Lake Bardwell

Looking North. Showing service bridge  piers and outlet works

Local residents of the Ellis County and surrounding areas in North Texas realized their future would require water conversation. This realization became Lake Bardwell. It was approved by the US Congress on March 31, 1960, to be built by the US Army Corps of Engineers at a cost of $12,630,000. In Today's money according to Morgan Friedman inflation calculataor, you are looking at 106 million dollars.  So this lake was no small project! Lake Bardwell controls 178 square miles of drainage in the area. The lake is 5.4 miles long, 1.2 miles wide at its widest, and the shoreline is 25 miles. 

"The state of Texas controls allocations of water from the conservation pool through the Trinity River Authority (TRA.) The Secretary of the Army approved a contract on June 24, 1963, authorizing the TRA to utilize 25% of the conservation storage space (10,700 acre-feet) as water supply for the city of Ennis. A supplemental agreement to the contract approved in October 1969 reallocated 60% of the water in the conservation pool to the city of Ennis and 40% to the city of Waxahachie. "-US Army Corps of Engineers

                                                           Looking upstream spillway slab
Lake Bardwell is maintained at 421 mean sea level as much time as possible. Lake Bardwell is becoming more and more a recreational attraction with population rising in the area. For details on the lake go to the Corps of Engineers link here

Sand Lake Tragedy

SAND LAKE

Sand Lake was a town named after a clear beautiful lake formed by the Trinity River. It's located east of Ennis off highway 34 near the Trinity River. It's not sure when the community started but there were records of a flood here in 1844. The old roadbed of the rail spur installed by the T. & N. P. Railroad was still visible there in 1976. The first time I heard about Sand Lake was from a retired Ellis County Detective who had grown up there. It appears on goolge earth there is still buildings left from the old town. In the 70's a post office building, black smith building, and a school building were noted to still be there. Now, it appears a sand company has bought the area and is selling the sand. Somebody had told me a story that prisoners had once tried to swim across the lake and drowned but I think the story below is the real story and it changed over the years maybe mixing events. What a horrible accident! These poor souls were just trying to enjoy the cold weather. What a horrible day for that family who lost so many. Anybody who grew up in cold winters in Texas and remembers seeing ice on a creek and was tempted to step on it. Skating, I would never imagine in Texas. Usually, in colder regions I believe people had a way of testing ice on lakes with poles and they also would have many days of below freezing weather that would make the ice solid.

Seven Drowned in Sand Lake by the Fort Worth Gazette, Jan. 20, 1888. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Four of the women and one man were sisters and brother - the other couple also sister and brother. Ennis, Texas. Jan. 18. Reports were received here this evening that seven persons were drowned in Sand Lake, some ten mles east of here. Two young ladies, daughters of William Williams and a young man named Babbitt were skating on the lake when the ice gave way and they sank in six and a half feet of water. Miss Babbitt and two little girls, ages 9 and 13, daughters of William Williams, were also drowned attempting to rescue them. Another small child of Williams fell through the ice and was only saved by one of the drowning young ladies throwing it out on the ice. Mr. Williams, brother of the young ladies, who was a quarter mile distance, ran to their assistance but was overpowered by their struggles and also drowned. His mother, in an effort to save them, was pulled down and would have drowned were it not for the help of her two little daughters, eight and eleven, who threw her a rope and managed to pull her to shore. All the bodies were found together. Another account Garrett, Tex. Jan. 18. Conducto Easton, running between Ennis and Roberts on the Central, brings the sad news of the drowning of Mrs Babbitt's four daughter and one son and an elderly lady, name unknown, in Sand Lake near the Trinity River on what is known as the Faulkner farm, while skating today. It appears young Babbitt fell through the ice and the ladies while trying to rescue him went through also. All bodies were recovered. Ft worth Gazette Ellis County TxGenWeb