Lake Meredith National Recreation Area Overview

Contrasting spectacularly with its surroundings, Lake Meredith lies on the dry and windswept High Plains of the Texas Panhandle in a region known as Llano Estacado, or Staked Plain. Through this plain—as flat as any surface in the world—the Canadian River has cut and recut 200-foot canyons called breaks.

Lake Meredith was created by Sanford Dam on the Canadian River and now fills many breaks whose walls are crowned with white limestone caprock, scenic buttes, pinnacles, and red-brown, wind-eroded coves. Above lie the mesquite, prickly pear, yucca and grasses of windswept, arid plains. And up the sheltered creek beds stand cottonwoods, soapberry, and sandbar willows. Historically the Canadian River allowed woodlands from the east to extend their range along its banks deep into the otherwise arid plains region. Humans have lived on the harsh Llano Estacado for at least 12,000 years. European settlement did not begin until 1875 with a railroad following in 1877 to serve cattle ranching. Discovery of oil and natural gas fields in the region caused a boom in this century. Water, grasslands, oil, and gas natural resources comprise the region's economic base.

Lake Meredith is named for its chief proponent, A.A. Meredith. Dam construction began in 1962. Sanford Dam supplies water for 11 Texas Panhandle cities including Amarillo and Lubbock. Lake Meredith serves the region as a water recreation area.