Silver Lake Dam (Michigan)
Encyclopedia
Silver Lake Dam was a dam located on the Dead River
30 miles upstream of Marquette, Michigan
. It was the farthest upstream of five dams on the river and had no electricity generating facilities. The dam failed on 14 May 2003 and forced the evacuation of 1800 people. The dam was rebuilt in 2008 as a hydroelectric dam.
. The dam was purchased in 1988 by Upper Peninsula Power Company
. In fall of 2002, Dike No. 2 was replaced with a fuse plug
to increase the dam's flood capacity.
The failure forced the evacuation of 1800 people from 485 acres (196 ha) on the north side of Marquette. The flooding caused over $100 million in damages, but resulted in no deaths or injuries.
Dead River (Michigan)
The Dead River is a river in Marquette County, Michigan. Its watershed is approximately in size. The river flows southeasterly from western Marquette County to its mouth on Lake Superior....
30 miles upstream of Marquette, Michigan
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...
. It was the farthest upstream of five dams on the river and had no electricity generating facilities. The dam failed on 14 May 2003 and forced the evacuation of 1800 people. The dam was rebuilt in 2008 as a hydroelectric dam.
Construction
Silver Lake Basin is a naturally occurring body of water near the head of the Dead River. The first dam was constructed in 1896 to increase the storage capacity of the basin. The dam was rebuilt in 1911-12 and again in 1943-44. The 1944 dam was raised eight feet (8 feet (2.4 m)) by a subsidiary of Cleveland-CliffsCleveland-Cliffs
Cliffs Natural Resources , formerly Cleveland-Cliffs, is a Cleveland, Ohio business firm that specializes in the mining and beneficiation of iron ore and the mining of coal. The firm is an independent company whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm has stated that it had...
. The dam was purchased in 1988 by Upper Peninsula Power Company
Upper peninsula Power Company
Upper Peninsula Power Company , a subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group, is a utility company serving most of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. UPPCO provides electric power to consumers....
. In fall of 2002, Dike No. 2 was replaced with a fuse plug
Fuse plug
A fuse plug is a collapsible dam installed on spillways in dams to increase the dam's capacity.The principle behind the fuse plug is that the majority of water that overflows a dam's spillway can be safely dammed except in high flood conditions. The fuse plug may be a sand-filled container, a...
to increase the dam's flood capacity.
Failure
In the week prior to failure, 4 inch of rain fell within 48 hours. This, combined with warm weather and an unusually large frost depth, led to the dam's failure. On 14 May 2003, the earthen fuse plug spillway of th e dam failed and released nine billion gallons of water from Silver Lake Basin. The flood of water also caused the failure of the downstream Tourist Park Dam. The three other dams downstream of Silver Lake remained intact: Hoist Dam, McClure Dam, and Forestville Dam.The failure forced the evacuation of 1800 people from 485 acres (196 ha) on the north side of Marquette. The flooding caused over $100 million in damages, but resulted in no deaths or injuries.