Rita Blanca Lake – Dalhart TX

Description

“Rita Blanca Lake’s heyday began when the Works Progress Administration came to town in 1939. The W.P.A. was formed by the government on the heels of the Great Depression to help create jobs for the unemployed in communities around the nation. The Rita Blanca Lake Project was established in 1939 and newly hired workers began again on fortifying the spillway and dam in order to create that lake that had long been a dream of W. J. Blair so many years ago. According to “A Tale of Two Counties”, the dam was of compacted earth-fill to contain the rainfall runoff of the Rita Blanca and Carisso Creeks drainage area.” (The Dalhart Texan)