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Harnessing the Headwaters: First Dams on the Mississippi is made possible
by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Water binds us all together. It is the universal solvent.
Water is one of the few factors in common for all life on our planet. Here in north central
Minnesota. The Mississippi River is a twisting turning thread that ties us
not only to our geography and our environment, but our history
our past and our future. Harnessing the Headwaters of the Mississippi
with dams wrote our story as Minnesotans. The power of the
great river that drove 19th century commerce in the Twin Cities fed and
built a new nation. Doing so displaced indigenous peoples and changed a landscape and lakeshore
for wildlife but with time came adaptation. PPCome along with Lakeland PublicppTelevision and
explore the times and tales of these first dams on the Mississippi.
The U S Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that created
these first dams on the Mississippi still manages these structures and
the reservoirs they have created. We met with PPPatrick Moes of the Army Corpsppof Engineers
at the current concrete structure at Big Sandy Lake northeast of
Aitkin, MN. My primary responsibility is to inform
and educate the public and the tax payers for that matter
what the Corps of Engineers is doing in their backyard. We have a lot of responsibility
obviously one is dam safety. With that
encompasses water safety. I'm constantlyppreminding people to wear their
life jackets while on the water. One of the other key components
of the Mississippi headwaters dams is obviously working with the
local partners, whether it would be travel liaisons
??? associations, local counties, municipalities.
Working to solve the water issues of todayPPas well as tomorrow. I don'tppthink you
can quantify any of the dams as being more important than the rest. They will all
designed to work in concert. So the 6 reservoirs that we do
continue to maintain. They all have their unique charm. It was once
told to me that if you visit each of the reservoirs and stay a while,
you are going to find one that you love and you PPwill treat it as your home andppyou will never go
back to another one. It is so true. Cross Lake
is my personal favorite cause I have family with a little girl
Just because it has a great recreation area. Winnie is very remote
huge cedar trees line the park. It's just beautiful.
Leech is the same way. Leech has an access directly to the lake.
So if you have a fortunate pleasure of owning a boat you can
park it in it's own little bay area and be able to take that directly to
the lake where you can catch a trophy muskie.
You start looking at Gull Lake they'rePPknown for walleye fishing.ppThere is some
pretty well known resorts on the Gull LakePPchain of lakes as well. WhiteppFish chain of lakes
is no different. They all have their unique characteristics. We invite everyone
to visit and share it. You know the initial vision of
our first district commander Major GeneralppGouverneur Warren who was a
hero of Gettysburg. The recent 150 year anniversary of
Little Round Top basically saved the Union army. He became our first
district commander. His first initial vision of the headwaters
was to have a little bit more than 30 dams in the region to provide that water supply
that was critical to not only the loggers but the millers
of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Ray Nelson is a scholar and a gentlemen
he served his nation honorably workingPPfor the Corps of Engineers forppmore than
30 years. Much of that time we worked ppdirectly with community outreach
with our outdoor program, interpretative work
He has a wealth of knowledge in the Lewis and Clark area.
He provides a ray of sunshine
every opportunity that I get to speak with him. He is a true American
hero in my opinion. The primary reasonppfor the headwater dams was
river flow. What occurred back in the mid 1800's
Minneapolis/St. Paul was the fledgling years of growing into cities.
There were made through industries which were flour and lumber in particular.
Water transportation was major transportation
routes for everybody at that time.
So the major players like Pillsbury, railroaders came into
a little bit. But politics is always part of every story.
They went to the politicians and said we have a problem here.
We have this product to transport to these thriving communities
along the Mississippi River and back east ppbut we can't get them there,
in particular late July and August cause the Mississippi River dries up.
We can walk right across and not even get wet.
We need to come up with some plan for us to have a 3 foot navigation
channel for our boats to do all this transportation.
When I talk about a 3 foot navigation channel I'm talking about the depth
of the Mississippi River at the time. Instead of having 3 inches to paddle a boat in
you would have 3 feet so your barge or boat would not be running aground.
basically. So it's depth not width. Well anyway
they got a hold of the Corps of Engineers who were fledgling organization in the mid
1800's. They sent some engineers up to the headwaters
to do surveys of these natural lakes.
In particular to see if they could put dams on these lakes
they are all connected to the Mississippi River
and try to estimate what type of dam to build and how much water they could get into the
Mississippi River by doing so. The first dam that was completed was
1884 at Leech Lake and Winnie and
Pokegama basically all the same year. These structures were wood structures
They were not concrete structures, we have to realize that concrete
still was not something that was used for dam building.
These dams started holding water back from thePPlakes and putting it in theppriver. . They could see
that there was some success here. There was some water flow that was continuing down
the stream past Minneapolis/ St Paul providing
water that was not quite acceptable but close to acceptable.
They still wanted that 3 foot channel. So thenPPthey went to Congress and saidppwe need more
dams and we have places like Sandy Lake here. Pine River dam on
Cross Lake, Gull Lake. So they said okay will approve structures
there as well. So they ended up building the
Pine River Dam at Cross Lake and the Sandy Lake one.
Bingo! They got these dams completed and thePPwater flow from these naturalpplakes was enough
were now reservoirs were providing a 3 foot navigation channel on the
Mississippi. This worked out really well for the types of boats
at that time of our country history. As time goes on
of course more cities communities are startingPPto get built along ourpptributaries.
and Mississippi River. Minneapolis/St. Paul is
growing leaps and bounds. So they said 3 foot is
not going to be enough and we are going to have PPto look at something better a 6ppfoot channel
at least. In the 1930's locks and dams started being
built. A series of locks and dams which is a staircase on the
Mississippi River for barges and things like that to take goods.
So in the 30's the Mississippi Headwaters ones here
all of a sudden were more minor. They really weren't as necessary
The dam tenders that were still managing these dams up here in the headwaters
had people knocking on their door and saying can we pitch a tent
out here in your front yard so we can access the lake to go fishing.
Can we spend a vacation here? Do you have a bathroom
we can use? All of these little types PPof necessities were starting topppop up.
The dam tenders would say well I guess fine. They would get approval
from the colonel or whoever was in charge of the district.
Nationwide other dams had been built in the meantime and they were having the same
thing occur there as well. So finally in the '50's and early
60's recreation was just taking
a hold all over this country. Something had toPPbe done because a handfulppturned into
50, 60, 100 people wanting to camp and use facilities
that weren't there. They had to come up ppwith an organized recreation
program for the Corps of Engineers and they did. Presto, Boom!
After many years all of sudden the Corps of Engineers was one of the leading
recreation producers in the country. Now today because of the ownership
around these reservoir and lakes is not government ownership
it's private ownership. Real estate on lakes is huge dollars
now. People buy lakeshore with this is an investment
The lake level is this today and when I decide to sell it in
20 years and 30 years. I want it to remain thePPsame I don't want to see anyppchange. The dams
are important to a lot of people that built homes
with the understanding that this was going to be this way for perpetuity.
Basically for the rest of their lives and their grandchildren would live. Be able to have
the same thing. So the Corps tries to manage that summer band??
for the entire to try to keep nobody flooded anywhere if possible.
One of the first dams on the Mississippi is the Power Dam.
east of Bemidji, MN. The Army Corps of Engineers does not manage this
structure. It is owned and operated by the Otter Tail Power Company.
While this is the first hydro electric dam on the mighty river
The interest of property owners, recreational boaters and environmental
concerns remain in the forefront. Darren Matetich of Otter Tail
takes us on a tour. What I do with the dam is I control
we control the water levels from Lake Bemidji and Stump Lake here. Try to
maintain it as a steady level. On Lake Bemidji what we do is we try to maintain a foot
and a half variance from a high water level to a low water level. We try
to maintain that all year around. We do drop down in the late winter early spring
to accommodate the run off. Then things PPusually level out in theppsummertime.
Is it dangerous beyond that. We've just seen a canoe
going around there and everything. Is there a PPdanger area here? There is appdefinite danger
area. This is where the flow comes out of the PPdam. So there is current here.ppIt's the river
flowing. That's why we have the danger buoys out there. We would like people to stay outside
of the buoys. Make sure they stay safe. PPWe don't want anybody near theppdam.
Cause it is a very dangerous area. Why the water backs up
here these are the gates that we controlPPthe flow with on the lakes andppthe river.
We'll walk down here and take a look at them.
So nowadays what we do is we have a wrench that we come out
with. We can put it right on here. Just with an electric drill
and we can lower and raise these gates up. In the past they used to be
wooden planks that we would have to physicallyPPcome out, grab a hold of andpppick them up and
pull them out one at a time. All the way down PPthe length of the dam toppcontrol the flow.
There is definitely a lot more flow in the spring then there is right now.
It's pretty light right now. There is still a bit of noise with it even now though isn't there? It is it is
Gets noisy. Usually you won't be able toPPsee the rocks and everythingppdown there.
if it flowing hard. It's kind of boiling there then is it? Almost like a cauldron
when it's really rolling. It's a very dangerous place you can
imagine getting stuck in one of the gates. Your message to people who are using the river
is don't even come beyond the first buoy then. I would stay back
of the buoys make sure you stay safe.
We don't want anybody getting hurt obviously.
If a person wants to portage
around here how would they do that? We do have a portage set up around
the dam. Come down the river and right over here out a ways
from the buoy there is a portage location ppand you can walk your canoe or
your kayak down around the sub station and
then you come down and there is a DNR landing right down on the bottom of the river there.
Okay. There is a walking portage around the structure
This was the lock on the north end. From what we can
dig up as far as the history. This end was the lock when they were hauling logs
that's the side they used to run them down to get PPthem into the river and floatppdown the river.
There has been a number of additions
to the concrete in the last few years. The wall over here, that whole wall
was all redone with concrete. I wasn't here in '88 but I never
did get to see with just the rock and timber.
Our max output is around 550-600 kw
Which is a little bit more than a half a megawatt. It's not alot
it's a couple of smaller units in there. But it is output.
It is expensive to maintain also. The flow of the Mississippi
headwaters continues it's journey from the Power Dam to a structure
controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers on Lake Winnibigoshish. The Lake
Winnie Dam. Jeffrey Kleinert of the Army Corps of Engineers
tends to the dam and manages the recreation area. The Mississippi
actually runs in from Cass Lake through Knutson Dam
that's owned by the forest service. Then after coming through Winnie itself
through the middle of the lake it reaches PPWinnie Dam here and we put theppwater
back into more of a river channel instead ofPPin the middle of the lake. Butppwhen you
actually take a boat out on Winnie you can find the old river channel at the bottom of the lake.
Because before the dam was built, it was a lake it just wasn't
this high. So you can still see at the bottom PPof the lake the old riverppchannel
especially on this end. The original dam was made of wood in
1884 and again in the early 1900's it was made out of concrete
and improved. This one received a face lift
in about 1990. We took all of the wooden soft logs out
and put steel gates in. Also we put in concrete
bulk heads on the sides of the sluice gate to take up that space.
They have hooks on the top so they are decided to have a crane pull the entire
bulkhead out at one time. If you want ppto move that much water we can.
Winnie is roughly 70,000 surface acres
It's kind of shaped like a big stomach. With that large of a lake
it's hard to control large fluctuations in the lake
with a dam of this size. Because it's reallyPPnot that large of a dam for applake that
size. So you have to anticipate your need ahead of time
and it takes longer to get to where you want to go. It's also like a giant
bathtub you get a lot of wind especially west, northwest, blows in toward the
dam. It kind of sloshes like a giant bathtub so you get an artificial
high reading if you get a west, northwest wind.
So you have to take that into account to. People should remember too
the dam isn't really just the concrete. ppThe dam is actually
roughly a mile long and goes all the way from the resorts on the other side clear to this side
It's a clay embankment but it's packed and made out of impervious clay
so water doesn't pass through it. The concrete part is actually the outlet works.
The thing that we use to control the flow. So some people
say the dam but it's really the large embankment itself is the dam.
If you look through the woods over there you will see a little building.
Back in the 60's that was owned over there by the state of Minnesota.
The Minnesota Conservation Department long before the DNR was the DNR. But they had
a large cells back there about 9 of them and they
reared minnows for stocking in various lakes.
Over time some of those became grown up and they didn't use them anymore
and then the t tribe, Leech Lake Natural Resources group came to us
and said how about you sell that land PPover there to us and we'llppsubdivide
a couple or three of those into smaller onesPPand we'll use them for rearingppour own
fry for stocking in lakes in the reservation. PPSo now that over there is ownedppby
the tribe. We own right to the toe of the dam PPand you can see the tube comingppout
There is always some what coming from the control structure over there
that feeds water to their cells. Actually it's a gravity feed from the lake.
Cause there is a tube that actually goes right through the dam and there is a valve in there
and that controls the water feeding right from the lake
over to that control structure and then the extra just comes right back out to the river.
Below Winnie dam we have a day use area. We have a picnic shelter
that people can have a group picnic in. PPWe have picnic tables and standppup
grills if they just want to have a small picnic with a family. We have playground equipment
and a brand new fish cleaning station for people to clean their fish. There is
22 campsites with electricity. We havePPrunning water and a dumpppstation
for them to dump at the end of their stay.
I guess that I'd just say that Winnie is one of the premier
walleye and perch fisheries in the world. It is really
generates our visitation for this site is mostly in May and June
centered around that fishing. Our journey continues from
Lake Winnie to Leech Lake. The Leech Lake Dam is located in the town of
Federal Dam, MN 8 miles south of the historic Venus door.
So we are here at the Leech Lake Dam on Leech Lake and I'm with
Timm Rennecke from the Army Corps of Engineers. Timm we are going to hear a little bit
about this dam that you are responsible for here. It's operated
by US Army Corps of Engineers and it's one of 6
of the Mississippi River project, the 2nd one constructed
in the series of 6 for the MIssissippi Headwaters by the Corps of Engineers.
Was this a difficult dam to construct?
Yeah the history recollects many challenges of the time
because there weren't a lot of highways or roads coming up to this remote
area. So even though concrete was being utilized
in the late 1800's, this dam was constructed with
earth and clay and wooden control structures because
it was too difficult to get concrete up here back at the time.
The US government had an interest on the
upper Mississippi River to raise the water levels for navigation
and milling, industrial use. I know the flour
mills in the Twin Cities, St Paul area needed higher
water to get boats further up
in to like St Anthony Falls, up into the area in Minneapolis.
The government first authorized the Mississippi Headwaters
project and eventually six dams got
constructed up here. This was the 2nd
of the 6 to be constructed. So they did serve their original purpose
but now they are more utilized for flood damage reduction
recreation, fish and wildlife management. ppSo now you find yourself
running a recreation site and tell me a little bit
what that is like. Well it goes along kind of with the recreation
business. The Corps of Engineers can provide
services to the public through leases and concessions
that the government can't provide on it's own. So really
what they are, they are private businessPPon corps land on governmentppland
to provide services. And the boat liveries
the same as we would call marinas today. But back in the mid 20th century
these boat liveries along the waterfrontpphere at Federal Dam
provide some really neat recreational opportunities to people
from the midwest, Chicago, Minneapolisppand all over. They would come
up on the trains and get off here at Federal Dam and
these concessionaires, boat liveries would take
people out fishing and on launches and provide a recreational
experience that was back then very unique.
Of course it's evolved more to what were use to
today where people have cabins and lake homes
The economics of that business has changed a lot
since then. But still today Tonga's Launch Service
still exists here on the waterfront, providing boat launches
for people. It's really neat, because when you see their business
it's still brings back the memories and the history
of the good old fashion Mom and Pop resorts and that up north
Minnesota experience that used to... or still goes
on but really took off decades ago.
As far as I know these boat liveries, these
concessionaires here at Federal Dam were the first in the Corps of Engineers.
Leech Lake Dam and the community that reflects it's origin
Federal Dam had a veritable cast of characters in their local
citizens. Russell Lego a lifelong resident of Federal Dam
recounts some living history for us. Lego has tales from his youth
working at Leech Lake Dam businesses including his
father's boat livery. There used to be 6 or 7
of them down there.
My dad owned one way down at the end.
They all had business.
It wasn't like it is now. There was people
on them boats. The railroad went through we'd ship
all the fish out. Back in them days you could send a
limit home and then you could take a limit with you. If you were like
Chicago somewhere. We shipped out a lot of fish.
So when you dad had one of those concession what would you
do? Cleaning fish.
I cleaned lots of fish.
We got paid for it. Sorel Spruce another kid
and I we did all the fish cleaning and
packaging of them.
We had a little box factory here in town that used to make
fish boxes for the liveries and other people to.
but mostly for the liveries here. We caught
lots of fish. Business was
there was probably 65-70 cabins in town at that time.
Opening of fish season she was all full. There was no
vacancies or anything. Same way with hunting
deer hunting, duck hunting.
Gradually it disappeared. There ain't a cabin in town now is there?
Maybe Marty's up there. Tonga's rent out. Oh Yeah Tonga's rent out.
Why do you think there are less people
coming now? In the first place you go fishing for
I got 75 cents a head for guiding.
$2.25
you could go fishing on a launch.
Now what is $50 - $60
That's the difference. Everybody startedPPgetting their own boats andppmotors.
Fishing
never deteriorated around here
it was always pretty good back in them days.
August was a tough month. The water level management obviously
a year round job. The one thing people
should really grasp onto, water connects
us to everything. If you are talking fisheries
you know people love to fish. Hunting, waterfowl
wild rice management. It's all linked to the water
I know native americans knew that
centuries ago and it really is true today.
So I really enjoy the water level management
part of my job.
water flowing
We have these desirable summer ranges that
each one of the 6 dams tries to achieve every summer
and at Leech Lake it's about a half
a foot. You have this huge body of water
with a huge water shed and we're trying to keep it
within this micro 6 inch band during the summer.
Which people have developed the area around PPthe lake have become accustomppto
We do our best but mother nature is still
very much in charge of how successful we are
operating during the summer with that desirable range.
Make no mistake about mother nature is still charge.
Show me some of the rice that you're responsible for managing the
levels to help this rice grow. Okay there is some right up here
on the pool side of the dam.
What are the challenges for you of managing the levels so that the rice
can prosper if you like? First of all
this was a natural lake before the Corps built the empoundment.
Because of that the downstream river capacity
of our outflow is kind of not enough
during the wet periods to be able pass enough water to keep this lake
in it's desirable range.
The flood damage reduction responsibilities
like say you have a wet fall,
lot of snow during the winter. We do our
best to do a draw down and then it
the snow melts in spring. You get a lot of rain
and it starts reaching flood stage down in the Aitkin area.
So then Leech and Winnie actually
become flood storage reservoirs to help
minimize the flood damage down stream. Okay.
So when that happens, Leech Lake rises
and rises.
So it can happen so the water levels are so high
you don't get good germination of aquatic vegetation in spring.
If that happens you wouldn't see
a nice lush wild rice bed like what you see out there right now.
As it germinates it grows to the surface
and then it reaches a floating leaf stage.
Now at this point if you get a lot of rain or you
raise the water level for whatever reason. It's
possible to pull it out by the roots. ppBecause the floating leaves
will lift it up and it will pull out. ppThen you lose your rice.
Then eventually the floating leaf stands up
like a grain and at that point
it's pretty stable. It's pretty secure.
And then eventually it starts growing heads of grain
and at that point it starts getting top heavy. If that happens
and you drop the water levels or you get a big wind
or heavy rain it will tip over.
At that point if the grain is ripe enough you have
duck rice but it's not harvestable rice
for people. So there is a lot of issues
both mother nature and
harm that humans can cause through trying
to manage water levels. What's really really difficult
that most people wouldn't understand unless they live below a dam.
Most dams were put in to control a pool
of water above the dam. So you have an operating plan
for that pool of water. So then below the
dam you have your river. Let's say youppare trying to raise that water
level on your lake. So you use
your control structure to reduce the amount of outflow, so your river
drops way down. So now let's just reverse
that and say you have water on your lake and you open
your control structure and you increase the outflow. Then
the water comes up in the river dramatically faster
and it fluctuates above the dam. So in this case of Leech Lake Dam
there is rice beds on Leech Lake and there is rice beds
down stream of Leech Lake, particularly at the Mud
Goose Wildlife Management Area. That's owned
and managed by the Minnesota DNR. But it is so close it's only about
30 miles downstream. So the operation of this
dam vastly affects the water levels
down there. So we're trying to grow rice in both areas
which is a real challenge. Sometimes the man made control
structures help and sometime they hurt. Just depending
on the conditions and
the variations with whatever mother nature has to deal out.
So you've got a lot on your hands then in dealing with the water levels here
not something you can let slide too much.
I haven't mentioned environmental stewardship
that is one of our main business functions.
When it comes to wild rice, that falls under tribal trust but it would also fall under environmental
stewardship. Along with that would come water levels for wildlife
management, fish and wildlife, erosion control
wild rice and any other kind of environmental
issue or management that needs to be
considered. There is an ariel photo that we have inside on the wall
that we should go in and take a look at.PPIt focuses on the Leech LakeppRiver
from the dam down to Mud Goose Wildlife Management Area.
Okay I'd like to see that. It's actually a makeup of a whole bunch of little ariel photos
that we put together focusing on the Leech River.
So currently we are right up here at Leech Lake Dam
by the town of Federal Dam. This is Portage Bay on Leech
Lake so you are seeing just a little bit of the northeast tip of
Leech Lake. Then the wild rice we were looking at
is all right up here above the dam. The concessionaire we were talking
about is right in this area the boat ramp.ppOf course that's the
beginning of the Leech River. This gives you a really good
concept of this is just a tiny little portion of Leech Lake
but the mass of water out there and then this
little tiny river. So that's when you start
talking about river capacity, channel capacity.
Say we get into a wet period or Leech Lake Dam starts to
perform as a flood storage for downstream
flood damage reduction so the lake ends up a foot high.
Then you start trying to draw down this lake with that
small channel. The capacity just isn't there.
So that's why I was saying on a lake you are maybe only fluctuating
a couple feet or a foot. But then you start
opening and closing the control structures on the dam
and your river fluctuates threes times that amount.
So it becomes quite a challenge to the down stream
resources. What is really neat you see how some of the
oxbows that exist and then how some places
it is so straight. Now look at the remnants of these oxbows
This river back decades ago was actually dredged and straightened.
to try to increase the flow, increase the channel capacity
to be able to get water down stream faster.
to help in the management of Leech Lake.
From an environmental stand point, straighting the rivers that is very
unnatural and it's not good for wildlife
and water quality and things like that.
That's something that has changed from
when they original built the dam. So it was doneppin a different age when perhaps
we didn't have as much understanding of those things as we do now.
Right I think now there is actually interest
to try to restore some of those oxbows and the natural
function of the river.
Further down the flow of the Mississippi Headwaters we reunite with Jeffrey Kleinert
dam tender at Lake Winnie and also tender ofPPLake Pokegama Dam near GrandppRapids, MN.
I've been operating since 1988 so
roughly 25 years. The dam originally was built in 1884.
It was made of wood back then. It was changed into concrete in 1904
and even today in 2013 most of the concrete
in the dam is still the concrete from 1904, so it's over 100 years old.
But of course we do improvements from time to time and change things.
Just a couple of years ago, we improved it by adding more steel gates where we used
to have wooden logs stacked up that we had to remove one at a time.
Now we don't have to do that operation. We can use electricity and
move those gates up and down as we need to. PPThey are individuallyppcontrolled. I can
operate one or more than one at a time if I need to. There's 14
one of them is larger than the others.PPIt actually has two stemsppbecause
it's on what used to be the log sluice. ppBack in 1900 they actually moved
some timber through the dam. That particular bay has steal plates
on the side down stream so that when logs went through they
would bash into the walls of the opening it wouldn't damage the concrete.
So that particular bay has a large gate than the others.
April, May is pretty busy so we do a lot of gate changes then.
We look at the storage capacity of the reservoir obviously we don't want to operate it at the
full height so then you have no room to store. So you take into account
what normal level is and how long you PPshould be at that level andppthen of course
you have to make room for the spring runoff. So in the fall you
are drawing down. Different lakes have different draw down schedules and
different amounts. Pokegama we draw down 3 feet.
over the course of the winter. Winnie we only draw down one foot.
Winnie is a lot larger lake so you have a lot more volume in that one foot.
Winnie is about 70,000 acres. Pokegama is roughly 12,000 - 14,000 right in there
But again it just depends on amount of
precipitation you have and how much adjusting you have to do.
One of the dam tenders, the early dam tenders said he knew he had the settings right
when the number of complaints upstreamPPequaled the number ofppcomplaints downstream.
Pokegama has pretty much the same
operation schedule since it started. Winnie actually was dropped
a foot back in .... I don't have the exact date in my head here.
I want to say late 60's early 70's. When that lake gets high
we get some erosion issues all around PPthe Winnie shoreline. So it wasppdecided
to lower that permanently a foot. Pokegama has stayed pretty much the same.
Well I would say the biggest
difference with Pokegama versus the other dams is the capacity
of water that it can pass and the fact that it is on the main stem of the Mississippi.
Most of our other dams are on smaller rivers that flow into
the Mississippi. Winnie is on the Mississippi
but it is a small control structure. It only has five PPregular gates and one logppsluice gate.
For a dam on a lake that size that's a fairly small structure.
This dam I have 14 gates and with normal operation
this year in particular in 2013. There was
an occasion where we did pass approximately 3,000 cubic feet a second,
which is quite a bit of water. But we do have the capacity to push more if
need be. We have what we call PMFs, Probable
Maximum Floods, and when those things PPdo occur it's an awful lot ofppwater
and the dams are designed to save themselves by allowing the opening of
all of the gates to push that water through. And in some cases even over
the top to save the structure and get the water out of here.
But let's hope we don't see a PMF that's a lot of water.
The major importance right now in this century
is the flood control issues that they have near the city of Aitkin.
It's a town that is built in very low
topography area of a very swampy county in Aitkin county.
Unfortunately when they get a lot of rain.
It can get to a flood stage of twelve
pretty quickly. Then we are required on a guide curve
we have to follow that puts extra water into Pokegama. We store water on purpose.
here. So with out having the reservoir we wouldn't be able to assist
Aitkin and help them by holding back some of the water that would add
to their problems. So it serves that purpose fairly well.
Of course we can also hold water in other reservoirs further upstream
in Winnie and Leech. They're bigger but again it's all about location
You know you can't make water flow up hill. If it's not controlling run off.
in that immediate area. It's not doing you a whole lot of good other than
not putting more fuel to the fire so to speak or adding more water
into the system. It's a pretty importantpprole for flood control.
Then of course we have natural resource issues
and recreation. Pokegama Lake has about 800 homes on it.
I would say almost everyone on the lake has docks and boats and other recreational
equipment. They really enjoy the use of that lake.
They monitor it very closely as well. They will let me know if they are not happy with
the elevation being high or low. Pokegama
campground here at Pokegama Dam. I have 19 electric camp sites
and 2 that are tent only. I get a lot of day use visitation
People come in just to fish here. I get approximately
about 50,000 a year at Pokegama Dam.
About 90% of those visitors are day users.ppThey picnic they fish
They use the playgrounds and so on. The other 10% are campers. But our
campground stays pretty full from mid-May right up through Labor Day. So it's a very busy
campground. Reservations keep fairly full. I do take in
some folks of the highway with first come first serve sites. But it's not unusual
to be full. A couple years ago we added a pedestrian bridge
that allows people to walk across or even ski across in the winter.
They gain access to the Bass Brook Wildlife PPManagement area which isppapproximately
400 acres on the south side of the river here. There is quite a few hiking
trails and cross country ski trails. So a lot of people come over here
and they walk also along the edge of the river and fish. They have to fish 300 feet
downstream as a minimum distance. It's a commissioners order from the DNR
It's actually to protect the fish. This oxygenated water
really attracts fish. So the fish come up really close to the dam.
So if you didn't have that people would be fishingPPright here all the timeppcatching all the fish.
And that would be good for the resource PPif all the fish were taken allppat once.
But there are some good spots to fish. We get a lot of people who come across
the dam to utilize these areas. Most people are fishing for walleye.
Sunfish, there's a lot of Bass in here. ppLarge mouth and small mouth.
There's Muskie, Northerns, a lot of rough fish
Suckers, Redhorse. Pretty much anything that swims in Minnesota
we don't have catfish yet. Although my boss has been fishing catfish
down stream near McGregor. The channels are moving up the river.
So we never had Channel Cat that far north before. You'd catch
a Bullhead or two but never channels. The onlyPPthing that is stopping themppfrom coming
all the way here is Blandin Dam. You're going to be able to catch
Channel Cats right below Blandin which you never could do 10 years ago.
That wasn't possible. You never know what you're going to get.
Everyone uses live bait so they don't really know what they got until they pull it up.
Back when the dam was built originally in 1884.
It is was also a home to the caretaker, dam tender. He also had a family
and more a less a farm, a ranch. He raised livestock
and the kids and everyone lived here. So it wasn'tPPjust a job with an office likeppit is now.
It was literally their home. They maintained
their lively hood by raising produce to eat and livestock to eat.
and so forth. So it was more or less a farming situation.
Up until about the late 1930s, 1940s it was more or less
a farm. But then up into the 50's 60's the dam tender had a house but
and that was pretty much just where he lived and worked from but it wasn't
really a farm anymore. The natural flora and fauna
of our area have adapted well to thesePPdams of the MississippippHeadwaters.
And continue to thrive as a resource not only for hungry humans
Renee Hanson and Deb Griffith of the Army Corps of Engineers
introduce us to some feathery inhabitants ppof the Pine River Dam
on Cross Lake. This is the Cross Lake Dam.
On this side
is where the Cross Lake actually is.
We have 13 gates along the side.
Over here on the left hand side this is the tail waters of the dam.
So what we are looking when we look over the railing here is our concrete apron.
This is basically the area where the water flows from the upper
part of the dam down to the tail end. ppRight now we have a flow
of 198 cubic feet per second coming out here. If you look
over here on the left hand side there is also a green heron over here as well.
Lots of sea gulls are around here. The first gate was a fish ladder
and the second gate was a log sluice that are no longer working right now.
But we wanted to make sure the dam looked like how it was originally built.
Right now we are down on the fishing pier on the river side of
Pine River Dam or Cross Lake Dam. Right now we have
6 gates open about 3 inches each.
Each gate is releasing about 33 CFS.
A total of 189 CFS being released right now.
CFS stands for cubic feet per second. ppIf you could imagine a
basketball that's what a cubic foot looks like. How much
that would be. So right now from the dam there is being a
198 basketballs being released at each second. So it's quite
incredible. When you can put it into a manner that you can understand.
Our maximum that I believe we have ever released from this dam
was 2600 CFS. That was a lot of basketballs at
point. But minimally we always had to have
33 cubic feet per second coming through the dam to feed the Pine River
to feed the Mississippi. So it's always at a 33 CFS
being released minimally. As you can see we've got the Great
Blue Heron down here. He just kind of wades he is more like a water fowl
that just kind of wades. He doesn't really dive likePPan eagle or anything likeppthat. He likes to have
breakfast lunch and dinner there. The Green Heron I think
just left us but there is a bunch of sea gulls and aPPlot of people like to comeppdown here and fish.
Pretty popular for the fishing opener.
The dam utility building is where we can turn on the power. But we have to go to each
gate manual to press the buttons to open and close it. If there is
an emergency situation we can definitely turn off right here
stop it all right now. So here we have the stone which is the
main embankment through the campground. This is about a 3 foot wall
but then it also goes down an additional 16 to 20
feet. Those aren't individual rocks there was a cast
and they individually painted each rock to make it look
a stone wall. The history of these reservoir control structures
is just as diverse and deep as the waters they harness.
Ray Nelson relates a small splash of history at the Sandy Lake Dam
on Big Sandy Lake. Sandy Lake is one of the unique
dams and sites that the Corps of Engineers manages. Sandy River
Sandy Lake and the Mississippi River. ppIt has a lock.
They built a lock here. One of the initialPPpurposes for having a lock wasppthey
wanted to have river boats or basically paddlewheels going from Aitkin
all the way to Grand Rapids. In the early days
in the late 1800's if you were going to travel up here
going by a river boat was one of your best options.
You would leave Minneapolis/St Paul and get to maybe Elk River/ Little Falls
portage around get on another river boatPPand take you to anotherpplocation. Again stop
and portage around into another one and PPeventually you get all the wayppto Aitkin where
Aitkin can take you through all the way to Grand Rapids.
Steam whistle
There was always these obstructions like at Little Falls
an area there that would basically have toPPbe portaged around. So theypphad limitations.
But they did have boats that would go so farppand then on the other side
have another boat and that would take themPPas far as Crow Wing orppBrainerd.
or so forth or Aitkin and that sort of thing.
If you got to go through rapids area or rocky areas
and so forth that was kind of a limitation.
The best route that was available at the time was basically from Aitkin to
Grand Rapids. Steam whistle
The Mississippi River in this whole process ppyou know you have to realize
depth again change. You have to manage it in order for these boats
to go through. You have to take snags, you know like trees that fall in
and different obstacles like that. So the ideappwas to have a lock here
where the paddleboats could come up to and be able to go through.
And get into the Mississippi River basically.
So that was one of the primary purposes PPwhen they built this dam in thepplate 1800's.
Because transportation was again was a lot by river and not by horses.
and trails and roads that weren't built yet. I think
it was last used in about early 1900's
The Oriole which was the boat that traveled primarily between Aitkin
and Grand Rapids, the paddlewheeler is in the Corps little museum
across the river from us today and can be seen by the public if they are interested.
By the way you talking about museums historic sites and so forth
most dams were built where the lakes outletted into
the rivers and so forth. They made out like the Mississippi River.
If you go back in Indian times
there great places to have campsites for resources from fishing
to hunting to wild rice to berries and so forth.
But where quarter dams are built is usually PPis a historic site of some sortppas well.
Corps, archaeologist and cultural people work hand in hand as well.
to make sure these are protected as well. In this part of Minnesota
people have been up here since the last glaciation has retreated.
So it's about 12,000 years of human occupation.
From the areas that we have explored in the headwaters sites
like at Big Sand Lake for example. The archaeological record here goes back
at least 6,000 years and probably earlier.
What that tells you is that people have been living here
for quite a long time, continuously.
We have people camping here now because it's a nice place to be.
Lot of resources in the area and it's a good living.
So that means we are going to back into what they call the Woodland Era?
Oh before that this would be Archaic for sure.
Don't know if we have any sites that we can definitely say
date to the Paleo period. Archaic for sure and
definitely into the Woodland and into the historic period too.
That's when the first French and British traders came up here
and established their posts. Then the American occupation
as well. Lot of history.
Concrete structures by the way:
this is a climate in Minnesota where you have extreme
difference of temperatures from 50 some below zero to
100 degrees in the summertime. Concrete has got to
weather all of these extreme temperatures as well.
People that built them in the early 1900's
whatever formula they were using. They used
a tremendously good formula cause the lifetime of the dam has been around
49 years and most of these concrete structures obtained
a 100 year lifetime before having any major concrete work done.
to them. Some of the concrete experts of today when they were doing
I can think of Cross Lake in particular PPright now where just totallyppamazed
at the strength of the concrete that lasted a 100 years
through these extreme temperatures.
The Corps does not want any tragedies toPPhappen at these dams and allppdams are not built
alike. They are all a little bit different. ppBelow the dams there is a lot
of rock typically. There is some different toes we call them toes.
There is an apron usually involved with the water coming out of the dam.
Some of the water comes underneath and some of it comes over
These toe areas are very dangerous areas for people to walk into
or boat into, because they have littlePPcircular like conditions goingppon.
If you take a boat into some of these you get caught in it
and it is almost impossible to get out. PPSome of these are what youppwould call
very high head dams with a lot of water a lot of cubic feet per second
coming out. Which a typical human being has no
physical abilities to survive that. So many feet has been prescribed
down from every dam for people to stay out of for their own safety purposes,
to try to protect them from that. The Corps of Engineers
staff rangers in particular will try to abide by that.
Lot of it is signage. Some of it has actually barriers
across be it buoys or whatever. All dams are
little bit different. You get down by PPMinneapolis/St Paul you findpplocks and dam.
Use buoys where people are to st stay out
of with an area on the side by these locks andPPdams for recreational boatsppand barges
to go through. To get locked through safely.ppThere is a process
people who are traveling or boating on thesePPareas should know the rulesppfor sure.
If they are on a reservoir they should see that large sign saying
stay out for your safety purposes. Safety concerns for those
who find rest, relaxation and recreation at these areas
remain foremost in the duties of those who tend the dams.
Mary Kay Larson remains vigilant at Gull Lake Dam. Not only for visitors
safety but also for the varying levels of the reservoir.
Well I've been here for 25 years and so a lot of times
we go by history, because there is just many different variables.
There is just no set pattern or set
elevation. Well we coordinate with our
district office which is St. Paul. There is a lot of variables in
regulation. During the normal day of operation we
take water level readings and we keep track of what those
are and also depending on what kind of rain we get
We take readings on lake ages
Between our hydrologists and I we
take readings and send those in to the hydrologists
in the mornings. We take a tail water and a
pool water reading and also our lake level readings.
Depending upon what kind of precip we get,
what can of heat there is outside and evaporation,
it all goes into coordinating what our gates are set at.
What kind of discharge we are discharging at.
Also during the water time we take snow readings, snow surveys.
That gives us water content.
We draw down during the winter time accordingly. Both winter and summer
recreation are of paramount importance to the people who call these waterways
home. The dams current purpose is regulating and maintenance of water
Though the exact workings of this process PPremaining a mystery to visitorsppand
residents alike. A lot of times the area residents don't
understand what really does go it that. Many of them believe
that it is dropping five feet or that sort of thing and that it just depends on
their shore line, the elevation of their shore line. We regulate
the Gull Lake chain of lakes within a 3 inch band in the summer.
So sometimes that constitutes coming out in the middle of the night
and making gate changes coordinating with our on call
crane that comes out and helps us pull stop logs.
There is quite a bit that goes into it.
Where is the lake from where we are standingPPright now? Actually it isppright here behind us
This is the channel that goes out to the lake. When we did build the dam
in 1911, well it was put into service in 1912.
It raised the lake level 5 feet and it became a chain of lakes.
So it went from the main Gull Lake to
a chain of lakes of ten lakes. There is a alot of resorts located
on the lakes and so the lake level variations makes a big
difference to our residents and also to the resort owners.
So on our journey from the Power Dam near Bemidji, MN
to Gull Lake Dam northwest of Brainerd, MN, ppwe've encountered
stories of how these water control structures affect the people
wildlife, culture and our history. From their original
design controlling navigable water levels in the Twin Cities for industry
to their current task of maintaining shoreline for property owners
their mission remains important and constant. What does the
future hold for these dams of the Mississippi Headwaters. This section
of the Mississippi it's important to maintain the levels but it is also important
to maintain it because it does bring a lot of wildlife into the area.
Cause like I said before the water connects everything.
The Corps as water control managers have to work
with Minnesota DNR on fisheries, wildlife, wild
rice. The Leech Lake Band on those same issues.
they have natural resource managers within their band
that manage things also. I think when
you talk about the Mississippi River Headwaters reservoirs, we as a
organization realize the deep significance and history
of these waters. While they may have been original been built for water supply
for navigation in the late 1800's. The mission has changed
and evolved into a greater one. A much more complex mission
The future of these dams I think is going to be here forever.
The reason being we have valuable real estate
that is surrounding all these reservoirs. These natural lakes
that now have what we call an agreed managing plan
All these lake levels that we want to maintain every year.
To take a dam out totally would lower lake levels the highest one
13 feet, the rest of them are going to be in a category from 8 foot - 13 feet.
If you are a lake owner out there and all of a sudden you have shore
line that is 6 feet out and all of a sudden you have to walk 60 feet out.
to put your dock in. You probably aren't going to be the happiest land owner.
around. So right now if you
because these are natural lakes with privatePPinterest all around, I see theppfuture
of the dams as being here forever.
The Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund byPPthe vote of the people makesppHarnessing the
Headwaters: First Dams on the Mississippi possible.