This lake has a few unique qualities which are not immediately noticeable in today's photo taken by Marsha Galbraith. For one thing, it's located in two different counties, Baraga and Houghton. It's also near Silver Mountain, which is the 42nd highest named summit in Michigan, at an elevation of 1312 feet. Most evident in this shot though, is a lack of water for diving or swimming as the sign points out it's a danger to do. I'm not sure if this ramp is moved out of the water that far or if the water level is really that low, perhaps because of repairs to the Prickett Dam. If it's the latter, then the gentleman in the lower left corner would be standing chest deep in the water, were it filled to it's normal level. Hope Marsha had a lifering ready! :->

Good morning!

ahha

Good morning...yoopers! Yeah...I guess I wouldn't try the high dive there. Neat pic tho!

I see a man in the bottom left corner...

Awesome display of colors

Interesting picture!

Da bridge Da bridge Where da bridge?

Are those recent pictures?

Is the water at that level now?

Might be worth the road trip on Sunday.

Da bridge

Interesting to see how many people really read Mary's comments to the picture

Looks like some pretty tough fishing."rock"bass and "grass"pike...

As I understand it, the Prickett Dam Flowage Area won't be refilled since the dam repairs would cost way too much. It's really too bad. My dad and I used to fish for bluegills in the flowage area from the time I was about 4 years old. The stumps that you see in the picture were all below the waterline - some were a number of feet below the surface and some were at the surface. It made for tricky navigation! I remember having the stay up in the bow of the boat and direct my dad on where the stumps were so the boat wouldn't get hung up on them. It was kind of scary when I was little, since I inevitably missed a couple and we'd hit them!

The last time I got to fish there was about 8 years ago (I live downstate now and only get back a couple times a year - partridge season and deer season). Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

check out the sunrise at the airport.....

Good Morning! Wonderful picture.

I used to fish there alot also.

Took out my first shear pin on a stump there ;-)
Murphy's law was of course in effect and we were
downwind the entire lenght of the lake from the
launch at the time. 2 of us rowing face to face
took hours to get back.

The lake was fantastic for fishing depending on the time of day, we'd catch bass, pike, bluegill, perch and walleye.

When I first started fishing there int he late 70's people used to camp all around the access for the bass opener.

Also good Partridge hunting around the area.

Didn't they lower the water behind the Redridge dam just
recently too? Any photos?

>By SarahK, FL troll on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 >- 08:35 am:

>Interesting to see how many people really read
>Mary's comments to the picture

if your refering to my questions, I read it completely, always do, Great source of information

What it says is todays photo, not the photo taken today. ;-) I know they drew
down the lake a couple years ago for repair. Just wanting to know if it's that way today.

Thanks again Mary for great photo's and narratives
along with each one.

To TeeterTaw,

At least it was a man and not a gerbil! (very big grin)

Bob in Hubbell, I believe SarahK was referring to Teeter Taw. If he would have read Mary's comments, he would have known that she pointed out the guy in the bottom left corner. Lighten up a little and don't take things so personal!!!

Interesting photo today. I always read Mary's comments, you learn so much about HER! She is truly a funny lady, and pretty smart, too.
She has a great smile.
Hi to dah sistahs, Ernie, BT, Jim in Ann Arbor, and Bob in Hubbell;-)

Mary says: Aw, thanks! (said while blushing profusely!)

mornin. Does anyone know if the dam has been repaired? If not, is there another place to launch? When my husband fished there, he caught 2 limits of bass before getting 10 feet from the dock. You would think that that is a fish story, but my Dad was with him and couldn't believe it.

Oct. 26, 2004 Interested in seeing pictures of Pequaming around 1927. My sister & I were born there & my Dad was killed there at the age of 23. He worked for the Ford Lumber Co.

Jocko: yes, the timber dam at Redridge has been basically destroyed. Have not been up there yet myself, but over at copperrange.org there are pictures of the destruction. Just scroll down the main page till you get to the graphic about redridge dam.

I'm very bummed out about it because I spent lots of time at that location exploring it.
Below is an image you will probably never see again in real life.

Mary--That's no gentleman, that's my husband! Just kidding to anyone who can't take a joke!

My shot was taken the weekend of October 9. A man in a canoe came up in the area behind the sign. He must have had a difficult journey! We found out about the area from our friend, Tracey, at the Tourist Bureau in L'anse. We really enjoyed the Prickett Dam area.

Theresa and Bob: Those are the memories that make this site so awesome...fishin with dad catchin bluegills, sittin in the front of the boat watching for the stumps. Camping before bass opener. I think I'm missin Michigan already. But the weather here is great, can't deny that.

Still don't know, how far under the bridge I can go and still be considered a troll. Afterall I'll always be from Michigan.

I was so surpised to find Pricket Lake here today. My mom lives about a mile or so from here and I have fished at Pricket Lake many, many times. Now I really am homesick!

WHO would DIVE into those sticks! (LOL).

The lake is still incredibly low. I am not sure if the repairs have even started. My mom has said how sad it is to see the life that was once in the lake be so completely wiped out.

Easy there sarah, nothing to lighten up about,
was merely explaining why i asked, if she was refering to my comments. I take nothing personel
here, we're all friends Take a breather... ;-)

Looks like a calm day "up home" today. Nary a ripple on the Harbor on Sharon's web cam.

Yes it is sad. And when that dam was built, all the life in that place before was destroyed as well, replaced by a lake. Wasn't that sad? Now it's vice versa. Sad for those who lived all their life with it, but that's this world turning.
I don't blame anybody for perceiving the glass as half empty, but I try to perceive it as half full.
There's always a chance of renewal in destruction. Maybe different, but still is.

Perhaps the glass was just to small.

Hi Jocko, thanks for the info. Your name is interesting. Are you trying to hide that you are a Viking player from Minnesota? We've heard about you from around here. My family's your greatest fans. Heard you bought some property on the big lake.
:)

Hi from Houston. I loved the information on the Civil War from the other days post. I am so interested in history! Thanks!

Just another thought on the dam (though I don't know the details of this particular dam): The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is discouraging the use of dams, specifically new ones (and may include repairing old dams too). They don't allow for all kinds of life within the streams/rivers to pass through, which is probably a good explanation of why the fishing was so good there! However, keeping the fish and other things from passing through is detrimental to the health of the stream below the dam.

Roudy, My glass is too small too. Why I'm drinking from da can. I wish I was dare, high or low water. Nice pic for a Tuesday.

Cheers!

I have been visiting the Redridge/Freda area for many and many a year, and never knew about the wooden dam until this past June when my sister showed it to me (she had just discovered it, also)
I'm very glad I got to see it and get some lovely photos before it was torn down. I'm going to miss visiting that pond.

I also don't like dams for many reasons. In my fields of study I have had to learn a lot about dams. It makes me like them even less. (Yes, I know Vegas wouldn't be the town it is today without Boulder Dam, but maybe millions of people who want nice green lawns and golf courses and artificial lakes aren't meant to move to the desert).
Preacherman, you are quite right about all the life destroyed after the dam was put in. All those stumps we see... those were trees, that was a beautiful forest. You have an good attitude looking at a glass as half full, hoping for renewal from destruction, and seeing change in the world as opportunity.
I hope you all have a great afternoon!

I agree with all the thoughts about mother nature renewing the environment. It was my first thought when I saw the picture. No matter what we do or say, she will rule.

Hey dere,

From what I can see from the photos on Copperrange.org, and from what I had read about the subject, and heard about town, the dam and pond at Redridge is not "gone". Drastically changed, no doubt, but not gone.

My understanding is that the decision was made to take the *top* section of the wooden dam out to avoid a catastrophic failure. As you can see from the photos, there is still a significant ledge that the water drops over (snd that blocks fish traffic?).

We should also note that the large steel dam at Redridge has not held the water back for quite a while. It was the wooden (older) dam that has been preserving the pond lately.

According to "Redridge and its Steel Dam" by Clarence J. Monette, construction on the wooden crib dam was begun in 1893 and finished in 1894. In 1900 the wooden dam was reported to be "showing signs of weakness". The steel dam was completed in 1901, making a much larger pond than we have seen in recent years.

Partial failures of the steel dam in 1943 and 1976 prompted holes to be cut in the steel dam in 1979, draining down the pond to recent levels.

So, the recent lowering of the pond was not the first. Yes, it is a dramatic change that impacts us in many ways. However, as some have noted above, perhaps Mother Nature is on her way to getting her stream back to somewhat near what she meant it to be.

Note moved to October 20 Gas price discussion.

Sarah K,

I only made that comment because I can't read. I have help with these messages and spelling. Teeter

Interesting about the Dam. Was watching a program on LINK-TV the other night called "Troubled Waters" which also covered this same subject. It got into the same thing about how the dams messed up the eco-structure above and below the dams. In many parts of the country they are now removeing these old dams so that the streams can become free flowing again.If I remember correctly they said there are something like 71,000 dams in this country now. As Always there are two side to every story.

Wow man I wouldnt jump into that water ha ha there is no water!! lol

Yooper-
That made me laugh right out loud! Thanks.

And Mary Drew- You rock:)

Betty, I agree, Mary does ROCK! Charlie and Toivo rock too!

lest we all forget...dams were built to control flooding. Flooding killed many a folk before the civil engineers tackled the problem. Dam also provide HUGE amounts of power to the western portion of our country. Power that would have to be replaced with highly polluting coal fired plants. So lets think this through before we jump on the "d*** the dams" bandwagon.

Hope this doesn't warrent a new link! :)

More pictures of Prickett Dam area (The lake, Silver Mtn, and Sturgeon Gorge Falls) can be found in my gallery from a few weeks ago (10-9-04 to 10-17-04). https://pasty.com/pcam/albur39

Yooper, you have to be Dave, Laurium. If not you should be brothers! Your sign cracked me up, even though I am a troll.

Looks like yooper 66 has time on his hands again.

Maija,

Nope, I am not Dave, Laurium. I am babe, not a dude.

FYI- You were right about one thing, I do have time on my hands

Thanks to all at Pasty Cam. This is a great site and well run. Made a comment last week about some comments were deleted and others ,seeminly all on one side, were left on.
Was reminded that they cant watch the site
every minute. Good answer! Makes sense!
Sorry for the post.

According to the MDEQ it is illegal to place a permanent concrete barrier in a river or stream unless, of course, you happen to be a mining concern or the Huron Mountain Club. That's about all I'll say on the subject at this time. My personal feeling is that dams have their purpose... as a whitewater enthusiast I have somewhat mixed emotions about them. The Hoist Dam on the Dead River Storage Basin is currently being repaired and the basin is mostly drained. Good viewing opportunity for stumpage lovers, although you gotta believe the pike and walleye fisheries are taking a beating.

The Discussion Board at the Copper Range Railroad site has alot of info on the Redridge dam both pro and con.
Yes, building dams on that site changed the environment. Yes, we needed and used the copper those dams helped produce. Yes, we aren't always good at taking care of the environment. Yes, there are billions of us that require food and shelter - we WILL have an environmental impact. We need to use what God and/or nature gave us wisely.
The Redridge Dam became surplus during the '30's when the Baltic Mine closed. Since they continued to use the railroad trestle there, the dam was maintained. There were weirs and an overflow spillway to prevent the dam "topping over" The steel dam itself did not fail in '43 and '76, the system did and it did top over. Copper Range cut the holes in '79 as an expedient means to stop maintaining the dam. By doing that, they started the slow distruction of both the wood and the steel dams, and left the problem for the township residents. The wood dam, after being submerged for 70 years, did its job for and another 25 before it had to be removed or fixed. The holes cut in the steel dam relived the pressure on it, but years of outflow have caused alot of damage to the concrete footings. That will be the next opportunity. Then there is the road and the fill - essentially another dam a couple of hundreds yards downstream. If the steel dam goes, money will have to spent on the road.
The steel dam has historical and engineering significance. It is worth preserving and stabilizing for those reasons and the purely practical reason that it will cost less to save it now than it will to remove it later. The site would make a great multi-use park. From what I saw last month, a good compromise might have been achieved. There is still some of the wood dam left, the reservoir is smaller, but the aquatic it life it supported for over 100 years still has a home. And the steel dam can still stand as a memeorial to the humans that designed and built it. Man and his works are part of the environment, useing resources is not inherently evil. We are here and we have to use resources to survive. If one really doesn't want to have an environmental impact, they need to stop eating and get off the planet - sorry, there just isn't any other way. We need to use our brains and plan for the furture.

By FRNash/PHX, AZ on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 01:04 am:

Lovely flowing stream good. Dam bad.
Do we need a bounty on those dastardly beavers?

Well put, Paul. Now, how do we agree on just how much impact is acceptable/necessary?

I certainly do not like big dams (Right on, that people to the desert remark, Dr. Nat!), but since I prefer less fossile and nuclear energy plants, I have to think about them. I should like to think that quite a lot of smaller dams would cause less impact (and possible damage?) than some of the superlarge constructions there are.
There have been small mill runs in Germany for centuries, and with modern day knowledge, they could be integrated into streams with minimized impact on ecology.

Shawn, your pictures are fantastic! You got to see all the seasons while you were there!

Old photos from Pequaming can be found on this website along with other towns from Baraga County.

http://www.hwy41north.com/historical_photos.html

Dam Guy-
Its illegal unless you obtain the proper permits