Posted: 5/8/2013 7:00:32 PM EDT
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StealthCRF provided the motivation for me to start this thread.
Are these locks part of the project that started in 1902 to make the Trinity in DFW navigable? I had seen aerial pictures and been to one of the sites before, I just thought it was part of the spillway and flood control. I can identify 3 locks from Google Earth, but no one has pinned the sites and provided any more info. What other history have we lost or are about to lose? These are the times I miss ETH the most, he was such a wealth of knowledge in these subjects. mm |
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There were many attempts to tame the Trinity into a navigable waterway. John Neely Bryan, the founder of Dallas, saw Dallas as a river town, an inland port. Those dreams were just that.
I have visited all the Lock and Dams in Dallas County 1 through 4. The easiest to access is Lock and Dam #1 located at McCommas Bluff Preserve. It's old but not as old as the previous version from the 1890s at the same site. Some of the crib work from that dam is still intact and at the site. Lock and Dam #1 was high enough to back water up as far as Commerce Street. Deep enough to float a shallow draft excursion boat up and down the Trinity from Downtown to McCommas Bluff for sightseeing trips. |
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See: Dallas Then and Now by Ken Fitzgerald
There are pictures of barges and ships docking in Dallas. The Texas & Pacific, Missouri Kansas Texas, Missouri Pacific, Houston Terminal Central (Southern Pacific), among many others made the Trinity as a source of revenue moot. |
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We lost the Belt Line Railway. Very little exists of it exists anymore, but some of the old RoW is on the other side of Belt Line Rd from Mickey's gate.
The original Santa Fe route into Dallas is almost all gone. The last active portion is owned by the Dallas Garland Northeastern railroad and runs east-west parallel to the Union Pacific (ex-T&P) line through Browder, French Settlement, and Eagle Ford. The "Cotton Belt" (St Louis Southwestern) running north out of Dallas is now underneath the DNC. The Houston Terminal Central (Southern Pacific predecessor) is now the DART LRV line up to Plano. From McKinney to Sherman its still in service by the DGNO. Allen is now the largest city in Texas with no rail service. The Southern Pacific Ft Worth-Nevada-Mt Pleasant line is abandoned through Dallas to Renner Jct. The MKT route into Dallas from Greenville is now the Katy Trail. The ATSF Dallas Yard is now the DART LRV yard The Farmers market sits where the Southern Pacific's depot in Dallas was. in fact under 345 (where 75 and I45 meet) you can see 1880s dated rail under the highway that lead to the old depot. MKT Cadiz Yard is gone. ATSF Tower 19 is now with the weasels at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, along with the rest of the museum. Dallas literally had its only museum taken away due to greed. The T&P steam donated to the City of Dallas was scrapped by the city. The T&P donated another one, which was left for derelict, and sold by the city to a museum in New York. |
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Quoted:
We lost the Belt Line Railway. Very little exists of it exists anymore, but some of the old RoW is on the other side of Belt Line Rd from Mickey's gate. Dallas County is pushing for mountain bike trails to be built at Goat Island and Riverbend Preserves. The initial trails will run down the circa 1920 levees from north to south on either side of Beltline. The work on those should start very soon. Should be able to ride all the way down to Lock and Dam #4 where old Ten Mile Creek once entered the Trinity. That area is now called South Creek and sits about a mile north of Wolf Springs Road, if you are familiar with the area. Decent country down there. At one time, during the 1950s, Lancaster wanted to dam up Ten Mile east of Ferris in the valley there and use it for a water supply. Almost happened too. |
| I heard about these when I worked at the newspaper in Ferris when I was in college. There were stories of a guy who canoed the river and wanted to make the locks workable again to river traffic. Ever since then I've wanted to take a small boat down the river from Dallas all the way out to Malloy Bridge, just never got around to it. Even though I'm still kind of disgusted by the water quality. |
Here is the oldest lock in Dallas County, built in 1893:
Here is what is left of it below, the crib work is still partially intact with wood cross pieces, cedar or bois d arc most likely. 
I'm fortunate to know people much smarter than I who go down on the river with me. In the photo above is an assistant city manager for a large DFW city and a descendant of the first family to settle Dallas, Texas. I'm not an expert on the Trinity but know all the folks who are. From scientists, historians and biologists. Total pleasure to know all of them and very fun to wander around with them learning stuff. One place right off the river is one that is very endangered at the moment. A natural spring tucked away on the edge of some deep woods. President Sam Houston camped there. So did about 3,000 years worth of Caddo Indians. Inside Loop 12 if you can believe that. The City of Dallas as recently as this winter had plans to build a bunch of barns and a fuel dump there, which would suck. Ruining some huge archeology treasure trove of a place. The Caddo stuff the professional archeologists find around there is really cool. This spot was a well connected trading spot, with points and tools from South Texas, East Texas and Arkansas that date back over 1000 years. Pretty cool to think that someone had to walk from Arkansas or Llano to Dallas with that spear point or tool. That's a long way! https://www.facebook.com/SavePembertonsBigSpring Someone was kind enough to set up that Facebook page. Fightin' city hall is tough and hopefully it will not come to that. The open records requests to turn up the truth, lets just say, have gotten really interesting! Looking around into the goings on of South Dallas inside the city is well, an eye opener. |
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There was talk of doing something similar down by us. Part of Crawford Park was once owned by the Belle Star family. The story is that there were small dug out caves in the creek bed where Belle Star hid out the Younger gang. There was also a small spring back there that was used for watering horses.
It's pretty thick back in there and I've never found a spring, but guys have told me its back there. I'm sure any cave was washed away long ago by flooding. But the city has plans on paper to flood the area and create another small city lake, strictly for recreation. |
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Quoted:
There was talk of doing something similar down by us. Part of Crawford Park was once owned by the Belle Star family. The story is that there were small dug out caves in the creek bed where Belle Star hid out the Younger gang. There was also a small spring back there that was used for watering horses. It's pretty thick back in there and I've never found a spring, but guys have told me its back there. I'm sure any cave was washed away long ago by flooding. But the city has plans on paper to flood the area and create another small city lake, strictly for recreation. Old Scyene is pretty cool but the neighborhood around there lacks folks who really care about the past. Belle Starr, the Youngers and guys from Quantrill's Raiders laid low there after the war. I'm not sure if that area was more dangerous back then or more dangerous now. Toss up I think. Be careful around Crawford Park, there are some serious bad news hombres running around there. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
There was talk of doing something similar down by us. Part of Crawford Park was once owned by the Belle Star family. The story is that there were small dug out caves in the creek bed where Belle Star hid out the Younger gang. There was also a small spring back there that was used for watering horses. It's pretty thick back in there and I've never found a spring, but guys have told me its back there. I'm sure any cave was washed away long ago by flooding. But the city has plans on paper to flood the area and create another small city lake, strictly for recreation. Old Scyene is pretty cool but the neighborhood around there lacks folks who really care about the past. Belle Starr, the Youngers and guys from Quantrill's Raiders laid low there after the war. I'm not sure if that area was more dangerous back then or more dangerous now. Toss up I think. Be careful around Crawford Park, there are some serious bad news hombres running around there. I'm here everyday, sometimes at night too. I'd rather take my chances 150 years ago with the Youngers and Quantrill's Raiders than with the folks running around here now. |
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This page
http://dfwurbanwildlife.com/2012/11/05/journal/journal-exploring-lock-and-dam-number-4/ show positions of dams 1, 2, 4, 6 & 7. Perhaps 3 & 5 were originally planned but ended up being unnecessary or the project was abandoned before they were built. For example on the Upper Mississippi River there is no lock & dam 23. I used to live in the area, it was originally planned but ended up being unnecessary. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_locks_and_dams_of_the_Upper_Mississippi_River |
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Great thread !
I never knew there were locks on the Trinity and I've lived here nearly all my life. I did see the pic of the river boat that made it all the way to Dallas on the Trinity from Houston area in 1890 or 1900, I don't remember what the caption said. If I recall they mentioned it was a very difficult trip. |