Cooper Lake State Park

Cooper Lake State Park lies on Jim Chapman Lake, also called Cooper Lake, on the South Sulphur River along the line between Delta and Hopkins counties. The park has two units, Doctors Creek on the north side and South Sulphur on the south, both surrounded by park land and wildlife management areas. Check that your GPS sends you to the right one.

Landowners Grover Pickering and Quentin Miller proposed the reservoir in the late 1930s for flood control and water storage. Congressman Wright Patman asked the Corps of Engineers for a feasibility study in 1948, the Cooper Dam bill was signed in 1955, and in 1957 the Corps moved the damsite six miles downstream. A 1971 lawsuit over the lack of an environmental impact statement held up construction until an appeals court lifted an injunction in 1984. Luhr Brothers of Columbia, Illinois built the earthfill dam, 28,070 feet long and up to 79 feet high, between 1987 and 1991, and it was dedicated on September 28, 1991.

The Buggy Whip Equestrian Trail at South Sulphur runs 10.5 miles through nearly 600 acres of shaded forest, with a negative Coggins test required for horses. Both units have campsites, screened shelters, fishing piers, boat docks and kayak rentals, and South Sulphur has 14 cabins. More than 9,000 acres around the lake are a wildlife management area.