Laneport Dam, Friendship, TX

Friendship was founded in the 1880s by Czech and other immigrants and was associated with a second community, Allison, also called Old Friendship. The land was first settled by Elihu Creswell Allison in 1847.

The San Gabriel River flooded in 1913, causing widespread damage and even wrecking a train on the M.K.& T. railroad bridge at Berry's Creek. The biggest flood came in 1921.

Aerial view of Granger Dam before water.

The Deadly Flood of 1921

The rain started at 6 p.m. on September 10 and continued until 6 a.m. on September 11th. Although no official measure was mentioned - it was estimated that 50 inches of rain fell. One Henry Rozacky (who was 83 when he gave his report to the paper) had no trouble recalling the soggy events. He reported that a "dry and empty" 50 gallon drum in his backyard was overflowing about 2 a.m. and that the lightning was giving everything a greenish tinge. He reported that the blacksmith shop was washed away and that the general store was a total loss. He and a neighbor rescued 26 bales of ginned cotton that were bobbing away from the gin. In Mr. Rozacky's words: "You'd be surprised how readily 500 and 600 lb bales of cotton can float." He continued: "we got hold of them and pushed them before us until we reached a hill at the old Brookshire place. "...and you know, no one gave us a dime for their bales as they came to take their own." "One man tied a bale onto a tree and after the waters receded that bale was suspended in mid-air."

A family of three in Friendship lashed themselves to a tree but all drowned. Twenty-six people were trapped at Laneport - when they were "engulfed" by the flood. All were later found drowned - and Mr. Rozacky said he helped construct the twenty-six coffins. Rozacky went on to say that "not a single bridge of any type was left standing." "The bridge across the San Gabriel at Hoxie was swept away and the railroad tracks at Circleville stood on end in an arc." One house (the C.B. Arnold home) was carried downstream and deposited "where it now stands." Several other homes were involuntarily moved great distances by the surge of water.

After the rains, mud was everywhere -- its quantity nearly matched by its depth. With the bridges gone, horses became the best method of transportation. One man on horseback sank up to his saddle and had to be pulled out by a block and tackle. Scores of domestic pigs turned feral and had to be shot.

Occupants were forced to sell their lands and dismantle their cemetery. Graves in the Friendship Cemetery were reinterred at other cemeteries. The former Friendship Community holds a reunion every year on the third Saturday of October. Finally it was decided that it just wasn't worth it - if the water wanted Friendship so bad - let the water have Friendship. In the 1970s it was decided to impound the waters of the San Gabriel River. As a result, Laneport Dam (later renamed Granger Dam) was constructed between 1972 and 1980. In the summer of 1977 the spillway for the dam was constructed.