In the Highland Hills
Inks Lake, a reservoir in Central Texas, is a naturalist wonder and part of the Highland Lakes Chain of Lakes. With over 830 acres of water surface, Inks Lake has much to offer. In conjunction with Lake Buchanan, the reservoir provides flood control for the region.
Essentials
Emergency medical care is available at Ascension Seton Highland Lakes in Burnet, 15 miles away. The nearest major airport is the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, an hour and a half away.
Life on Inks Lake
Administrated and controlled by the Lower Colorado River Authority, Inks Lake is a full-pool lake. With only one foot of variation in water levels, Inks Lake is primed for canoes, kayaks, boats, and jet skis.
The adjacent Inks Lake State Park offers camping, fishing piers, paddleboat rentals, and hiking trails!
Are you looking for a soak or scenic swim? Devil’s Waterhole is a gorgeous natural swimming area with cliffs for diving!
Avid anglers ish for white bass, largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, and sunfish. Birders will be pleased to know that Inks lake, and Inks Lake State Park, boasts a wide array of bird species.
The Peoples’ Lake
The history of Inks Lake goes back to prehistoric times. Native people of the area lived there for centuries, and the waters from the Colorado River served as a lifeline for crops, drinking water, and fishing. A nearby site, where Inks Lake State Park now stands, was once a Native American hunting ground. Before American westward expansion, the Apache and Comanche ruled the lands of Hill County.
The potential for the area that now is Inks Lake to serve as flood control was noticed well before building on the project began. Before he was president, Lyndon B. Johnson proposed the creation of an entity similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide local electricity to the Texas Hills. Thus, the Lower Colorado River Authority was born, and construction of Inks Dam began in 1936. Two years later, the LCRA’s second dam completed construction. The dam, and subsequent lake, were named for Roy B. Inks, one of the Lower Colorado River Authority’s original board members.
During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt started the Civilian Conservation Corps to curb unemployment, and the project proved a wild success! The CCC was able to construct shelters, pave trails, and plant over three billion trees in over 800 parks. Johnson recognized the opportunity to form a park on Inks Lake and wanted to get the CCC involved. The local CCC Company was busy at work in the nearby Longhorn Cavern State Park and quickly moved on to Inks Lake afterward. They then began work on the Inks Lake State Park.
The building project presented a working opportunity for local farmers and ranchers. Afterward, they built amenities, buildings, and paths and planned for more fantastic projects on the lake. However, American involvement in World War II quickly halted plans. With the CCC’s funding dried up, the Texas State Parks Board took over the project and opened the park in 1950.
On The Water
The Great Depression was the ripple that constructed Inks Lake, and those tides of yesterday’s hardship still crash on the shores of today’s triumph.