Lake Delton

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For the village, see Lake Delton, Wisconsin.

Lake Delton
Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show in 2005
Location	Lake Delton, Wisconsin
Coordinates	43.600284° N 89.778214° WCoordinates: 43.600284° N 89.778214° W
Lake type	Artificial
Primary inflows	Dell Creek
Primary outflows	Wisconsin River
Basin countries	United States
Surface area	267 acres (1.08 km²)^[1]
Average depth	10 ft (3.0 m)^[1]
Water volume	600,000,000 US gal (0.0023 km³)
Settlements	Lake Delton
References	^[1]

Lake Delton is an empty man-made freshwater lake bed in Sauk County in central Wisconsin. On June 9, 2008, a portion of an adjoining highway eroded under the pressure of floods in the area due to heavy rains; the resulting washout caused the lake to empty entirely, leaving behind only rainwater pools and the flow from Dell Creek. The lake was a popular attraction in the Wisconsin Dells tourist area^[2]; attractions included Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show, which featured acrobatic water skiing.^[1]

1 The dam
2 2008 washout
3 Additional reading
4 References
5 External links

[edit] The dam

Chicago construction company owner William J. Newman decided to use his money to build a resort area in the tiny Delton, Wisconsin area (as the community of Lake Delton had been known at the time).^[3] Newman instructed a local land agent to purchase tracts of land around Dell Creek.^[3] After the land was purchased, he brought engineers and construction crews, who built a 30 feet (9.1 m) high dam along the banks of the Wisconsin River.^[3] The built a 1,000 feet (300 m) long dike along the dam.^[3] They created 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) of artificial shoreline for the resort area.^[3] They allowed Dell Creek to fill up the dam on July 27, 1927.^[3] This resulted in a large pooling of water from the flow of Dell Creek, which was named Lake Delton. He had spent $600,000 on the construction, and he expected to spend another $400,000 to build the resort.^[3] They built a lock between the lake and the Wisconsin River to allow small boats and canoes to travel between the bodies of water.^[3] Newman ran the resort until the Great Depression caused his resort to file for bankruptcy protection.^[3] The company was barely able to survive, and it was more successful after World War II when tourism increased in the area with Tommy Bartlett's water show.^[3]

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."^[4]

The lake level was drawn down 8 feet (2.4 m) for repairs on the dam in 1983.^[5] The inflow recharged the lake in 15 days.^[5]

Much of the shoreline of Lake Delton has been developed with summer homes, year-round homes and condominiums. About 20 resorts surround the lake.^[2] 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.^[6] The fishery of the Lake Delton was northern pike, walleye, largemouth bass, channel catfish and panfish.^[7]

[edit] 2008 washout

See also: June 2008 Midwest floods

Lake Delton within Wisconsin

On the morning of June 9, 2008, a 400 foot 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 (30 cm) of rain caused one hundred residents to start sandbagging at 2 am.^[8]^[2] The lake waters overflowed County Highway A about a quarter mile from the dam, and most of the lake emptied in two hours.^[1] The water began overflowing at approximately 10 am^[1]. As the water overtopped the isthmus, it flowed downhill to the Wisconsin River approximately 800 feet (240 m) away, quickly eroding and creating a 400-foot (120 m) wide channel that rapidly drained the lake in an out-of-control torrent into the river, 40-foot (12 m) below the lake's level.^[1] Three homes washed away, and another two were destroyed when their foundations were undermined by the new outflow.^[2] The sediments at the bottom of the lake were visible.^[2] "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."^[1]

Map of Lake Delton showing the approximate area of the breach along highway A circled in red.

Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle announced on June 10 that the state would repair the lake.^[2] He described the lake as crucial to the billion dollar Wisconsin Dells tourism area.^[2] 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-acre lake. It is unknown, however, how long it will take to divert and correct the river's current path back into the lake.^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[11]

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.^[1] WISC-TV reported that the village had lost its eligibility for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA's) National Flood Insurance Program^[12] 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)^[13]^[14] The village engineer and clerk said the map was not adopted because of "gross inaccuracies" in how FEMA had expanded the floodplain.^[14]

In an effort to make some good from the situation, local residents have organized a "clean the lake bottom" campaign where interested volunteers will walk the empty lakebed before the lake is refilled to remove refuse that has collected there.^[15]^[16]