River mouth Beaver River, Oklahoma Basin area 4,929 km² Mouth Beaver River | Basin size 1,903 sq mi (4,930 km) Source Cimarron County, Oklahoma Country United States of America | |
Main source Cimarron County, Oklahoma | ||
Coldwater Creek is an intermittently-flowing stream in northeastern New Mexico, and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas. One source says that Coldwater Creek is also known as Rabbit Ears Creek, because it rises near Rabbit Ears, a pair of mountain peaks in Union County, New Mexico. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Coldwater Creek drains an area of 1,903 square miles (4,930 km2). As of 2015, Coldwater Creek is essentially a dry stream because of prolonged drought.
Contents
Map of Coldwater Creek, Oklahoma, USA
Stream course
From New Mexico, it enters the south-west corner of Cimarron County, Oklahoma in the Oklahoma Panhandle. It passes easterly through Dallam, Sherman, and Hansford counties in the Texas Panhandle. Returning into the Oklahoma Panhandle, the course passes through the Optima National Wildlife Refuge, before joining the Beaver River in Texas County, Oklahoma 0.2 miles (0.32 km) above Optima Lake Dam.
Optima Lake
Optima Lake is about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) northeast of Hardesty, Oklahoma or 20 miles (32 km) east of Guymon). Before it was built, there was much enthuiasm about how the lake is now dry most of the time, because of the drought that has affected the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas. As a result, the lake project (completed in 1978), was abandoned in 2010. Public use areas have been left open, but are overgrown by vegetation and without services such as electricity and water. Major repairs have been postponed indefinitely because of budget cuts to the Corps of Engineers.
As far back as 1907, the USGS reported that Coldwater Creek is a dry sand bed most of the year.