Big Lake -- Big Lake TX
N 31° 11.494 W 101° 28.061
14R E 264858 N 3453456
The WPA writers visited Big Lake Texas, and commented on its namesake sink, still dry then as now
Waymark Code: WMV19D
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/06/2017
Views: 2
The waymark coordinates are located at the historic marker which stands at the southwest corner of the US 67 and SH 137 in downtown Big Lake TX, in front of a questionable hotel.
The marker reads as follows:
"CITY OF BIG LAKE
The land on which the original townsite of Big Lake was located was owned in 1903 by T. H. Taylor who sold 320 acres to the Orient Land Company, which agreed to build a railroad station and lay out a town to be called Big Lake.
The city took its name from a lake created by rain which gathers in a natural land depression about one and one half miles from here. Once filled by spring-fed water, it is now the largest dry lake in Texas. In pioneer days it was the only known fresh water between the Concho River and springs at Fort Stockton and was a campsite for Indians, Mexican traders and cattle drivers. Oldest house in Reagan County, the John Gardner house, is located near its banks.
The town was established in 1911. Its first economic activity was a stockpen built by the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, a hotel, and a grocery store. It grew up around the line of the railroad, and by 1915 had about fifty families.
Big Lake was incorporated on May 28, 1923, and in 1925 became the seat of Reagan County. Land additions were made in 1914 and 1925. Today the city is a center for the oil and gas industry. (1967)"
In 1940, the WPA writers visited Big Lake, and had much the same thing to say about it.
From Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State:
"BIG LAKE, 71 m. (2,678 alt., 832 pop.), was so named because of the extent to which the natural sink near by fills during heavy rains."
Book: Texas
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 544
Year Originally Published: 1940
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