Rebecca Huffstutler Norton

Medina Lake Rebecca Huffstutler Norton

Surrounded by the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Medina Lake has a rich history of fortunes rising and falling as rapidly and unpredictably as the level of the lake. Completed in 1912, Medina Dam was, at the time, the largest concrete dam in Texas. The lake was initially constructed to irrigate farmlands, but its rising waters forever altered a way of life for the ranchers and farmers who lived on the land above the dam. When ranchers and farmers were faced with condemnation of their lands, the first cries of "whiskey's for drinking and water's for fighting" were heard. As a testament to the resiliency of these original families, they turned their losses into a new way of life catering to the tourists, hunters, and fishermen who flocked to the newly formed lake. As continual droughts plague the semiarid desert that surrounds the lake, a never-ending tug-of-war over water resources continues. Meanwhile, the lake's pristine blue-green waters continue to attract boaters, swimmers, fishermen, revelers, and those who have made their homes on the limestone bluffs that encircle Medina Lake.