The Medina Dam is a hollow-masonry type

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

built in 1911 and 1912 by the Medina Irrigation Company in what became

Mico, Texas Mico is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in northeastern Medina County, Texas, Medina County, Texas, United States. It is approximately west of Downtown San Antonio off Farm to Market Road 1283. The community is part of the San Ant ...

, USA. Medina Lake extends north of it in northeastern Medina County and southeastern Bandera County. The dam and irrigation project was designed and financed by Dr.

Frederick Stark Pearson Frederick Stark Pearson (July 3, 1861 – May 7, 1915) was an American electrical engineer and entrepreneur. Biography Dr. Frederick Stark Pearson was the son of Ambrose and Hannah (Edgerly) Pearson. He graduated from Tufts University in 1883 w ...

, an American engineer, with extensive British financial backing. The construction took over 1500 men two years to build while working 24 hours a day. They were mostly skilled Mexican workers with experience building other dams for Pearson. They received two

dollars Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...

for a day's work, which were good wages for the time. Pearson's Medina Irrigation Company (MICO) built a camp to house the workers and their families; the company town was first called MICO after its acronym. The community is now known as

. When the dam was completed in 1913, it was the largest

hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the m ...

project west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

and the fourth-largest dam in the US. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

for its significance as an infrastructure project and its contributions to economic development of the county. Author of ''Ripples from Medina Lake'', Rev. Cyril M. Kuehne claims a total of 70 lives were taken during the dam's construction, however, he only managed to locate 27 death certificates. Dr. Oscar B. Taylor, dentist of near-by settlement

Hondo, Texas Hondo is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Texas, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population was 8,803. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Original inhabitants of the area, now M ...

, was quoted by Kuehne as saying "sixty-six nmarkedgraves" were counted at a cemetery 3 miles away. The dam contains over 292,000 cubic yards (223,000 m³) of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

and measures 164 feet high by 128 feet (39 m) wide at the base by 1,580 feet (482 m) long. It is 25 feet (8 m) wide at the top, which is 1076.2 feet (328 m) above sea level, and the

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

is 1,064.2 feet (324 m) above sea level. The dam provides irrigation to over 34,000 acres (138 km²) to Blackland Prairie farmlands below the

Balcones Escarpment The Balcones Fault or Balcones Fault Zone is an area of largely normal faulting Edwards Aquifer in the U.S. state of Texas that runs roughly from the southwest part of the state near Del Rio to the north-central region near Dallas along Inte ...

around

Castroville, Texas Castroville is a city in Medina County, Texas, United States. Its population was 2,680 at the 2010 census. Prior to 1893, Castroville was the first county seat of Medina County. Castroville was founded by Alsatian-Texans who were mostly Germanic ...

, and also supplies water to the Medina River

Ultrafiltration Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which forces such as pressure or concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained in the ...

Water Treatment Plant owned and operated by the San Antonio Water System. The

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

behind the dam is called Medina Lake and is a major recreation area. It discharges into the

Medina River The Medina River is located in south central Texas, United States, in the Medina Valley. It was also known as the Rio Mariano, Rio San Jose, or Rio de Bagres (Catfish river). Its source is in springs in the Edwards Plateau in northwest Bander ...

, which also contains a diversion dam four miles downstream. The dam was featured in the 1919 serial

The Masked Rider The Masked Rider is the primary mascot of Texas Tech University. It is the oldest of the university's mascots still in existence today. Originally called "Ghost Rider", it was an unofficial mascot appearing in a few games in 1936 and then became ...

. Medina Dam was once a publicly accessible, one-lane roadway that connected to County Road 260. In 1980, vehicle traffic was closed and rerouted to a new road known as County Road 264; although temporary use of the dam as a road continued in 1990.

Historical State Markers on the Dam

Located on the dam are three state-placed historical markers. These markers are currently inaccessible to the public after foot traffic was disallowed following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in response to terrorism concerns.

1936 Mountain Valley marker

The earliest of the three markers is a 1936 state marker that acknowledges the previous Mormon settlement, Mountain Valley that was built in 1854 and was destroyed in 1913 during construction of the dam. The Mormon settlement Mountain Valley is now located underneath Medina Lake.

"''Established in 1854 by 16 families of Mormons under the leadership of Lyman Wight (1796-1858). They abandoned their homes and mills in 1858 as the result of Indian depredations. Their lands are now beneath the waters of Medina Lake. Erected by the State of Texas - 1936.''"

1978 Texas Historical Commission Marker

The next is a marker placed in 1978 by the Texas Historical Commission that designated the dam as a state historical landmark.

"''Henri Castro, who colonized this area in the 1840s, envisioned irrigated farms along the Medina River. The project was delayed, however, until after the turn of the century, when Dr. Fred Stark Pearson, an internationally known engineer, persuaded British investors to finance construction of a dam at this site. Completed in 1912, Medina Dam was hailed as the largest in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States. Limestone boulders from a nearby quarry added bulk to the massive concrete structure. Four miles downstream, a small diversion dam conducted water into a system of irrigation canals. Gravitational force delivered the water to fields. The outbreak of World War I (1914) disrupted ties with British investors. Seeking new capital, Dr. Pearson and his wife left for England in 1915 on the "Lusitania" and were killed when a German submarine torpedoed the ship. The irrigation network created by Medina Dam brought new prosperity to this region. Vegetables raised in irrigated fields became a valuable crop. Water and electricity were made available to rural residents. In 1925 voters established the Bexar-Medine-Atascosa Counties Water Improvement District No. 1 to manage the project. 1978.''"

1991 Texas Historic Civil Engineering Marker

Placed in 1991, a marker declared the dam a Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Reopening of the Dam

The Medina Lake Preservation Society is undertaking efforts to get the dam reopened to the public, or to at least have the historical markers moved so people can see them.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1912 establishments in Texas Buildings and structures in Medina County, Texas Dams completed in 1912 Dams in Texas Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Historic American Engineering Record in Texas Masonry dams National Register of Historic Places in Medina County, Texas United States local public utility dams