Nolan River

In 1961, the Nolan River was dammed at Highway 67, west of the city of Cleburne, submerging the site of Wardville, the original county seat of Johnson County. The reservoir, named Lake Pat Cleburne, is the municipal water source for the city of Cleburne and serves as a recreational body for the county. The Nolan, north of the dam, is a narrow, tree-lined, slow-moving, rather shallow stream primarily flowing through private farm land, and is popular with anglers. Below the lake, the river takes on a different character as it flows through limestone bluffs with a hard-packed clay and gravel river bottom, and the banks are vegetated with many species of large trees. The river, below the dam, flows with a considerable volume of water, 250 to 300 cubic feet per second (7.1 to 8.5 m3/s). The stream contains significant fish populations and is home to the great blue heron and snowy egret. The r…