The camp only consisted of 3.78 acres. The Big Spring Hunting and Fishing Club, a non-profit corporation, held the title to the lease of the Colorado City lake property.  The organization consisted of seven trustees appointed by the Management of the Cosden Oil & Chemical Company.  The lease between Big Spring Hunting and Fishing Club and T. W. Daughtrey and wife, Savanna Daughtrey, the owners of the land, was dated May 31, 1950.  It was for a term of thrity-five years from said date, with the option of renewal for an additional term of ten years thereafter.  The lease extended to any assignee or sublessee of Big Spring Hunting and Fishing Club.  The property had to be utilized for "general outing and recreational purposes." 

The camp had five small tile buildings for overnight camping purposes, plus a small caretakers house.  The clay tiled buildings on the campsite were 16' x 30', and one had a bathroom built-on.  Some of the buildings were used for day or overnight camping.  One of the buildings was used for shower and toilet purposes and one was used for a workshop.  They had uncovered concrete floors, the rafters were exposed and no ceilings.

There was also a boat dock as well as other facilities.  The improvements were owned by the council.  They had electricity, a phone and natural gas on the property.  The water for the camp was supplied either form the lake or a water well.  The council had moved the caretakers residence to the property as well as built the boat docks. The boating and fishing dock was severely damaged with the heavy rains and flooding of the fall of 1980.  The caretaker was to have repaired the docks

Some 550 youth and adults used the property in 1978 and 374 used it in 1979.  Steve Odom said, "However, this was a good move for a temporary location from Murphy on Lake Thomas.  The owners of the property decided to sell and offered it to us first. (They notified the council in March of 1982 that they were selling their lots they owned.)  Their price was way too high, (they wanted $76,580.00 for the property) and it appeared that we were about to lose the only aquatic camp the Council had, inadequate as it was."

In July 1981, the council was notified that E. C. and Louis Bohannan had bought all of the Daughtrey Estate which included the property the camp was on.  They then notified all the property owners that they were offering all of the waterfront lots for sale.  If they did not hear form the council by August 1, 1981, they were to assume that the council was not interested in buying the lot the camp was on and it would be for sale to anyone who wished to buy it. An appraisal was done by Jeff L. Brown, SRPA in August of 198, for the council, as to the market value of the land only, so that the council could consider a purchase.  The land was valued at $54,000.  The improvements on the place added another $45,000 to the value of the property.  The council decided that the price they wanted for the property was too high.

So, on November 30, 1984, the council released any claim it had to the property for the sum of $10.00.  So, the lease was terminated and E. C. Bohannan nd his wife, Lois Bohannan, had total control of the property that had first been leased to the Cosden Petroleum Company on May 31, 1950.  The council had leased the property for 16 years. 

The boat docks were sold to J. W. Rogers of Colorado City for $1,000. 
 

The caretaker's house had been moved twice before and the council decided that it could not be moved again, so the house was sold to the new owners of the property, Mr. Julius C. Nitson, for $10,000. The caretakers house was 23' by 40' with a 4' x 13' addition on the rear and a 7' x 23' covered porch on the front.  The framed house had a living room, a kitchen-dining room, two bedrooms, a bath, and a utility room.  The walls were paneled, and the floor covered in carpet or vinyl. .

One of the red tile buildings was used as a workshop.  The campsite had two-30' light poles with vapor lamps and a third one that was not used.  There was some deteriorated fencing around part of the property.

8/3/93  Hewell Hughes Remembers Camp Lake Colorado City:  When Cosden donated the lease on the property on the West Side of Lake Colorado, we moved the caretaker's cottage from Lake Thomas to that property. It was a pretty good house that had been donated by Texaco. Most of the buildings we had on Lake Thomas had been donated and moved in from oil company camps that were being closed out. The dining hall came from Webb Airforce Base at Big Spring, and cost us something like $250.00 through a war surplus sale. It was an administration building that we converted.

When we left Murphy and went over to the West Side of Lake Colorado City, it was the right idea and a better location, but there wasn't enough property to accomplish what we wanted to. After the donation of the lease assignment to us by Cosden, we paid a very small token annual lease payment to the owners. Cosden also gave us title to the improvements, which included five little brick cottages and a dock. The cottages proved to be more of a nuisance than help because in the first place, the location was too close to a main road that ran along the lake and vandalism was terrible. And, as I have mentioned, there wasn't enough room. We called it Camp Lake Colorado City.

The owners of the property decided to sell and offered it to us first. Their price was way too high, and it appeared that we were about to lose the only aquatic camp the Council had, inadequate as it was

Steve Odom said, "There was another property owned by Cosden located on the east side of Lake Colorado City.  It was also an employee recreation area called the Col-Tex Club.  This property solved our problem of a place for our aquatic camp and is now known as Hughes Aquatic Base."

Updated:  March 3, 2009
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