Holliday Creek is a
stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
located in
Archer
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...
and
Wichita counties,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. Its headwaters are in western Archer County, Texas. It crosses Archer County and then enters Wichita County and
Lake Wichita. From the spillway of Lake Wichita dam, it passes through the city of
Wichita Falls, Texas
Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...
, and empties into the
Wichita River
The Wichita River ( ), part of the Red River watershed, lies in north-central Texas. Rising in northeastern Knox County at the confluence of its North and South Forks, the river flows northeast across Baylor, Archer, Wichita, and Clay count ...
, a tributary of the
Red River.
A federally funded flood control project was completed about 1998 where the creek passes through Wichita Falls.
History
The creek was named after early explorer, Captain John Holliday, who carved his name on a tree by the creek. The town of
Holliday, Texas, was named after the creek, as was Holliday Street, a major street in Wichita Falls.
A flood on Holliday Creek in the 1890s prompted Wichita Falls entrepreneur
Joseph A. Kemp
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
to dredge Lake Wichita in 1901 as a reservoir for irrigation and recreation.
See also
*
Geology of Wichita Falls, Texas The exposed strata at the surface in and around Wichita Falls are the products of one ancient period of deposition with a modest amount of recent and modern alteration. In all cases, the strata are products of terrigenous (non-marine) environments ...
*
List of rivers of Texas
The list of rivers of Texas is a list of all named waterways, including rivers and streams that partially pass through or are entirely located within the U.S. state of Texas. Across the state, there are 3,700 named streams and 15 major rivers acc ...
External links
Holliday Creekfrom the
Handbook of Texas
The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA).
History
The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...
Online
*
{{authority control
Rivers of Texas
Rivers of Wichita County, Texas
Rivers of Archer County, Texas
Tributaries of the Red River of the South