In a Nutshell: Buchanan Dam is first of a series of six projects owned and operated on the Colorado River by the Lower Colorado River Authority. The dam is a multiple concrete arch and gravity structure measuring approx 11,000 feet long and 145 feet high.
Catastrophic floods on the Colorado River through Austin (enough to take out the city’s dam), prompted engineers to figure a way to control the river’s ebbs and flows. Buchanan Dam was the first salvo in this battle of Man versus nature. Construction began in April 1931 but was suspended in April 1932 with the dam less than half completed when Samuel Insull’s highly leveraged public utility holding company collapsed due to the Great Depression.
In 1934, the Texas legislature authorized the formation of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) to complete the Hamilton dam. Following its completion in 1937, the dam was renamed for U.S. Representative James P. Buchanan, who was key in acquiring funding through the Public Works Administration.
A massive flood in 1938 forced LCRA to open 22 of Buchanan Dam's 37 floodgates – a record for that dam – devastating areas downstream. Critics charged LCRA and the Dam had made the flooding worse; LCRA countered that since Buchanan Dam was just the first in the series of the four planned flood control dams, and that flood prevention would not be possible until all were finished. A subsequent Texas Senate investigation not only exonerated LCRA but also determined that Mansfield Dam should be increased an additional 80 feet to its current height of 278 feet to provide more protection to Austin and downstream communities – but I digress.
Stretching for more than two miles, Buchanan Dam is considered the longest multiple-arch dam in the nation. The multiple arch design is no longer used because the amount of labor required makes construction too expensive. This is the irony of construction economics: today's dams require far less labor, but a thousand times more materials.
The waymark’s coordinates are of the dam itself.
Good downstream viewing can be had from the Lake Buchanan Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center (N30 44.870 W098 24.389. Close upstream views of the Southmost arched sequence are had from the OLD visitor center (note, not even the restrooms are public any more) at N30 44.659 W098 25.034; and an excellent panoramic lakeside view can be had from N30 45.733 W098 27.426 next to Black Rock Park (or pay admission and go into the park);
It is also worth taking a satellite view of the dam through Google Earth or the like – just to get the SCALE of the thing.
BUCHANAN DAM FAQs (courtesy LCRA - (
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Location: Burnet and Llano counties, 414 river miles from the Gulf of Mexico
When built: Started 1931, completed 1935 to 1938
Dimensions: 145.5 feet high, 10,987.55 feet long
Primary purpose: Water supply, hydroelectric power
Generating capacity: 54.9 megawatts
Water supply storage capacity: 285.3 billion gallons
Top of dam: 1,025 feet above msl
Floodgates: 37
Discharge capacity: 347,300 cubic feet per second (cfs):
• 7 large floodgates @ 18,800 cfs each
• 30 small floodgates @ 7,000 cfs each
• 3 turbines @ 1,900 cfs each
Original name: Hamilton Dam
For more background, see:
LCRA slideshow re: Buchanan Dam (
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More LCRA archive photos: (
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Oldest of the Highland Lakes chain Buchanan Dam and Lake Buchanan; Two-mile-long structure is an architectural rarity
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Wikipedia on Buchanan Dam (
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LCRA's Historic Moment: History of the Highland Lakes (
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The history of LCRA Early years and first critical test (
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LCRA as discussed by Wikipedia (
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LCRA dams form the Highland Lakes
Structures designed for flood management, water supply, hydroelectricity (
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Texas State Historical Association The Handbook of Texas Online:
Lake Buchanan (
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Lower Colorado River Authority (
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Official Lake Buchanan Visitors’ Guide (
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