Dallas was an engineering town back in the 1950s and 1960s. The fully integrated circuit, the handheld calculator, and the ATM were patented in the Dallas area. Ross Perot started Electronic Data Systems. The Collins Radio engineers provided the telecom equipment used for the 1969 moon launch. All this created wealth and jobs.

Omg yes! This used to be one of my personal obsessions. I tracked down and visited all the remaining locks about ten years ago. Awesome.

I remember reading this in our weekly reader as kid in 70’s! I’m 64 and grew up in Lancaster just outside Dallas!

This is a well researched video. Dallas is a unique city, it has almost no geographical assets at all, like cities half its size do, except the Trinity “non” River. Over the years, so many attempts have been made, like the video discusses, to give it significance but failed. It is, in fact, the story of Dallas. It’s a sad story but yet Dallas has grown anyway, thanks to unusual socio-economic factors that are unique to Dallas only.

We used to raft down the elm fork of the Trinity, from Lewisville dam to Sandy lake park. One day the river was low, and we were after dark with no lights. Great fun!

For a time, the Trinity was classified by the USACE as a naviagable waterway even though the canal hadn't been built. For that reason, there are three bridges over the Trinity in the Dallas area that were built to accommodate potential barge traffic: the Jefferson Blvd Viaduct by Downtown, the I-20 bridge in South Dallas, and the Loop 12 bridge in West Dallas. The Loop 12 bridge broke ground 4 days before voters rejected the bond issue.

I work on modern day towboats. I live in nacogdoches. I have wondered this as well. I have been working on the water for 20 years now and i had no clue they had ever even attempted to make the trinity navigable. Boy she is angry right now with all the rain we have had. She was up over highway 59 last week. When i drove across on 146 in liberty on my way to work this time she was at the bottom of the railroad bridge. It would be cool if someday they made it happen. But i doubt i will see it in my life. Our grandparents absolutely got down building stuff back in the early 1900’s. Much of it is still in use today on the upper mississippi river. That entire system was built between 1933-1939 excepting keokuk… lock 19. The first hydro electric dam in america and the biggest one in the world at the time, was conceived in the mid 1800’s so steam boats could get over the only waterfall on the mississippi river. I think construction was complete in the early 1900’s. Still in use to this day. In contrast there is a lock and dam they started building on the ohio river in the 70’s, allocated funds for it, and with all the modern tools at our disposal we have now our grandparents couldnt dream of, there isnt much more there than a lock house on the bank, no dam, no chambers, 50 years later thanks to crooked politicians, and their good buddies that run “construction” companies. Im sure there are other factors but there is zero reason it should not have been completed decades ago. It is literally rotting faster than they are building it. Its sad.

I have drone footage of Dam #1 from years ago. Had no idea what it was as I was just passing time while I was in the area but this video explains it

ONE of the reason why they wanted the project was (and I do not know the vitality of this claim but...) they said Dallas was a yuge landlocked city with no port. The nah sayers were saying that they 😂 were worried about the amount of crime it would bring to Dallas ... that was already here. (Dallas resident since about 1956. YES I have lived here that long)

Thanks for exploring the locks and dams, as well as the later Trinity River Corridor Project. I'm glad you were able to visit a few of them and share them with us as I've only been able to see one site. Great video as always, Scott!

Great local history, I have lived here almost my whole life and I never even heard of this. Now I have new places to explore with my drone.

Also 25 is under lake Livingston. Not sure if it’s still intact. It was located at White Rock Shoals, which is an old formation currently submerged.

Thank you! Learned something new about my city today.

So cool to learn about this

I live less than a mile from this river. I remember when they were building the bridge across the river for Hwy 31, they made it taller and and the center of the bridge was built with the option to add a drawbridge. Finishing the channel would have removed a lot of contamination and helped with flooding.

So genuinely underrate content here my friend. I would certainly look to see more content diving into the history of Dallas. The Trinity River Corridor Project had one of the most dramatic arcs in the entire history of the city, lasting for well over two decades, it involved much political intrigue, shady backdoor deals and a duel of the press.

I grew up in Ennis and we use to drive out to lock 6 often in the 80s and 90s. People would fish there and shoot off their guns. So at one time you could get there on several dirt roads. The last time I was there with a small group of people we were approached by some people living on the river (known at the time as river rats) they lived in an old VW van and had assault rifles. They told us to never come back (while pointing their rifles at us) and so we left and I’ve never been back but I’ve always been fascinated with the trinity and while being at that lock I was pretty amazed at the concrete work and huge iron hooks to tie up barges, being in the middle of nowhere.

The trinity in the dfw area would basically be dry 70% of the year with out treated waste water being dumped into it

Cool, this was one of my recommendations. Neat to see you follow up on it. Told you it'd probably be an interesting video.

Ahhh The Grand Old Trinity. Greetings! I grew up in Oak Cliff. We lived on Woodlawn Ave near Canty St. in a big two-story house. About 2.5 blocks from Kidd Springs Park. Sadly, It was torn down quite a few years ago. After that we moved into an even bigger house on Montclair Ave, the old "Oak Cliff Ladies Club" house sat behind us on Rosemont and Davis/80 was about a hundred feet to the north. The house on Montclair had some small hidden rooms that could be accessed from trap doors located in two obscure locations. I loved growing up in Oak Cliff. There were places worthy of exploring in those days all over the nearby neighborhoods. There was a group of horn players from Trinity Pres. Church on Zang Blvd called "The Trinity River Bottoms" because they all had big behinds. Any way I think we need RFK Jr. and his Riverkeepers group to clean up the Trinity. It stunk to high heaven. I was told that a meat packing plant dumped waste in there every night. Does anybody know if they ever stopped the polluters and cleaned the river up. I went fishing there a few times but we couldn't eat the fish. It was not very welcoming down there with a century's worth of brambles and sticker plants of every kind. Oops. I sort of rambled on too much. Sorry.

I read about two guys that rafted the Trinity River from somewhere around downtown Fort Worth all the way to downtown Dallas - it took them 3 days and they found a number of dead animals and snakes.

It is still brought up every few years (inland port). That's why the I20 bridge over the river is arched; so boats can pass under.

This is so cool. Thanks for sharing 😊

This is so freaky. How insane would it have been.

Great video 👍🏿

This is so cool! I recently discovered that there was an attempt to make a canal across the middle of Florida, and this project is very reminiscent of what I see in the Trinity River in your video. There are abandoned dams and locks all across the state, I really want to go explore them. Maybe one day there will be a resurgence in interest towards these projects, once both political parties realize that it is commercially and environmentally friendly to use barges to ship stuff around the states. Very cool video

Very interesting! I grew up in Dallas but I never heard of this project.

Let's get it! Love the videos.

Dallas IS a port. Dallas Fort Worth International airport makes it a port, complete with customs and international flights in and out of the country. So yes, Dallas is a port.

This is fascinating. I grew up in Crocket and my family owned land right on the river in Grapeland. I never knew what the concrete blocks in the River were. I just assumed it was an older bridge. Cool last name btw

That's some awesome drone footage. I really enjoyed the history lesson. Thanks for sharing.

I feel like these videos are popping up after everyone just moved to Dallas and they are trying to find history in the Dallas area.

There isn't anything about increasing the length of a canal that makes it increasingly more cost prohibitive other than the inherent nature of any sort of larger scale project. Considering we've blanketed the country dozens and dozens of times over with much larger networks of highway and road infrastructure, a canal this size frankly seems relatively small in comparison

When I was a Teenager, we went to Jefferson. The story was told that Jefferson was approached for a railroad before Dallas. The people of Jefferson said we dont need it, we have the river..Dallas allegedly made promises & did not keep them. If Jefferson had agreed to the railroad, boy Dallas may have been seriously different.

That’s crazy interesting! sometimes I’ll drive by it and see bits of concrete and stuff poke out the water. I always thought it was bits of an old highway. Cool

It should be made a port and every effort should be made to make it happen

In the Dallas museum is a 12 foot alligator that was caught there in Dallas. Certainly came up the river. I knew there was a push since Dallas was first built to make it a river port. I never knew about the dams and locks being constructed. I'm not sure about straightening the river... but it would have a huge impact on flooding issues in the upper Trinity basin. It would be interesting... but all in all, the Trinity river is for the most part just like it was since the 1700/1800's.

Awesome local history video for me!

Amazing project 👌 👏 🎉

Very good stuff

I think a port would work about as well as a ski resort.

I run quite a bit and one of my favorite routes is at White Rock Lake. I always found it odd, that that lake has a levee system. This system feeds into the Trinity River. Also, random fact, while running I noticed plaques placed around certain locations at White Rock Lake, and did you know that the Americans used that area to imprison German captives during WW2? #TheMoreYouKnow

History: In May 2015, Dallas experienced the 500 year flood. The Trinity River swelled high enough to touch the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. There were proposals from city council to develop commercial businesses on the Trinity River flood plain prior. Without the engineering corp levies and flood planning, downtown Dallas would have been underwater as well as the real estate on the flood plain.

Not that it would be a great return on investment, but river transport might be an option for tourism, like they have done with some of the old railways and trains.

I would’ve thought the people of Houston would’ve been extremely against it?

Thanks for your work on this project. Around 1968 I paddled the Trinity from Arlington to Dallas. It was on the rise and smelled of volatile fatty acids. Lots of little Styrofoam cups. It seemed kinda small for navigation.

Keep your eye out for Marge Schindigler down at the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge. She was George Dunham's swim coach in HS. Drives a red mobility scooter.

Between this and high speed railways we would have no traffic ever again

This is kinda like the unfinished locks and dams on the Brazos river headed up to Waco. If you drive to Hearne on the 485 from Temple, if you look on the left when crossing the river, there is a giant concrete lock all on its own. If you look at it on Apple Maps, you can see where the gates would sit. It’s really interesting

I always wish Dallas formed a life around the river and embraced it. It has so much to offer. I feel like it may not be in our lifetimes, but one day, when real estate becomes thin, we will use every bit of it. There will be homes condos and apts l on stilts over the Trinity River I feel.

You stated that the river would be dredged to 6'...how big were the locks built as or planned? Great content!

Should do this now

It all comes down to money to get that Trinity River project in DT done! I’m not originally from here, but I’ve heard about the decades of trying to get something done there. To me, this absolutely needs to get done at some point and I’m talking about a full blown river for two to 2 miles near downtown. Not the creek that’s there now!

I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, this would have been both fantastic for even more growth.

I never realized Dallas doesn't have a port. I always assumed that if Shreveport could have one, Dallas must

As a Fort Worth native I don’t even really want them to do panther island but i definitely couldn’t imagine if I had giant cargo ships going thru here

Similar plans were made for the Brazos river. The plan was to make the river navigatable up to Waco. Work started but was also halted due to WWI.

The damn that was swallowed is in Crandall tx right before you get into town on the right side coming from seagoville I kayaked it and have pics

Weird to see a place I fished as a kid be mentioned as a part of such a timeline.

It should've been done. It would've been great for Texas and Dallas even today. As fuel prices increase it certainly would be important to have. It's a shame that it didn't get completed.

Mike Rhyner told this story once on the original Downbeat 😢

0:23 hey I think that’s my hometown 😃

I would imagine the booming oil & gas industry and eventually air freight an the Interstate highway system helped make the riverway archaic . Waterways lack speed

You have Ned Fritz to thank for that.

What would've been the tangible reason to do that. In the Great Lakes there was a reason for the St. Lawrence Seaway. I just don't see it.

I am old enough to remember when they tried bringing Houston and Dallas together. There was at one time a YUGE crane that was to dig the canal. It was between Dallas and Waco. I wish I could remember where. It went as a vote to Dallas and failed.

The trinity should be much bigger but it’s got a lot of dams along it for water reservoirs

no doubt what they didn’t acquire through navigable rivers they definitely made up for in highways and freeways toll roads!😂

they should try again, river cruise

My 5th Great-Grandfather was Amon McCommas the first Dallas County Commissioner. I wouldn’t b surprised if he was the namesake for that bluff

Lately I had been wondering if there were any projects like this as inland penetrating waterways would’ve been an economic boon to the state. Unfortunately just about all of Texas’ many rivers are just too small for meaningful navigation and prob too small (and expensive) for real modification into major waterways. I wonder if San Antonio ever postulated something similar.

We might still do this, we did have a bond package before i moved to a sub.

I always know when I'm back in Dallas when I can smell the Trinity from I35

I live in DFW and it would be nice if they dammed up the section near downtown so we have a pretty lake like Austin has.

The Trinity is too unpredictable and meanders, they should have built a separate canal from the beginning but it is not needed today.

In many ways it is a port. Containers make their way from China to Dallas and the customs work is done in Dallas rather than the coast

Those locks and dams were founded....

I live east of dallas andI didn't know this. I remember when there was a plan to do it again with a closed hiway to the coast and back. Taking the land with eminent domain and letting the king of Spain run it..down voted by the state .😅

6:42 better off or worse? i meannnnnnn…. it’s what, third or fourth largest city in the nation. Soooo yah. so, yah.

😬😬😬IT IS ALREADY 50 MILES to get to Port of Houston !!!!! Early 1900’s had a HORRIFIC-HORRIBLE EXPLOSION in Texas City !! Have to have a LOT of SUPPORT up n back !! What would it be, 5-6 day trip ? BUT I-20 would be a GREAT Big road E.-W. !!

Being a port city might've been cool. But traffic is already shitty enough around Dallas and its surrounding metropolis. And it would suck to not get the ocean view, even the one from Texas' muddy waters.

the lock dams werent rated for 100 year floods, and would have required reworking

❤

I mean it's cool but it was never gonna work the Trinity gets real narrow and shallow throughout many parts of the river if your not careful you'll beach a john boat right in the middle of it now imagine trying to get a commercial barge through it, also projects like lake Livingston make it just outright impossible the north part of the lake is literally just a a flooded forest and even decades after it's construction those trees are still tearing up boats and the dam at the south end of the lake is a solid 50 foot drop off back into the river and there ain't no way in hell all those rich assholes on the lake would let commercial shipping pass straight through their scenic little paradise even if creating a traversable lock from the lake back to the river was possible the TRA is in the rich folks pockets and does everything possible to accommodate lake side residents above anything else

Yep I remember it would have been so cool!!!! But they wouldn’t do it😡

Wow great video, well researched and thorough. In my view Dallas has totally botched its handling of one of its greatest assets

We all understand why you can’t dig across a fault line.

woulda been cool

Elon Musk could pay his own river highway from Hton to Atin. I would trust AI boats confined on waterways more than AI cars.

I definitely support completing it along with the Trans-Florida canal which almost made most of Florida the island it no doubt is/was/wants to be...

dallas needs water 🥲

Tamborasos Dallas texas

Its too damn hot right now to try and visit in late June of 23'

Port of Santa Fe.

No way it could be be. Its to far away from the sea

They said it might be a port in 2024

yet the port of Taquisa Oklahoma is a thing

Tamborasos

I think Dallas is doing just fine without it. We’re the business hub of America! If we had a port our economy would probably be shifted toward that and therefore possibly not as much toward what it is today.

Can you imagine had this came to fruition? Dallas would have likely displaced Houston as the prime entry point for foreign freight and trade, especially as Dallas is now the prime commercial transport hub (Air, Rail and Trucking) due its geography, and add Maritime to that portfolio. Houston would likely never have become what it is now.