North Lake (Dallas)

North Lake was never really built for fun. It was dug as a cooling pond for a Dallas Power and Light electric plant, and the dam that holds it was finished in August of nineteen fifty-seven. Before that, the whole basin was a bowl-shaped valley used for farming. Crews cut down most of the trees, though a few small structures were left standing under the water. Fishing came later, in nineteen seventy-eight. The fish did the poorly at first because the water held so few nutrients, so the parks department started fertilizing it and stocking bass. Irving leased the south shore as a park, and it drew jet ski riders and people flying radio-controlled aircraft off a runway there. A floating water ski ramp sat out in the middle. Then in two thousand the park closed and all recreation ended. The lake was thought to be shut because warm water leaving the plant had grown a heavy concentration of amoebas.