View of Trinity River from Reunion Tower August 2015 07

The Trinity River is a river, the longest with a watershed entirely within the U.S. state of

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 ...

. It rises in extreme northern Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

are separated by the high bluffs on the southern side of the Red River. Indigenous peoples call the northern sections ''Arkikosa'' and the parts closer to the coast ''Daycoa''. French explorer

Robert Cavelier de La Salle The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, h ...

, in 1687, named it ''Riviere des canoës'' ("River of Canoes"). In 1690 Spanish explorer

Alonso de León Alonso de León "El Mozo" (c. 1639–1691) was explorer and governor, who led several expeditions into the area that is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. Early life Alonso de León González was born in 1639, in the settlement of Cade ...

named the river ''"La Santísima Trinidad"'' ("the Most Holy Trinity"), in the Spanish Catholic practice of memorializing places by religious references.

Course

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge at Trinity River

The Trinity River has four branches: the West Fork, the Clear Fork, the Elm Fork, and the East Fork. The West Fork Trinity River has its headwaters in

Archer County Archer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 8,560. Its county seat is Archer City. It is part of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area. History In 1858, the Texas Legi ...

. From there it flows southeast, through the man-made reservoirs Lake Bridgeport and Eagle Mountain Lake, and eastward through Lake Worth and the city of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

. The Clear Fork Trinity River begins north of

Weatherford, Texas Weatherford ( ) is a city and the county seat of Parker County, Texas, United States. In 2020, its population was 30,854. Weatherford is named after Thomas J. Weatherford, a State senator and advocate for Texas’ secession to the Confederate S ...

, and flows southeastward through Lake Weatherford and Benbrook Lake reservoirs. It flows northeastward, where it joins the West Fork near downtown Fort Worth and continues as the West Fork. The Elm Fork Trinity River flows south from near Gainesville through

Ray Roberts Lake Lake Ray Roberts (formally Ray Roberts Lake) is an artificial American reservoir located north of Denton, Texas, between the cities of Pilot Point, Texas and Sanger, Texas. It is filled by a tributary of the Trinity River (Texas), Trinity River. ...

and east of the city of Denton, eventually through

Lewisville Lake Lewisville Lake, formerly known as Garza-Little Elm Reservoir, is a reservoir in North Texas (USA) on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River in Denton County near Lewisville. Originally engineered in 1927 as Lake Dallas, the reservoir was expanded ...

. The West Fork and the Elm Fork merge as they enter the city of

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. The East Fork Trinity River (on old maps the Bois d'Arc River) begins near

McKinney, Texas McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas. The U.S. Census Bureau l ...

, and flows through

Lavon Lake Lavon Lake is a freshwater reservoir located in southeast Collin County, Texas, on the East Fork of the Trinity River near Wylie, off State Highway 78. It is commonly called Lake Lavon for commercial and recreational purposes, but Lavon Lake is ...

and then

Lake Ray Hubbard Lake Ray Hubbard, formerly Eastern Dallas Lake or Forney Lake, is a freshwater impoundment (reservoir) located in Dallas, Texas in the counties of Dallas, Kaufman, Collin, and Rockwall, just north of the City of Forney. It was created by the co ...

before joining the Trinity River just southeast of Dallas. The Trinity flows southeast from Dallas across a fertile floodplain and the pine forests of eastern Texas. This area gained in population during the period of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Me ...

; it had not been extensively settled by Mexican residents before that, although many Tejanas have deep roots here. The Trinity crosses

Texas State Highway 31 State Highway 31 (SH 31) runs from U.S. 84 northeast of Waco via Corsicana, Athens, Tyler, Kilgore to U.S. 80 in Longview. History SH 31 was a route proposed on October 9, 1917 to run from Waco northeast via Corsicana and Athens to Tyl ...

in Henderson County, near where the first county seat, Buffalo, was established. Roughly north of the mouth on Galveston Bay, an earthen

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, a ...

was built in 1968 to form Lake Livingston. The river empties into Trinity Bay, an arm of

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

that is an inlet of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United St ...

. Its

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/ gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carr ...

is near the town of Anahuac, southeast of

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Tributaries

*Clear Fork of the Trinity River *East Fork of the Trinity River (Bois d'Arc River) *Elm Fork of the Trinity River * West Fork of the Trinity River *

Bachman Branch Bachman Branch (also Bachman Creek) is the name of a medium-sized tributary of the Trinity River with headwaters in northwest Dallas, Texas (USA). The tributary is in length and rises at Forest Lane, west of the Dallas North Tollway. It runs ...

* Cedar Creek * Mountain Creek *

Fossil Creek (Texas) Fossil Creek ( yuf-x-yav, Hakhavsuwa or ) is a perennial stream accessed by forest roads near the community of Camp Verde in the U.S. state of Arizona. Primary access is from Forest Road 708 off Arizona State Route 260 east of Camp Verde. A t ...

* Johnson Creek * Red Oak Creek * Richland Creek * White Rock Creek * Rowlett Creek *Big Creek *Fourmile Creek *Five Mile Creek *Ten Mile Creek * Sycamore Creek *Marine Creek

Public works projects

Plans from the 1890s for a shipping channel along the length of the Trinity River were scrapped because it would have required extensive dredging to make the river navigable, although several overpasses were built with very high clearances in anticipation of the shipping channel. Locks were actually built 13 miles downstream of Dallas in the early 1900s. Original federal plans called for building 36 locks and dams from Trinity Bay near Houston to Dallas. The first built was Lock and Dam No. 1 in the city of Dallas at McCommas Bluff, directly west of Lincoln Memorial Cemetery. Lock construction came to a standstill in the wake of World War I, however. Only Lock and Dam Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 20 and 25 were built. There are currently no plans for addressing these old locks located in various spots along the Trinity River. However, the Corps is working nearby on the Dallas Floodway Extension Project. The DFE Project is under construction and is helping to fulfill their mission, as directed by Congress in cooperation with the city of Dallas. It is helping to lower flood risk, and provide ecosystem restoration and recreation to the citizens of Dallas. The

Trinity River Corridor Project The Trinity River Project is a public works project undertaken in the 2000s in the city of Dallas, Texas, United States. Its goal is to redevelop the Trinity River (Texas), Trinity River. The project aims to turn the river's path into a collection o ...

is intended to transform the Trinity River flood zone in

downtown Dallas Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...

into the nation's largest urban park, featuring three signature bridges designed by acclaimed architect

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculp ...

. A similar project is planned by the Tarrant Regional Water District, City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Streams & Valleys Inc., and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop an area north of "downtown" as "uptown" along the Trinity River. This plan promotes a large

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to som ...

adjacent to the central city area of Fort Worth, with a goal to prevent urban sprawl by promoting the growth of a healthy, vibrant urban core. The Trinity River Vision lays the groundwork to enable

's central business district to double in size over the next forty years.

Floods and flood protection

Major flooding occurred on the Trinity River in the years 1844, 1866, 1871, and 1890, but a major event in the spring of 1908 set in motion the harnessing of the river. On 26 May 1908, the Trinity River reached a depth of and a width of . Five people died, 4,000 were left homeless, and property damage was estimated at $2.5 million. Dallas was without power for three days, all

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

and

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

service was down, and rail service was canceled. The only way to reach

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods. Oak C ...

was by boat.Dallas Historical Society

. Retrieved 20 April 2006. West Dallas was hit harder than any other part of the city—the ''

Dallas Times Herald The ''Dallas Times Herald'', founded in 1888 by a merger of the '' Dallas Times'' and the ''Dallas Herald'', was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas ( USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, a ...

'' said "indescribable suffering" plagued the area. Much to the horror of residents, thousands of

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

drowned in the flood and some became lodged in the tops of trees. The stench of their decay hung over the city as the water subsided. After the disastrous flood, the city's citizenry wanted to find a way to control the unpredictable Trinity River and to build a bridge linking Oak Cliff and Dallas. The immediate reaction was clamor to build an indestructible, all-weather crossing over the Trinity. This had already been tried following the 1890 flood; the result was the "Long Wooden Bridge" that connected Jefferson Boulevard in Oak Cliff and Cadiz in Dallas, but the resulting unstable bridge was easily washed away by the 1908 flood. George B. Dealey, publisher of the ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''The Galves ...

'', proposed a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse construction aggregate, 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 wa ...

bridge based on the design of a bridge crossing the Missouri River in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

. Ultimately, a US$650,000 (US$ in today's terms) bond election was approved and in 1912, the Oak Cliff Viaduct (now the Houston Street Viaduct) was opened with festivities that drew 58,000 spectators. At that time, the bridge was the longest concrete structure in the world. Trinity Flooded June 2015

Following from the 1908 flooding, levees were first constructed in 1932. They were heightened in 1960 to the 30 ft that has been maintained to the early 21st century. Current plans to improve the existing levees are part of what is known as the Dallas Floodway Extension project and the Trinity River Project. They entail extending two existing levees and raising two others, all adjacent to the downtown Dallas area. Downtown Dallas also suffered severe flooding in 1990. Minor flooding of the Trinity River occurs frequently, such as, for instance, in the spring of 2015 and summer of 2022.

References