Lake Cypress Springs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lake Cypress Springs | |
|---|---|
 Lake Cypress Springs looking north on the north branch. | |
  Lake Cypress Springs  Lake Cypress Springs | |
 Map showing the depth of different areas of the lake and the public parks on the lake. | |
| Location | Franklin county, Texas, US |
| Coordinates | 33°03′38″N 95°10′58″W / 33.06056°N 95.18278°W |
| Type | Reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Big Cypress Creek |
| Primary outflows | Lake Bob Sandlin |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Managing agency | Franklin County Water District |
| Construction engineer | Wisenbaker, Fix, and Associates |
| First flooded | July 7, 1970 |
| Surface area | 3,461 acres (1,401 ha) |
| Average depth | 19.29 ft (5.88 m) |
| Max. depth | 56 ft (17 m) |
| Water volume | 66,756 acre⋅ft (82,342,000 m3) |
| Shore length1 | 47 mi (76 km) |
| Surface elevation | 378 ft (115 m) |
| Islands | 1 |
| References | [1][2] |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Cypress Springs is a 3,461-acre (1,401 ha) reservoir in northeast Texas, approximately 90 miles (140 km) east of Dallas, Texas. The lake is used for recreational, municipal, and industrial purposes. The lake is regularly monitored by a lake patrol, which enforces wake zones, fishing licenses, boat dock rules, and boating. Lake Cypress Springs has 20 subdivisions and around 850 waterfront homes.[3] In 2011, Lake Cypress Springs was rated one of "The 10 Best Lakes to Call Home" according to D Magazine.[4]
Lake
Authorization was given on 10 November 1966 to construct the dam, originally designed to impound 72,800 acre⋅ft (89,800,000 m3) of water. The dam was built by the Vibig Construction Company of Dallas, Texas, with construction starting on 1 July 1968. Construction was finished on the dam on 15 February 1971. The dam is 5,230 ft (1,590 m) long, with the top of the dam at 395 ft (120 m) above sea level.[5] Water leaves the reservoir through a morning-glory-type spillway, at a height of 378 ft (115 m), with a 6-foot (1.8 m) fish screen, which is required by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.[6] An emergency spillway exists at the north end of the dam to assist during major floods. The dam cost US$1,340,126 in 1969 (equivalent to $11,490,790 in 2024).[7]
Originally, the lake was to be known as Big Cypress Creek Lake[8] during dam construction, and later was known as Lake Franklin County until it was officially changed to Lake Cypress Springs on 2 April 1971.[9] The lake has a watershed of 74 square miles (190 km2). W. R. Boyd, Inc. was responsible for clearing the woody land beneath the lake today to help make Lake Cypress Springs a recreational lake at a cost of US$194,740 (equivalent to $1,669,781 in 2024).[10] The original basin of the lake consisted almost entirely of covered vegetation along the Big Cypress Creek. This made clearing the basin an important task not only to make the lake a recreational one, but also allow the lake to be navigable via boat, due to the shallow nature of the lake. Various roads, such as FM 115 had to be rerouted to allow traffic to still flow through the county.
In 2014, construction finished on Phase 3a of the Keystone Pipeline which passes within 3,000 ft (910 m) of the west end of the lake. On 27 December 2015, torrential rains caused the lake to rise to all-time highs. During this time, all watercraft were prohibited from operating on the lake. During the high water event, 786,000,000 US gal (2.98×109 L; 654,000,000 imp gal) was moved through the lake in a day to alleviate the effects of the flooding. Yearly, there is a fireworks show around the 4th of July from Mary King Park. An estimated 20,000 people watched the show in 2009, with many viewing from their boats on the lake.[11]
