Denison Dam Lake Texoma Construction Cache — Grayson County

Congress authorized Denison Dam in 1938; construction costing $54 million began in 1939 on the Red River five miles northwest of Denison. Lake Texoma spread over 89,000 acres in Grayson and Cooke counties with 1,250 miles of shoreline. The dam project was an economic boom to Grayson County, as was Perrin Field construction in 1941. Lake Texoma inundated northern Grayson settlements and may have covered Jesse James loot folklore north of Pottsboro cited by The Rocker Box. Public-works folklore imagines contractor payroll boxes and worker specie buried when camps moved or when reservoir waters rose. Coordinates mark Denison Dam northwest of Denison. Respect Corps property.