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UER Forum > US: Great Lakes > Big Falls Milldam (Viewed 576 times)
Mr. Bitey 


Location: Milwaukee, WI
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 848 likes


Meow Meow Fudder Mucker!

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Big Falls Milldam
< on 9/16/2019 7:18 PM >
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Posted on Forum: UER Forum
Big Falls, WI was founded in 1887 when a sawmill was near built this site. The land was platted in 1890, and people began to come to the area. Logging and a granite quarry were the main attractions. The town peaked at about 500 residents, and was incorporated in 1923. When the timber and viable granite deposits were played out, Scandinavian and German immigrants farmed the land. Today, 61 residents remain and Big Falls is one of the smallest incorporated towns in the US. Timber production is returning to the area, in a more sustainable form.

Unfortunately, I haven't been unable to find much info on the dam or the power house. Not much appears online, despite having the FERC and WDNR numbers for the project. I stay in this area for a couple weeks every July, and then a handful of random unplanned weekends. Next year a visit to the library for some records is on the list - I have been able to locate a library call number for some blueprints. I was able to find that this unit supplies a meager 350kW of power to Big Falls. You can usually hear the turbine and genset humming along, and the control panels would be lit up. This visit they had the commutator pulled out of the top - likely servicing/replacing seals and bearings.



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I approached this opening in hopes of access to a tunnel through the dam. But it was boarded shut. It may just be in place for future expansion, perhaps a place for a 2nd spillway someday. The boarded opening is not shown better as I am standing on a heap logs and debris that has been cleared from the sluice gate and spillway opening over the years. All of the flowers growing on it made it difficult see where you were stepping, and I was afraid of falling though the pile and getting a leg stuck.
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This is known in my group as "Pinchy Falls", as it is just filled with crayfish. When I stay up here, this is the water park and bath tub. Unfortunately, this year the water levels were to high and jumping in here would be just plain dumb.
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The water is usually about a foot below this massive granite slab that the water is washing over in this picture. It is great for basking in between dips into the icy water that is Pinchy Falls.
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While a POE did present itself, I did not bother because everything there is to see can be seen from the windows. There was also a suspect wire and potential sensor at the POE that I could see through one of the windows.
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This sign amuses me mostly because someone here on UER has the unibow guy as their avatar - I can't remember who...
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Give abandonment a reason for its sacrificial reclamation to nature. Love it. Remember it. Take a picture. Share it. Leave the decay to nature.

Lifetime member of The Anti-MyInstaTubeTweetFace consortium.
UER Forum > US: Great Lakes > Big Falls Milldam (Viewed 576 times)


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