' N, 99°34' W). The 6,800-foot-long earthfill dam, built by List and Clark Construction Company, was started in February 1947 and completed in June 1948; deliberate impoundment of water began in April 1948. The cost of the project was nearly $3 million. In 1967 the reservoir had a conservation capacity of 8,640 acre-feet and a surface area of 510 acres at an elevation of 1,900 feet above mean sea level. Capacity at the crest of the emergency spillway was 25,310 acre-feet. The drainage area above the dam was forty-eight square miles. The lake, which is jointly owned by the city of Coleman and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, is used for flood control and as a municipal water supply.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. L. Dowell and R. G. Petty, Engineering Data on Dams and Reservoirs in Texas (Texas Water Development Board Report 126 [3 pts., Austin, 1971-74]).
