It's been at least ten years since I last visited
Medina Dam, the concrete structure on the Medina
River (in Medina County) that created Medina Lake.
I wanted photos for Views Of Texas, and
remembered that you could walk across the top of
the dam and down the spillway to the very bottom,
where there's water shooting out and a pristine
section of river. A great location for photography.
Imagine my disgust at finding razor wire and not one
but six locks on the gate.
From what I've been told this was done long before 9-11,
probably as a result of the stupidity of my fellow man.
Got to keep the morons from hurting themselves in public
I suppose, even if it ruins things for the rest of us.
I think the dam was built in the
1920s, and held some kind of size record or something.
Sorry my facts are fuzzy, but the Historical Marker is
that triangular thing near the center of photo #3, and I'll
be damned if I'm going to Google the info after getting
screwed out of the pictures I wanted.
During the flooding of July 2002 the water flowed freely over
the spillway, maybe 3 feet below the top of the dam, and wreaked
havoc on several towns.
As you can just make out, the level has fallen considerably
since then.
This drought's a total bitch.
1 comment:
According to tonight's TV news, during a major upgrade to the dam's mechanicals two-odd years ago, plenty of 'suspicious acting foreign-looking' people came around asking questions and shooting video and stills of the dam. Luckily there were armed guards and the gates/locks/fences/razorwire shown in my post, as tunnels inside the dam were open during the project. According to the report, it really was a terrorist target after all. So I'll admit being a bit pissy about the whole thing, and try to do more research before putting my foot in my mouth from now on.
Post a Comment