In North Texas, the value of any ranch (especially during the old days before electricity) was largely dependent on available water. Fortunately, the 10xXx Ranch is blessed with running creeks and a bedrock base to hold water in the creeks. After Joe Mitchell purchased the ranch, he noticed an area on the south part of the ranch where two small creeks converged together to form a larger creek. There seemed to be plenty of water running, but no area to impound the water. After discussing the situation with his contractors and trying to figure out how to make a lake from the naturally flowing water, they hatched an idea to “dynamite” the blue shale bedrock (which would fracture the shale rock over a large area). This fracturing of the blue shale base allowed the shale to be scooped up and hauled to other ponds which were leaking water (the shale would act as a liner to hold water in leaking ponds). This moving of the fractured shale created a huge hole which allowed the creek water to be impounded to form a lake. They then added a small concrete retaining wall type dam to create the small but gorgeous Blue Shale Lake. The lake is stocked with Black Bass and world class Bluegill. Many fly fisherman have honed their skills by preying on the monster Bluegill from Blue Shale Lake.