Lake Delton
Encyclopedia
Lake Delton is a man-made freshwater
lake in Sauk County
in central Wisconsin
. For much of 2008, it was a mostly empty lake basin after a portion of a county highway that forms part of the dike wall eroded on June 9, 2008, under the pressure of floods in the area
. The resulting washout caused the lake to empty, leaving behind only rainwater pools and the flow from Dell Creek
. By March 2009, major repairs to correct the problem were completed, and the lake was allowed to refill. Minor repairs were expected to continued after that time, but the lake is now completely refilled and has been usable since Memorial Day weekend of 2009.
The lake was formed in 1927 to attract tourists to the area and became a popular attraction in the Wisconsin Dells
tourist area following the economic recovery after the Great Depression
. Resorts and tourist attractions line its banks. The lake is the site of Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show
, which features acrobatic water skiing
.
construction company owner William J. Newman decided to build a resort area in the tiny Delton, Wisconsin area (as the community of Lake Delton
had been known at the time). Newman engaged a local land agent to purchase tracts of land along both banks of a stretch of Dell Creek. After taking title to the tracts, Newman brought engineers and construction crews to the area, who built a 30 feet (9.1 m) high dam near the confluence of Dell Creek and the Wisconsin River
. They built a 1000 feet (304.8 m) long dike along the dam. They also created 1000 acres (404.7 ha) of artificial shoreline for the resort area.
Newman was particularly knowledgeable about dam and dike construction as his companies had done a majority of the caisson
work that downtown Chicago skyscrapers are built upon. Caisson work involves building retaining, watertight structures used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge
pier
or for the construction of a concrete dam
.
On July 27, 1927, they closed the dam's sluice gates and allowed Dell Creek to fill up the lake basin that had been excavated and graded behind the dam. This resulted in a large pooling of water from the flow of Dell Creek, which was named Lake Delton. Newman had spent $600,000 on the construction by that date and expected to spend another $400,000 to build the resort. They built a lock
between the lake and the Wisconsin River to allow small boats and canoes to travel between the bodies of water.
To decorate his own summer home on Lake Delton, Newman transported several sculptures and concrete blocks he saved from the rubble of Midway Gardens (1913, Chicago, Illinois; demolished 1929), the last of Frank Lloyd Wright
's Prairie Style
buildings, which had stood near the Lake Michigan
shoreline in downtown Chicago. Newman's company had been hired in 1929 to demolish the structure. Years later, when Wright heard of the survival of the sculptures and blocks, he purchased them and they remained with his estate. As recently as 1999, a block was found buried on the property of Newman's old summer home on Lake Delton and was donated to the Chicago Historical Society.
Newman ran the resort until the Great Depression
caused him to file for bankruptcy protection. The Lake Delton enterprise was barely able to survive, and in the 1940s Newman's interest was sold to an investment group, called the Lake Delton Development Corporation. The Lake Delton resort area was more successful after World War II
, when tourism increased in the Dells area with Tommy Bartlett
's water show.
By 2000, the Lake Delton strip had become home to waterparks, resorts and other recreational facilities that made it a mecca for travelers from across the United States. In fact, the local village website boasts that "1.5 million visitors come to the Wisconsin Dells-Lake Delton area each year."
The lake level was drawn down 8 feet (2.4 m) for repairs on the dam in 1983. The inflow recharged the lake in 15 days.
Much of the shoreline of Lake Delton has been developed with summer homes, year-round homes and condominiums. About 20 resorts surround the lake. Prior to the 2008 dam washout, the lake had poor water quality, which is common to impoundments in southwest Wisconsin. Some of the water quality problems may have been due to construction site erosion, as well as rural nonpoint source pollution. The lake also had nuisance aquatic weed growth that has required chemical treatment. The fishery of the Lake Delton was northern pike
, walleye
, largemouth bass
, channel catfish
and panfish
.
On the morning of June 9, 2008, a 400 feet (121.9 m) portion of County Highway A
that traverses the north side of Lake Delton failed, creating a new drainage channel to the Wisconsin River. At 2 am that day, 12 inches (304.8 mm) of rain caused one hundred residents to start sandbagging. The lake waters overflowed County Highway A about a quarter mile from the dam, and most of the lake emptied in two hours. The water began overflowing at approximately 10 am. As the water overtopped the isthmus
, it flowed downhill to the Wisconsin River approximately 800 feet (243.8 m) away, quickly eroding and creating a 400 feet (121.9 m) wide channel that rapidly drained the lake in an out-of-control torrent into the river, 40 feet (12.2 m) below the lake's level. Three homes washed away, and another two were destroyed when their foundations were undermined by the new outflow. The sediment
s at the bottom of the lake were visible. "We have nothing but mud in front of us now," said Tom Diehl, operator of the Tommy Bartlett Show and a Lake Delton village trustee. "No water. Just mud."
Wisconsin governor
Jim Doyle
announced on June 10 that the state would repair the lake. He described the lake as crucial to the billion-dollar Wisconsin Dells tourism area. Engineers with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) are studying the lake, and Doyle said it will only take about two weeks for water from the river to refill the 267 acres (108.1 ha) lake. It is unknown, however, how long it will take to divert and correct the river's current path back into the lake. Dell Creek is still flowing down to the Wisconsin River, and the lake would be refilled from the creek, once the breach in the highway and collaterally damaged areas are repaired.
Russ Rasmussen, director of watershed management for the DNR, said restoring Lake Delton will be more involved than simply filling in the new channel. "Whatever goes in there will have to be built to dam standards," he added.
Two of the owners whose homes were washed away at the point of the breach were unable to purchase flood insurance. They said that the city told them it was unnecessary, because the lake was dam-controlled. WISC-TV
reported that the village had lost its eligibility for Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA's) National Flood Insurance Program
after the village failed to formally adopt an updated floodplain map called a "Flood Insurance Rate Map
" (the official map of a community on which FEMA has delineated both the special hazard areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the community). The village engineer and clerk said the map was not adopted because of "gross inaccuracies" in how FEMA had expanded the floodplain.
In an effort to make some good from the situation, local residents organized a "clean the lake bottom" campaign in which interested volunteers walked the empty lakebed before the lake's refilling in order to remove refuse that has collected there. On June 14, 2008, about 250 volunteers, including many who don't live in the area, filled four 20 cubic yards (15.3 m³) dumpsters with refuse.
Illusionists Rick and Suzan Wilcox staged a show on June 22, 2008, to benefit families who lost their homes in the Lake Delton flood. In addition, visitors to Noah's Ark Waterpark on June 21, 2008, helped the victims of Lake Delton with the price of admission. The water park donated $2 from every ticket sold on that date to the Lake Delton Flood Relief Fund.
allocated $160,000 to the Village of Lake Delton to redirect Dell Creek back to its normal path and through the Lake Delton Dam. The reconstruction took about 10 days to complete. A cofferdam
was built to intercept the water and stop further erosion. A bipartisan congressional effort worked to provide emergency federal funds to midwest areas affected by the June 2008 floods. A bill was signed on June 30, 2008, that provided $390 million for the Emergency Watershed Program
, which provides assistance on a matching-fund basis to state and local governmental entities. The Natural Resources Conservation Service
estimated that about $500 million in total would be needed for the midwest recovery efforts.
The reparation of the break was coordinated by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
.
Restoration was well underway by the end of October 2008. The gap was filled with 12,000 truckloads of sand and tons of rocks. Sand to fill the gap was donated by a landowner less than a mile away saving $3 million in fuel and material costs. Improvements were also underway on the dam to allow it to withstand a 1,000 year flood without the lake's level rising. The Wisconsin DNR chief of dams stated that the goal was to have the lake refilled by late spring 2009. Highway A was reopened during the last week of November 2008. Water began flowing back into Lake Delton after the dam was closed in early December 2008. An official ceremony was held for December 5, 2008, for both the Highway A reconstruction and the Dam projects. Additionally, rotenone
was used to kill carp
prior to the commencement of refilling. In February 2009, it was announced that the lake was expected to be refilled by Memorial Day weekend. Costs to the State of Wisconsin were said to be $3.6 million and $2.5 million was spent by the village of Lake Delton.
On June 9, 2009, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle was in Wisconsin Dells to help celebrate the reopening of Lake Delton. The lake is at an average depth of 12 feet. Minnows have been released into the lake and in July 2009, 9,000 walleye fingerlings will be released.
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
lake in Sauk County
Sauk County, Wisconsin
Sauk County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 55,225. Its county seat and largest city is Baraboo. Sauk County is included in the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area and in the Madison Combined Statistical Area....
in central Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. For much of 2008, it was a mostly empty lake basin after a portion of a county highway that forms part of the dike wall eroded on June 9, 2008, under the pressure of floods in the area
June 2008 Midwest floods
The June 2008 Midwestern United States floods were flooding events which affected portions of the Midwest United States. After months of heavy precipitation, a number of rivers overflowed their banks for several weeks at a time and broke through levees at numerous locations. Flooding continued...
. The resulting washout caused the lake to empty, leaving behind only rainwater pools and the flow from Dell Creek
Dell Creek
Dell Creek is a warm freshwater stream that lies in northeastern Sauk County and southern Juneau County in central Wisconsin. The area along the stream is...
. By March 2009, major repairs to correct the problem were completed, and the lake was allowed to refill. Minor repairs were expected to continued after that time, but the lake is now completely refilled and has been usable since Memorial Day weekend of 2009.
The lake was formed in 1927 to attract tourists to the area and became a popular attraction in the Wisconsin Dells
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Dells is a city in south-central Wisconsin, with a population of 2,418 as of the 2000 census. It straddles four counties: Adams, Columbia, Juneau, and Sauk. The city takes its name from the dells of the Wisconsin River, a scenic, glacially formed gorge that features striking sandstone...
tourist area following the economic recovery after the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Resorts and tourist attractions line its banks. The lake is the site of Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show
Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show
Tommy Bartlett's Water Ski & Jumping Boat Thrill Show, more commonly known as the Tommy Bartlett Show, is a popular tourist attraction in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The show was created in 1952 by Wisconsin showman Tommy Bartlett as a traveling group of entertainers, based in Chicago, Illinois...
, which features acrobatic water skiing
Water skiing
thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...
.
The dam
In 1926, ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
construction company owner William J. Newman decided to build a resort area in the tiny Delton, Wisconsin area (as the community of Lake Delton
Lake Delton, Wisconsin
Lake Delton is a village located on the Wisconsin River in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 1,982, but in 2009, it had an estimated population of 3,081 which is a 55.4% increase. It also makes it the largest community in the Dells...
had been known at the time). Newman engaged a local land agent to purchase tracts of land along both banks of a stretch of Dell Creek. After taking title to the tracts, Newman brought engineers and construction crews to the area, who built a 30 feet (9.1 m) high dam near the confluence of Dell Creek and the Wisconsin River
Wisconsin River
-External links:* * * , Wisconsin Historical Society* * * *...
. They built a 1000 feet (304.8 m) long dike along the dam. They also created 1000 acres (404.7 ha) of artificial shoreline for the resort area.
Newman was particularly knowledgeable about dam and dike construction as his companies had done a majority of the caisson
Caisson (engineering)
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a retaining, watertight structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. These are constructed such that the water can be pumped out, keeping the working...
work that downtown Chicago skyscrapers are built upon. Caisson work involves building retaining, watertight structures used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
or for the construction of a concrete dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
.
On July 27, 1927, they closed the dam's sluice gates and allowed Dell Creek to fill up the lake basin that had been excavated and graded behind the dam. This resulted in a large pooling of water from the flow of Dell Creek, which was named Lake Delton. Newman had spent $600,000 on the construction by that date and expected to spend another $400,000 to build the resort. They built a lock
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
between the lake and the Wisconsin River to allow small boats and canoes to travel between the bodies of water.
To decorate his own summer home on Lake Delton, Newman transported several sculptures and concrete blocks he saved from the rubble of Midway Gardens (1913, Chicago, Illinois; demolished 1929), the last of Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
's Prairie Style
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
buildings, which had stood near the Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
shoreline in downtown Chicago. Newman's company had been hired in 1929 to demolish the structure. Years later, when Wright heard of the survival of the sculptures and blocks, he purchased them and they remained with his estate. As recently as 1999, a block was found buried on the property of Newman's old summer home on Lake Delton and was donated to the Chicago Historical Society.
Newman ran the resort until the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
caused him to file for bankruptcy protection. The Lake Delton enterprise was barely able to survive, and in the 1940s Newman's interest was sold to an investment group, called the Lake Delton Development Corporation. The Lake Delton resort area was more successful after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when tourism increased in the Dells area with Tommy Bartlett
Tommy Bartlett
Thomson "Tommy" Bartlett was an American showman and entertainment mogul from Wisconsin. He is most often associated with the water skiing thrill show based in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, known as Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show. The success of this and other traveling water ski shows led to...
's water show.
The lake level was drawn down 8 feet (2.4 m) for repairs on the dam in 1983. The inflow recharged the lake in 15 days.
Much of the shoreline of Lake Delton has been developed with summer homes, year-round homes and condominiums. About 20 resorts surround the lake. Prior to the 2008 dam washout, the lake had poor water quality, which is common to impoundments in southwest Wisconsin. Some of the water quality problems may have been due to construction site erosion, as well as rural nonpoint source pollution. The lake also had nuisance aquatic weed growth that has required chemical treatment. The fishery of the Lake Delton was northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
, walleye
Walleye
Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
, largemouth bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
, channel catfish
Channel catfish
Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...
and panfish
Panfish
A panfish, also spelled pan-fish or pan fish, is an edible game fish that usually doesn't outgrow the size of a frying pan. The term is also commonly used by anglers to refer to any small catch that will fit in a pan, but is large enough to be legal. However its definition and usage varies with...
.
2008 washout
County Trunk Highways (Wisconsin)
County Trunk Highways are a system of highways maintained at the county level or below in the US state of Wisconsin. Every county maintains its own County Trunk Highway system....
that traverses the north side of Lake Delton failed, creating a new drainage channel to the Wisconsin River. At 2 am that day, 12 inches (304.8 mm) of rain caused one hundred residents to start sandbagging. The lake waters overflowed County Highway A about a quarter mile from the dam, and most of the lake emptied in two hours. The water began overflowing at approximately 10 am. As the water overtopped the isthmus
Isthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
, it flowed downhill to the Wisconsin River approximately 800 feet (243.8 m) away, quickly eroding and creating a 400 feet (121.9 m) wide channel that rapidly drained the lake in an out-of-control torrent into the river, 40 feet (12.2 m) below the lake's level. Three homes washed away, and another two were destroyed when their foundations were undermined by the new outflow. The sediment
Sediment
Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....
s at the bottom of the lake were visible. "We have nothing but mud in front of us now," said Tom Diehl, operator of the Tommy Bartlett Show and a Lake Delton village trustee. "No water. Just mud."
Wisconsin governor
Governor of Wisconsin
The Governor of Wisconsin is the highest executive authority in the government of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The position was first filled by Nelson Dewey on June 7, 1848, the year Wisconsin became a state...
Jim Doyle
Jim Doyle
James Edward "Jim" Doyle is a Wisconsin politician and member of the Democratic Party. He was the 44th Governor of Wisconsin, serving from January 6, 2003 to January 3, 2011. He defeated incumbent Governor Scott McCallum by a margin of 45 percent to 41 percent; the Libertarian Party candidate Ed...
announced on June 10 that the state would repair the lake. He described the lake as crucial to the billion-dollar Wisconsin Dells tourism area. Engineers with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is an agency of the state of Wisconsin. Its purpose is to preserve, protect, manage and maintain the natural resources of the state. The WDNR has the authority to set policy for itself and to recommend regulations for approval by the State Legislature...
(DNR) are studying the lake, and Doyle said it will only take about two weeks for water from the river to refill the 267 acres (108.1 ha) lake. It is unknown, however, how long it will take to divert and correct the river's current path back into the lake. Dell Creek is still flowing down to the Wisconsin River, and the lake would be refilled from the creek, once the breach in the highway and collaterally damaged areas are repaired.
Russ Rasmussen, director of watershed management for the DNR, said restoring Lake Delton will be more involved than simply filling in the new channel. "Whatever goes in there will have to be built to dam standards," he added.
Two of the owners whose homes were washed away at the point of the breach were unable to purchase flood insurance. They said that the city told them it was unnecessary, because the lake was dam-controlled. WISC-TV
WISC-TV
WISC-TV is the CBS affiliate television station for Madison, Wisconsin. The station is the flagship of Madison-based Morgan Murphy Media, and has been affiliated with CBS since its launch on June 24, 1956...
reported that the village had lost its eligibility for Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...
(FEMA's) National Flood Insurance Program
National Flood Insurance Program
The National Flood Insurance Program is a program created by the Congress of the United States in 1968 through the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 . The program enables property owners in participating communities to purchase insurance protection from the government against losses from flooding...
after the village failed to formally adopt an updated floodplain map called a "Flood Insurance Rate Map
Flood Insurance Rate Map
A flood insurance rate map is an official map of a community within the United States that displays the floodplains, more explicitly special hazard areas and risk premium zones, as delineated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency...
" (the official map of a community on which FEMA has delineated both the special hazard areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the community). The village engineer and clerk said the map was not adopted because of "gross inaccuracies" in how FEMA had expanded the floodplain.
In an effort to make some good from the situation, local residents organized a "clean the lake bottom" campaign in which interested volunteers walked the empty lakebed before the lake's refilling in order to remove refuse that has collected there. On June 14, 2008, about 250 volunteers, including many who don't live in the area, filled four 20 cubic yards (15.3 m³) dumpsters with refuse.
Illusionists Rick and Suzan Wilcox staged a show on June 22, 2008, to benefit families who lost their homes in the Lake Delton flood. In addition, visitors to Noah's Ark Waterpark on June 21, 2008, helped the victims of Lake Delton with the price of admission. The water park donated $2 from every ticket sold on that date to the Lake Delton Flood Relief Fund.
Repair and restoration
Following the draining of Lake Delton, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Conservation ServiceNatural Resources Conservation Service
The Natural Resources Conservation Service , formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service , is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.Its name was changed in 1994 during the Presidency of...
allocated $160,000 to the Village of Lake Delton to redirect Dell Creek back to its normal path and through the Lake Delton Dam. The reconstruction took about 10 days to complete. A cofferdam
Cofferdam
A cofferdam is a temporary enclosure built within, or in pairs across, a body of water and constructed to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out, creating a dry work environment for the major work to proceed...
was built to intercept the water and stop further erosion. A bipartisan congressional effort worked to provide emergency federal funds to midwest areas affected by the June 2008 floods. A bill was signed on June 30, 2008, that provided $390 million for the Emergency Watershed Program
Emergency Watershed Program
The Emergency Watershed Program is a program administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service to respond to floods, fires, windstorms and other types of natural disasters...
, which provides assistance on a matching-fund basis to state and local governmental entities. The Natural Resources Conservation Service
Natural Resources Conservation Service
The Natural Resources Conservation Service , formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service , is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.Its name was changed in 1994 during the Presidency of...
estimated that about $500 million in total would be needed for the midwest recovery efforts.
The reparation of the break was coordinated by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Wisconsin Department of Transportation
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation, abbreviated as WisDOT, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Wisconsin responsible for planning, building and maintaining the state's highways...
.
Restoration was well underway by the end of October 2008. The gap was filled with 12,000 truckloads of sand and tons of rocks. Sand to fill the gap was donated by a landowner less than a mile away saving $3 million in fuel and material costs. Improvements were also underway on the dam to allow it to withstand a 1,000 year flood without the lake's level rising. The Wisconsin DNR chief of dams stated that the goal was to have the lake refilled by late spring 2009. Highway A was reopened during the last week of November 2008. Water began flowing back into Lake Delton after the dam was closed in early December 2008. An official ceremony was held for December 5, 2008, for both the Highway A reconstruction and the Dam projects. Additionally, rotenone
Rotenone
Rotenone is an odorless chemical that is used as a broad-spectrum insecticide, piscicide, and pesticide. It occurs naturally in the roots and stems of several plants such as the jicama vine plant...
was used to kill carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
prior to the commencement of refilling. In February 2009, it was announced that the lake was expected to be refilled by Memorial Day weekend. Costs to the State of Wisconsin were said to be $3.6 million and $2.5 million was spent by the village of Lake Delton.
On June 9, 2009, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle was in Wisconsin Dells to help celebrate the reopening of Lake Delton. The lake is at an average depth of 12 feet. Minnows have been released into the lake and in July 2009, 9,000 walleye fingerlings will be released.
Additional reading
- Goc, Michael J., Lake Delton: An Illustrated History, Middleton, Wisconsin: Badger Books, 2003. ISBN 0-938627-64-3
External links
- History of the Wisconsin River and the Dells from dellsstewards.com
- Photo essay of Lake Delton damage from www.madison.com