Rotarians were treated to a video tour of the developing Tired Creek Lake in Grady County Tuesday when Mike Binion, director of the project, spoke and told of the years-long development.

Many of the photos were from 2014, when construction first began. Tired Creek Lake has been formed at the convergence of three other creeks. According to Binion, no dirt was dug from the bottom of the lakebed, but an earthen dam one-half mile long and a concrete gate were built to direct and retain the flow of the waters.

The $30 million dollar project is located completely in Grady County, and is owned by the county. However, it is under the authority of the Corps of Engineers, which finally, seven weeks ago, issued the final permit to close the gate.

Thanks to that and considerable recent rainfalls, the lake is beginning to fill enough that the Dept. of Natural Resources has begun to stock the lake with fish. They recently added 450 thousand baby blue gills and fish barriers have been placed in the lake. It is not yet ready to fish, however. DNR is scheduled to come back in Sept or Oct. to do a new survey. Then, they will know when fishing the waters may begin.

The lake has 20 miles of shoreline and covers 760 acres. An emergency spillway was built to handle overflow situations.

Asked about future plans, Binion said there are four spots designated for boat ramps and a marina is to be built near the jetty. As far as creating campsites, he said they hadn’t gotten that far yet.

Asked if there are any plans for future homesites, Binion replied that the Corps wants to keep it all as natural as possible; however, underwater sewer and water lines were placed at time of construction. “They had to bore under the lakes to install them,” he explained.

Binion said Tired Creek Lake is the only recreational permit to have been issued since the 1973 Clean Water Act.