Guadalupe River (Texas)

Course

The upper part, in the Texas Hill Country, is a small, fast stream with limestone banks, shaded by pecan and bald cypress trees. It is formed by the convergence of the North and South Fork Guadalupe. It is popular for tubing; users often float down it on inflated tire inner tubes during the spring and summer. East of Boerne, on the border of Kendall County and Comal County, it flows through Guadalupe River State Park, one of the more popular tubing areas along it.

The lower part begins at the outlet of Canyon Lake, near New Braunfels. The section between Canyon Dam and New Braunfels is the most heavily used for recreation. It is a popular destination for whitewater rafters, canoeists, kayakers, and tubers. When the water is flowing at less than 1000 cuft/s there can be hundreds if not thousands of tubes on this stretch. At flows greater than 1000 cuft/s, there are very few tubes on the water. Flows greater than 1000 cuft/s and less than 2500 cuft/s are ideal for rafting and paddling. The flow is controlled by Canyon Dam, and by the amount of rainfall the area has received. It is joined by the Comal River in New Braunfels and the San Marcos River about two miles (3 km) west of Gonzales. The part below the San Marcos River, as well as the latter, is part of the course for the Texas Water Safari.

The San Antonio River flows into it just north of Tivoli. Ahead of the entry into the San Antonio Bay estuary, it forms a delta and splits into two distributaries, the North and South parts, which both flow into the San Antonio Bay estuary at Guadalupe Bay.

File:The Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas, USA (8 May 2014).jpg|In Kerr County Image:Guadalupe River in Gruene, TX IMG_5522.JPG|In Gruene File:Guadalupe River Texas.jpg|Near Hunt File:Guadalupe River of Texas IMG_0500.JPG|Under Interstate 35 in New Braunfels File:Mouth of Guadalupe River.jpg|Mouth of the South Guadalupe River at Guadalupe Bay

History

The river was named after Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe by Alonso de León in 1689. It was renamed the San Augustin by Domingo Terán de los Ríos who maintained a colony on it, but the name Guadalupe persisted. Many explorers referred to the current Guadalupe as the San Ybón above its confluence with the Comal, and instead the Comal was called the Guadalupe. Evidence indicates that it has been home to humans for several thousand years, including the Karankawa, Tonkawa, and Huaco (pronounced like Waco) Indians.

Being led by Prince Solms, 228 pioneer immigrants from Germany traveled overland from Indianola to the site chosen to be the first German settlement in Texas, New Braunfels. Upon reaching the river, the pioneers found it too high to cross due to the winter rains. Prince Solms, perhaps wishing to impress the others with his bravado, plunged into the raging waters and crossed the swollen river on horseback. Not to be outdone by anyone, Betty Holekamp immediately followed and successfully crossed the river.

Flash floods

The river is prone to flash floods due to a combination of topography, geology, and climate. The greater area, Texas Hill Country, is known as flash flood alley. According to the Washington Post, it "is the most flash-flood prone region in the country".

1978

July 1978, tropical storm Amelia made landfall and moved inland, stalling over the headwaters of the Medina and Guadalupe rivers. 33 people drowned in the flooding.

1987

On July 17, 1987, a sudden flash flood swept a bus full of children away at a low water crossing. The incident occurred near the town of Comfort, Texas, which lies about 50 mi northwest of San Antonio. At the time, the Pot O' Gold Ranch, which is situated on the south side of the river about 2 mi southwest of Comfort, was hosting a church camp, with over 300 children from various churches attending. On the night of July 16 and into the morning of the 17th, almost 12 in of rain had fallen across the Texas hill country to the north, triggering immense flooding on the Guadalupe River. The camp was scheduled to end on the 17th and the children were going home later that day, but camp supervisors at the ranch decided to evacuate the children early that morning before it rose too high. At around 9am that morning, the children were loaded into buses and the buses were directed to a low water crossing.

While most of the buses managed to make it across, one bus from the Seagoville Road Baptist Church/Balch Springs Christian Academy in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs was swept away, along with Pastor Richard Koons, his wife Lavonda, chaperons Allen and Deborah Coalson, and thirty-nine children, ranging in age from 8 to 17. The vehicle had been among the last to leave the camp and proceed alongside the flooded crossing, but when the bus stalled due to rapidly rising waters, Koons and Coalson attempted to get the children to safety by instructing them to form a human chain so that they could reach shore hand in hand. As this was attempted, a sudden rush of water broke the chain and swept them all away. Rescuers from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the US Army's 507th Medical Division managed to save all four adults and 29 of the children via helicopters. The last survivor was rescued from the river around 11:30am, and by that afternoon two children had been confirmed dead, with eight still missing. The first confirmed fatality was 14-year-old Melanie Finley, who after being lifted from the river by helicopter lost her grip on the rope and fell to her death. The second fatality was 13-year-old Tonya Smith, who was found entangled in barbed wire two miles downstream from where the bus was washed away. Several parents of the children descended on Comfort, most staying at a makeshift shelter set up by town residents and the American Red Cross at the Comfort Elementary School. Six more bodies were recovered from the river on July 18, identified as Lagenia Keenum, 15; Michael Lane, 16; Michael O'Neal, 16; Cindy Sewell, 16; Christopher Sewell, 13; and Stacey Smith, 16 (sister of Tonya Smith). The following day, the ninth and final body was recovered from the river, identified as 14-year-old Leslie Gossett. The body of 17-year-old John Bankston Jr., the oldest of the 10 victims, was never found.

In the summer of 1988, near the edge of the river and at the foot of the driveway to the Pot O' Gold Ranch, a memorial plaque was dedicated to the children who died as well as those who survived. On April 18, 1989, the story of the deaths and rescues was shown as the pilot episode of Rescue 911, and in 1993 was made into a television movie called The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children? The film followed the experiences of some of the children and their families, and starred Joe Spano as Reverend Richard Koons.

2002

The river flooded in 2002 after the area received over 19 inch of rain.

2025

River conditions

The river's conditions can change rapidly. Its flow is set by the dam at Canyon Lake operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. It is highly regulated and well maintained to ensure safety. It is, however, prone to severe flooding. During the rainy seasons the water can reach well above the banks and exceed "normal" levels, in which case it can become life threateningly dangerous due to swift currents. If the flow gauge exceeds 1,000 cuft/s at the Sattler Gage, it is generally considered by local authorities as too dangerous for recreational purposes for all except expert kayakers and/or whitewater rafters. On October 31, 2013, the river in New Braunfels rose from 74 to in one hour and 15 minutes due to locally heavy rainfall.

Uses

Fly fishing for rainbow, and brown trout below Canyon Lake is extremely popular along the entire river, anglers can catch guadalupe bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, rio grande cichlid, striped bass and white bass. Tailrace fishing is also common below many of the weirs, spillways and dams such as West-point Pepperell Dam located on the north end of Lake Dunlap within the City Limits of New Braunfels.

The Mandaean-American community of San Antonio regularly performs masbuta (baptism) rituals in the Guadalupe River.

Points of interest

• Riverside Nature Center, Kerrville, Texas

References

References

1. (February 21, 2012). "Guadalupe and San Antonio River Basins, Tx".
2. {{GNIS. 1375653
3. {{Handbook of Texas
4. "Texas Almanac Pronunciation Guide".
5. {{GNIS. 1375165. North Fork Guadalupe River
6. {{GNIS. 1347445. South Fork Guadalupe River
7. {{GNIS. 1342749. North Guadalupe River
8. {{GNIS. 1347470. South Guadalupe River
9. Ransleben, Guido E.. (1954). "A Hundred Years of Comfort in Texas". Press of the Naylor Co.
10. Garcia-Buckelew, Bob. (2025-07-05). "Flash floods have long haunted the Texas Hill Country".
11. Graff, Amy. (2025-07-06). "Here's Why the Deadly Storm Quickly Intensified in Texas". [[The New York Times]].
12. (2025-07-07). "Texas Hill Country is no stranger to flash floods. Why were so many caught off guard?". [[The Washington Post]].
13. (July 18, 1987). "Raging River Kills 2 8 Missing In Texas Tragedy". [[Dallas Morning News]].
14. Vrazo, Fawn. "Toll At 8 In Texas Flooding 2 Young Campers Are Still Missing". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
15. MacCormack, John. (July 4, 2025). "Almost 40 years ago, 10 children died in a Comfort flood that shook Texas". [[San Antonio Express-News]].
16. Garcia-Buckalew, Bob. (July 4, 2025). "Remembering the 1987 Guadalupe River flash flood that killed 10 after raging through a Hill Country summer camp".
17. (February 18, 2020). "Against The Current".