Lake Arrowhead

Lake Arrowhead is an artificial lake in the Red River basin fifteen miles south of Wichita Falls in southwestern Clay County (at 32°46' N, 98°22' W). After a protracted legal battle by county farmers who did not want their land condemned, construction on the lake began on May 17, 1965, when the waters of the Little Wichita River were impounded. Over the next year the residents of Halsell saw their town, along with nearby nesting grounds for wild turkeys, disappear into the reservoir. Lake Arrowhead was completed in December 1966, and its owner and operator, the city of Wichita Falls, began managing the municipal water supply reservoir that provides a maximum 228,000 acre-feet of water with a 16,200-acre surface area. The 106-mile-long shoreline is connected by a 1,525-foot-long concrete broad-crested weir that has an ogee discharge section. Lake Arrowhead has an elevation of 926 feet above mean sea level and a drainage area above the dam of 832 square miles. Lake Arrowhead State Park is on the north shoreline of the reservoir.