Water Supply of
Coleman, Texas
by Ralph Terry
Dam
and Lake on Hords Creek
The water system of Coleman began as a
personal affair. In the early days,
the small dam on Hords Creek east of town
was the supply, the water being
distributed over town in barrels.
Each man’s barrel was equipped with a
white flag which he raised when he wanted
water. It sold for 10 cents per
barrel. In 1893, a contract was
given to Robert Kerchenel to supply the
town with water, being pumped from Hords
Creek.
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Early rock dam on Hords Creek, 1890s
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Cement dam on Hords Creek,
1910
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In a series of
articles in Coleman Democrat-Voice newspaper
in 1964 advocating the building what
became Lake Coleman, one by local citizen,
Hugh Capps, tells who built the cement dam on
Hords Creek ... "When Jack
Powell, (who later built many of the
brick buildings in Coleman in the early
1900s) built the little concrete dam on
Hords Creek just east of town, how could he
have known that we would in 1964 be using 50
times as much water in a single day than the
little lake would hold? And so Coleman
grew and the City Lake out by the Dump Grounds
was built. But that lake also was to be
labeled inadequate within 10 or 15
years. And then it was Lake Scarborough
for the next 10 or 15 years. And as our
water consumption grew it was again evident
that this lake would not furnish a sufficient
water suppley for our town. ... " (Coleman
Democrat-Voice, September 22, 1964).
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Lake on Hords Creek, east of
Coleman, with dam in background, 1908.
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postcard showing
lake in Hords Creek, east of Coleman, about
1908-1910
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For
the next chapter in the story of the Water Supply of
Coleman see Pump
Station No. 1 on Hords Creek and Coleman City Lake
west of Coleman.
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