The watershed of the West Fork of the Trinity River is fed by large acreage in Jack and Wise counties and flows southeast toward Tarrant and Dallas counties, where it eventually merges with the Clear, Elm, and East Forks after collecting water from Tarrant, Parker, Denton, Cooke, Dallas, and other surrounding counties. Throughout recorded history in the area, extended heavy rainy seasons caused the West Fork to overflow its banks and flood the region, while the abundance of water attracted Native Americans and pioneers. After a devastating Trinity River flood in 1922 caused 37 deaths and more than $3 million in damages in the Tarrant County area, flood control was initiated on the West Fork in Tarrant and Wise counties. In 1927, officials decided that two flood control dams near Bridgeport and Eagle Mountain would help alleviate the problem. Work on the Bridgeport Dam, creating Bridgeport Reservoir, now Lake Bridgeport, began in 1930. Because of severe unemployment during the Depression, the project provided much-needed work and income, and entire families camped in the future basin of the lake and cleared timber mostly with hand tools. The reservoir was completed in September 1931, and water was impounded on April 1, 1932, creating a lake with more than 11,000 acres of surface area. Although flooding on the Trinity River was not eliminated, it was greatly contained, and the lake became a municipal water source for most of Wise County and a continuing agricultural, industrial, and recreational resource.