Dallas County Levee Improvement Refunding Bond - Texas 1928

Beautifully engraved uncancelled $500 Bond Certificate from Dallas County Levee Improvement District No. 6 issued in 1928. This historic document and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an eagle. This item is hand signed by the County Judge, F. H. Alexander, County clerk, C. W. Whitley and the County Treasurer, J. E. Russell, Comptroller of Public Accounts, S. H. Terrell is over 78 years old.

The City of Dallas played a significant role in the management of river water and groundwater in Dallas County, Texas. The Trinity River was named during the Spanish colonial era (La Santisima Trinidad), supposedly supplied by explorer Alonso DeLeón in 1690. The river rises in three principal branches: the East Fork, the Elm Fork, and the West Fork. A fourth smaller headstream is known as the Clear Fork. It flows 423 miles from the confluence of the Elm and West forks to the coast, making it the longest river having its entire course in Texas.

The portion of the Trinity flowing through and around the City of Dallas has been connected historically to city government from its early use for commercial transportation to its use as a demarcating line between the northern and southern halves of the city, to its projected use as a recreational area. Dallas founder John Neely Bryan's original town survey used the Trinity as the western boundary, with streets laid out at right angles to the river. Flooding was a major problem in Dallas’ early years, the worst occurring in 1908. The bends in the river were straightened in 1929 and a series of levees built for flood control through a bond program that also included a number of new bridges, finally joining the two halves of the city. The history of the Trinity River, Dallas groundwater sources, and the City of Dallas is reflected in various local water agencies.

The districts administer a number of water programs, including flood control, drainage, navigation, irrigation, domestic, commercial, and industrial water supply, sewage disposal, power supply, groundwater control, soil conservation, and recreation.