First Flood Prevention Dam - Cloud Creek Site
On July 3, 1998, over 800 people gathered at the Washita County, Oklahoma court house to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first upstream flood control dam. Cloud Creek Site One was built in 1948 and on July 8th of that year over 10,000 people gathered to dedicate the first dam built under Public Law 78-534 Flood Control Act. This Act was passed by Congress in 1944 to allow flood control work in eleven watersheds across the nation. The Washita River which runs from the Texas panhandle through southern Oklahoma into Lake Texhoma was one of the eleven watersheds.
At the 1948 dedication, Hugh Hammond Bennett, the first Chief of the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) predicted that some day 1,000 small flood control dams would be built in the Washita River Watershed. Today there are 1,140 dams in the watershed.
The success of the original eleven watersheds led Congress to pass Public Law 83-566, (Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act) in 1954. This allow local sponsors to develop watershed projects in all watersheds in a state. The building of Cloud Creek Site One was the beginning of a small watershed program that has resulted in 2,094 dams being built in Oklahoma and over 10,000 constructed nationwide.
While the main function of these dams is flood prevention, most provide other benefits such as irrigation, livestock water, recreation, municipal water supply, and wildlife habitat.
The first dams constructed were designed for a 50-year life span, which meant that the lakes were expected to fill with sediment in 50 years. Later dams were designed for a 100-year life span. Today with the first constructed dams beginning to reach that 50-year life span, local sponsors are faced with large rehabilitation costs to maintain the dams.
Oklahoma has been selected to develop a pilot watershed rehabilitation project to serve as a model for the nation. The Sergeant Major watershed in western Oklahoma was selected for this pilot project. A comprehensive plan will be developed by the Upper Washita Conservation District, landowners and citizens which will identify the resource needs in the watershed. The Natural Resources Conservation Service will provide technical assistance and some financial assistance to rehabilitate some of the watershed dams and to help local people find means to meet other conservation and resource needs in the watershed.
OCC Executive Director Mike Thralls (behind podium) emceed the dedication ceremony. Seated on the lower level, from left, were speakers NRCS Chief Pearlie Reed, Gov. Frank Keating, U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas and Cordell Mayor Phil Kliewer. Guests seated on top row, from left, were Sen. Gilmer Capps, Rep. Jack Bonny, OCC Chair Virginia Kidd, OACD President George Fraley, NACD President Rudy Rice and NRCS State Conservationist Ron Clark.
Gathered around the monument, from left, are Cordell Mayor Phil Kliewer; National Watershed Coalition Executive Director John Peterson; National Association of Conservation Districts President Rudy Rice; Washita County Conservation District Chairman Max Boothe; Rep. Jack Bonny, U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas; Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Pearlie Reed; Gov. Frank Keating; Oklahoma Conservation Commission Executive Director Mike Thralls; OCC Chair Virginia Kidd; NWC Vice President Bill Hamm; Agriculture Commissioner Dennis Howard; Sen. Gilmer Capps; Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts President George Fraley.