"Of all the endeavors on which I have worked in public life, I am proudest of the accomplishment in developing the Colorado River. It is not the damming of the streams or the harnessing of the floods in which I take pride, but rather in the ending of the waste of the region. The region - so unproductive in my youth - is now a vital part of the national economy and potential." -- Lyndon Johnson, 1958
With a long history of extreme floods and droughts, the Colorado River’s volatile temperament demanded engineering intervention. The six integrated dams and lakes of the ambitious Highland Lakes Chain were the answer, also launching the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). In addition to water management, the Highland Lakes were instrumental in ‘electrifying’ Central Texas and the Hill Country, as, at the bidding of then Representative Lyndon Johnson, the LCRA proselytized electricity distribution and consumption through a late ‘30s-40s campaign to convince communities to purchase their local distribution systems and buy power from LCRA. Almost all communities did — and saw retail electric bills drop almost by half from what private utilities had charged. LCRA also sponsored "electric fairs" with local merchants to introduce residents to the benefits of electric appliances.
Inexpensive Power, water management, and recreation proved a boon to local economies and the State at large; and specific and overall engineering of the system earned the Highland Chain of Lakes Historic Civil Engineering Landmark of Texas status in 2000.
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You might reasonably claim Lake Austin started the whole campaign.
In the 1890s, then Lake McDonald (for John McDonald, the mayor who had whipped up support for the project) was the first large reservoir in Texas, formed by the construction of Austin Dam. That initial ‘masonry’ (granite block) dam was begun in 1890 and completed in 1893. Standing sixty feet high and stretching nearly 1200 feet across the river, at the time it was one of the largest dams in the world. A. P. Wooldridge and other boosters of the project had originally envisioned harnessing the river to drive mill machinery directly, but their engineers steered them toward that newfangled “electricity”; and the powerhouse erected on the east bank of the river was filled with electrical dynamos that supplied current to Austin’s new network of electric streetcars, as well as to the “moonlight towers” the city acquired in 1895. The shores of Lake McDonald attracted new residents and developers, while the waters of the lake drew those seeking respite from the legendary Texas heat.
But the promised economic boom never materialized. Worse, the Austin Dam was plagued by problems from the get go. The structure was built on a fault line that allowed water to seep. Silt had filled nearly half the lake by February 1900, the pressure of which was already causing the dam to slide. And the dam's design failed to accommodate the force that could be created by a large volume of water. The fatal one-two punch came via a five-inch rainfall across the Austin area on April 6, 1900 compounded by heavy rains in the Hill Country. With no upstream dams to capture runoff, the Austin Dam was defenseless against the resulting flood wave, which one eyewitness estimated at 25 feet high and a mile wide.
“Enormous storms upriver sent a torrent of water cascading eleven feet over the crest of the dam. After the rains had stopped, Austinites came out that bright Saturday morning to see their local version of Niagara. Then at 11:20 am they heard a loud crack—“like a gunshot,” several said—and watched in horror as a central section of the dam gave way and slid sixty feet downstream. Water blasted into the powerhouse, wrecking it and killing eight people. Lake McDonald vanished, and though the western end of the dam still stood, the eastern half was destroyed. More than a century later, great chunks of it are still to be found scattered in the riverbed, forming part of the present Red Bud Isles.” -- Bruce J. Hunt “The Rise and Fall of the Austin Dam” (
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In all, the flood drowned 18 people and destroyed 100 houses in Austin, at a total estimated loss of $1.4 million in 1900 dollars. (http://www.lcra.org/newsstory/2010/austindam110thanniversary.html)
However, having gotten a taste of city-owned electric power, the people of Austin refused to go back; the city bought out the local private power company, which used steam-driven generators, and today’s Austin Energy municipal utility is in a sense a legacy of the old Austin Dam.
Reconstruction of Austin Dam started in 1912 by the City of Austin. The new dam was hollow, with 57 wooden gates to control floods. But construction was abandoned in 1915 due to a dispute between the contractor and the city of Austin. High waters destroyed the near-complete dam later that year – when the floodgates, which were only 15 feet wide, became clogged by driftwood. The driftwood jammed the gates, and the floodwaters tore out the center section of the dam. Rather the last straw for the financially strapped City of Austin. The wrecked dam then sat derelict for 20 years, “a tombstone on the river.”
In 1935, 1936 and 1937, floods struck the crippled dam again and again. Probably the most iconic picture was taken in June ‘35 when a boathouse got stuck on the spillway section. Two years later, Austin Mayor Tom Miller reached an agreement with LCRA to rebuild the dam a ‘third’ time. Tom Miller Dam, a concrete pier and slab structure 1,590 feet long, was completed in early 1940, at the same time LCRA was building Mansfield Dam, the giant upstream that would eventually protect Austin from the worst of the Colorado River's floods.
Austin and LCRA held dedication ceremonies for the new Austin dam on April 6, 1940 – one day before the 40th anniversary of the destruction of the original dam. Chamber of Commerce officials recommended naming the dam in honor of Miller, and the name stuck.
This was the third in the integrated Colorado River’s Historic Civil Engineering Landmark of Texas Highland Lakes Chain. Buchanan (nee ‘Hamilton”) Dam was begun in 1931 by a company controlled by Samuel Insull. Unfortunately, the Great Depression put an end to Insull’s utility company, with the dam less than half completed. 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, a strong advocate of the overall lakes project and key in acquiring funding through the Public Works Administration.
Buchanan died in office, and was succeeded by Lyndon Johnson, who realized the potential LCRA and its dams offered the region. He persuaded LCRA to use the dams’ hydroelectric power to benefit Central Texas communities and rural areas (the sale of which helped finance completion of the Lakes system and other LCRA projects). LCRA manpower strung the lines that brought electricity to customers of the region's first two electric cooperatives: Pedernales and what is today Bluebonnet.
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 Buchanan Dam had made the flood worse; LCRA countered that since Buchanan Dam was just the first in the series of four planned flood control dams, flood prevention would not be possible until all were finished. A subsequent Texas Senate investigation not only exonerated LCRA but also determined that the already under construction Marshall Ford (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.
By 1939 LCRA had acquired a service area surrounding Austin from private utilities and began a campaign to convince communities to purchase their local distribution systems and buy power from LCRA. Almost all communities did — and saw retail electric bills drop almost by half from the rates private utilities had charged. LCRA also sponsored "electric fairs" with local merchants to introduce residents to the benefits of electric appliances.
As noted, Tom Miller Dam (named for Mayor Robert Thomas Miller, whose enthusiastic support of President Roosevelt's program and personal relationships with New Deal officials enabled him to bring Federal Emergency Relief Administration projects to Austin, thereby securing employment for many Austin citizens and bringing some of the Rooseveltian experiments to town (
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From 1995 through 2005 LCRA made several upgrades to Tom Miller and the other Highland Lakes dams to ensure that all would continue to withstand a "probable maximum flood,” an engineering term for a worst-case flood scenario. Upgrades at Tom Miller Dam included anchoring the structure to the lakebed with steel cables and additional concrete, adding other structural reinforcement, and equipping each of the nine floodgates with its own hoist to expedite opening and closing. (http://www.lcra.org/newsstory/2010/austindam110thanniversary.html)
The six total dams of the Highland Lakes have, for the last seventy-five years (and counting) provided water, hydroelectric power, and flood control – not to mention economic growth and recreation – for Central Texas.
Coordinates are for the dam itself. As it sits in an urban setting, there are many ways to get good up and downstream views. The best are from Red Bud Trail, which has parking and hiking to downstream views. Forest View Drive on the West and Lake Austin Blvd to the East also afford dam and lake viewing. Above the dam, slake your hunger/thirst and get some great views from the Hula Hut (or just its parking lot) N30 17.680 W 097 47.048). If you can, boat there. Any views of Town Lake will also serve THIS waymark’s purpose – as the lake is as important as the dam; just remember to post where the photo was taken and write a descriptive log!
The Google Earth satellite view is also worth a look.
Just some FAQs (courtesy LCRA (
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FYI: TOM MILLER DAM
Location: Travis County, 298 river miles from the Gulf of Mexico
When built: 1938 to 1940
Dam dimensions: 100.5 feet high, 1,590 feet long
Primary purposes: Hydroelectric power, water supply
Generating capacity: 17 megawatts
Top of dam: 519 feet above msl
Spillway elevation: 492.8 feet above msl
Floodgates: nine
Total discharge capacity: 107,700 cubic feet per second (cfs):
•4 large floodgates @ 15,300 cfs each
•5 small floodgates @ 8,600 cfs each
•2 turbines @ 1,750 cfs each
Original name: Tom Miller Dam
DETAILS ON LAKE AUSTIN
Lake area: 1,830 acres
Elevation when full: 492.8 feet above mean sea level (msl)
Volume when full: 24,644 acre-feet
Historic high: 495.2 feet above msl on May 25, 1981
Historic low: 474.3 feet above msl on Feb. 17, 1963
Target operating range: 491.8 to 492.8 feet above msl
100-year flood level at dam: 493 feet above msl
Dimensions: 20.25 miles long, 1,300 feet at widest point
Original name: Lake McDonald
LCRA Corporate Photo Archives – Tom Miller Dam (
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April marks 110th anniversary of destruction of original Austin Dam
by John Williams (LCRA Apr 5, 2010) (
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Tom Miller Dam and Lake Austin Dam built atop of two earlier structures destroyed by floods (
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TPWD Webcast “History of Tom Miller Dam” (
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A particularly good history of the Tom Miller Dam’s predecessors: The Rise and Fall of the Austin Dam; Bruce J. Hunt (
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UT Texas Library (
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Lake Austin (TSHA Handbook of Texas Online) (
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“The history of LCRA Early years and first critical test” (the timeline is particularly interesting)
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LCRA's Historic Moment: History of the Highland Lakes (
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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:
Lower Colorado River Authority (
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