Scuba Training, Sunken Treasure: Possum Kingdom , Texas

Story and photos by David Prichard and Lily Mak

One of the oldest inland scuba diving destinations in Texas , Possum Kingdom Reservoir attracts multitudes of divers each year as a training ground for new divers in the clear waters of the lake. It's also a popular treasure-hunting site.

About 75 miles (120 km) west of Fort Worth in the Palo Pinto Mountains of North Central Texas, the reservoir emerged after the construction of the Morris Sheppard Dam in 1941, which was built to help control the flooding of the historic Brazos River and provide hydropower to the region. The narrow lake follows the winding, snakelike path of the river for 65 miles (104 km) with about 17,700 acres (7,080 hectares) of water, but the deep waters closest to the dam, with its clear visibility, is what attracts divers.

"Most of the lake in the upper portion is shallow with low visibility, but the closer you get to the dam, the more exceptional the diving, with visibility ranging up to 100 feet (30 m)," says Todd Burns of Scuba Point Dive Shop, which has operated as a training site and air fill station on the lake since 1959. Among the key features of the lower section of lake for divers are the sheer rock walls with numerous cutouts and caves bordering the former river valley, Burns says.

Dinosaurs Leave Their Tracks

Most of the rocky land of this region of Texas was formed about 95-119 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, when an extended Gulf of Mexico created an inland sea over much of central Texas. Dinosaurs like the Iguanodon and Pawpawsaurus, plus other therapods and sauropods roamed the shores and have left in the region many fossil remains, like those found along a branch of the Brazos River at Dinosaur Valley State Park , southeast of Possum Kingdom Reservoir.

The first Europeans to explore this region of Texas were the remnants of famed Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto 's expedition in 1542. After de Soto 's death on the journey, Luys de Moscoso took over the expedition and led the group up the Brazos River . Some historians speculate that somewhere near the current Morris Sheppard Dam site, the expedition gave up its plans to cross the North American continent by land and headed back to the Spanish settlements in Mexico .

The area eventually became settled with cattle ranches along the river and later fields of cotton. The town of Pickwick was founded along the Brazos in the 1850s along with the nearby Brazos Indian Reservation that was home of displaced Delaware , Shawnee , Tonkawa, Wichita and Caddo tribes. Strife between the settlers and the reservation Indians, as well as traveling Comanche and Kiowa tribes, forced the resettlement of the reservation to the Oklahoma Territory .

The oil boom era hit the area around 1915 and the Palo Pinto region became a major oil supplier to the United States . Among the other major commodities of the area was the fur trade. Local legend has it that Possum Kingdom got its name from a fur trader out of nearby Mineral Wells (then a famous health spa destination) who always referred to the trappers in northwest Palo Pinto County as the "boys of Possum Kingdom." The name stuck and was often associated with a particular bend of the Brazos River .

The Brazos Conservation and Reclamation District, part of a depression-era recovery agency, bought up land around the flood-prone river and the town of Pickwick for the formation of the new dam and reservoir. The remnants of Pickwick moved a few miles to the east and became New Pickwick. Portions of the old town, including an iron bridge, town well, building foundations and chimneys, can still be seen when the lake is down.

While the dam was named after a U.S. senator from the area that supported the project, the lake was named after the popular regional name of the river bend. About the same time, the Civilian Conservation Corps began building Possum Kingdom State Park on the southwestern portion of the lake.  

Early Divers Discover Clear Water

Outdoor enthusiasts began spreading the word about the clear waters of the reservoir, locally referred to as just "PK," in the late 1950s. Skin divers and early participants of the new sport of scuba diving began exploring the relatively new lake, primarily with spear guns in search of game fish.

One early diver who began making regular weekend treks to the lake from Fort Worth was Tom Davis, a General Dynamics aviation technician. He liked to race motorcycles and hydroplane boats before a friend turned him on to scuba diving. Limited to the air in the cylinders that he and his friends could bring with them, Davis rigged two B-24 aircraft hydraulic pumps to a lawn mower engine to refill the cylinders at the lake. As more divers asked to use his air compressor for refilling their cylinders, Davis improved his system and transported it on a trailer to the lake every weekend. Davis built a permanent air station along the lakeshore and Scuba Point Dive Shop was established in 1959. Davis later bought a large compressor, nicknamed "Goldfinger," that was touted as the largest inland air station in the country and capable of pumping 365 cubic feet (10.2 cu. m) of air per minute.

Davis involved his entire family in the sport and his 3-year-old daughter, Ann, was pictured in a 1961 newspaper article with her custom-made wet suit and small scuba unit. Davis died in 2000, but now Ann and her husband, Todd, operate Scuba Point.

The "Goldfinger" compressor is still operational, but only for high-capacity fills such as cascade-system cylinders due to the operating cost of the big unit. The couple uses a more economical air compressor at the dive center for divers needing to fill only one or two cylinders at a time. An enriched-air system is also available.  

Designed For Training Divers

Along with the air fill station and retail/rental shop, Scuba Point also offers training facilities for area dive centers. Several classroom spaces are available for scheduling academic sessions and an outdoor pool is handy for confined-water training.

A protected diving area, sectioned off by marked buoys from lake boat traffic, includes several underwater training platforms at various depths and a series of sunken attractions. Within the dive area are three sunken boats and several cars. A pair of fiberglass domes, a drive-in restaurant burger sign and other items of interest are placed for divers.

A sunken catamaran boat at a depth of 65 feet (20 m) has been equipped with a chain-link platform for deep-diving training exercises. As with most lake diving facilities, multiple thermoclines can be encountered en route to deeper depths, plunging the water temperature as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 6 degrees Celsius). Surface temperatures during the summer can reach the upper 80s F (upper 20s C).

Divers have access to the Scuba Point dive area by a floating dock, boat ramp or shoreline entry and exit. A small takeout restaurant at the dive center offers sandwiches, snacks and refreshments to divers. Camping spaces and cabin rentals are also offered on-site

Exploring ‘Hell's Gate'

In addition to shore diving at Scuba Point, the center also offers dive boat charter trips to dive sites around the lake. Popular dive sites include Scenic Point Cove (buoy 14), Governor's Cove near the dam (buoy 2), and Scuba Point's private cove (buoy 10).

One of the most popular dive sites on the lake is also the signature landmark of the lake — Hell's Gate. Looming over 90 feet (27 m) tall at full lake level, this opening between two rock cliffs (one side actually belongs to an island) creates a passageway, or "gate," to a cove that is popular with boaters. During holidays and summer weekends, hundreds of boats often tie together in the cove to create a floating party island.

"With that many people, a lot of things get dropped into the water for a scuba scavenger's dream location," says Burns about the treasures that divers often find in the cove. He says the cove ranges from 20 to 60 feet (6 to 18 m) deep, so it is easily accessible to divers during nonpeak boating times.

According to lake regulations, divers have to be within 150 feet (45 m) of the shoreline with a "diver down" flag or buoy big enough to be visible from a distance of 100 feet (30 m). Solo diving is not permitted and diving operations can't block or interfere with normal boat traffic.

Although a golden algae bloom killed a lot of fish in 2001, the lake's marine wildlife population has made a comeback with the assistance of a restocking program that introduced more than 9 million fish to the lake since the bloom. A Texas state fish hatchery is on the riverside portion of the Morris Sheppard Dam.

Among the fish that divers can expect to see are blue and channel catfish, smallmouth, largemouth and striped bass, and several varieties of sunfish. Burns says that since the algae bloom occurred, divers have been finding small crabs living in the rocks.

Many people around the country may only recognize Possum Kingdom as the name of a hit rock song in the mid-1990s by the Ft. Worth-based group, The Toadies, but the lake has had a tradition of being one of the state's best inland dive destinations.