Sardis. Enid. Grenada. For millions of visitors every year, those three names are near magical passwords, evoking blue skies and blue waters, thriving wildlife and natural serenity…worlds where even the oldest are young once again, filled with childlike wonder and alive to all the beauty, excitement and delight that nature offers. Perhaps more to the point, for the millions who have visited the Tri Lakes, those three names—Sardis, Enid and Grenada—equal three important letters: F…U…N.

As you relax in a bass boat on Enid Lake under a cloudless sky…as you dive into the cold blue waters of Enid’s Long Branch swimming beach…watch as the herons stride lightly across the shallows at Grenada Lake’s Haserway Wetlands…listen to the symphony of tree frogs and crickets as the moon rises over Sardis Lake’s Clear Creek campground—it’s easy to feel that the Tri Lakes are places of timeless enchantment.

And yet it was only eighty years ago that the idea for these man-made wonders was even considered, after a ravenous rampaging beast escaped its confines to swallow 27,000 square miles of land—more than 16 million acres—destroying $400 million in property and killing 246 people in seven states.

By allowing visitors to commune at “I-level” with boatloads of natural splendor and fun, the Tri Lakes rescue a lot of souls from the deadening effects of modern day life. By serving as vital flood control for the mighty Mississippi River, they also save a lot of lives. In fact, it took a catastrophe to bring them into being.