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0 <br />rn <br />CD <br />r-, below the mouth of the Washita River, Denison Dam forms Lake Texoma, <br />with total capacity of 5,719,000 acre -feet at crest of spillway. <br />This reservoir is used for power development and flood control. The <br />mean annual flow past the gaging station near Colbert, immediately <br />below Denison Dam, where the drainage area is 39,772 square miles, <br />c was 3,911,000 acre -feet during the period 1921 -49; the average flow <br />for the period 1938 -49 was 4,288,000 acre -feet. <br />w <br />The Washita River rises in the eastern Texas Panhandle north <br />Z of the North Fork drainage basin and flows southeasterly to enter <br />Lake Texoma near Durwood, Oklahoma. The mean annual flow at the <br />gage near Durwood, with a drainage area of 7,930 square miles, is <br />about 1,400,000 acre -feet for the period 1938 -49. The Washita River <br />flows through a generally cultivated flood plain where bank - caving <br />is becoming a problem. The flow of this stream is much more sus- <br />tained than for the other major tributaries or for the main Red River <br />above Denison Dam. Several hundred acres are irrigated by pumping <br />from the river. Low -water flows are highly mineralized, the dissolved <br />solids being largely calcium sulphate. <br />A study of the rainfall records in the Red River Basin on an <br />annual basis reveals that the period of stream -flow records, 1938 -49, <br />had an average rainfall considerably above the long -time average. <br />For example, the 1938 -49 average precipitation at/Childress, Texas, <br />was 23.3 inches compared with 47 year average of 21.9 inches. At <br />Ardmore, Oklahoma., the average annual rainfall for 1938 -49 is 40.45 <br />inches, compared with a 48 year average of 37.40 inches. These <br />records indicate that existing stream -flow records for the upper. <br />part of the basin show an average yield that is above normal. <br />2 -11 <br />