Croton Dam (Michigan)
| Croton Dam | |
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Croton Dam and Hydroelectric Plant
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| Official name | Croton Hydroelectric Plant |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Croton Township, Newaygo County, Michigan |
| Coordinates | 43°26′14″N 85°39′50″W / 43.43722°N 85.66389°WCoordinates: 43°26′14″N 85°39′50″W / 43.43722°N 85.66389°W |
| Purpose | Power |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 25 June 1907 |
| Opening date | 3 September 1907 |
| Owner(s) | Consumers Energy |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Embankment, earth-fill |
| Impounds | Muskegon River |
| Height | 40 ft (12 m) |
| Length | 370 ft (113 m) |
| Width (crest) | 20 ft (6 m) |
| Width (base) | 800 ft (244 m) |
| Dam volume | 104,000 cu yd (79,514 m3) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Croton Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 22,095-acre-foot (27,253,781 m3) |
| Surface area | 1,209-acre (489 ha) |
| Power Station | |
| Commission date | 1907/1915 |
| Type | Run-of-the-river |
| Turbines | 2 x 4.4 MW Francis-type |
| Installed capacity | 8.85 MW |
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Croton Hydroelectric Plant
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Croton Dam powerhouse from SE downstream side
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Location within the state of Michigan
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| Location | Croton Township, Newaygo County, Michigan |
| Nearest city | Newaygo, Michigan |
| Built | 1907 |
| Architect | William D. Fargo |
| Architectural style | Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 79001165 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 8, 1979 |
| Designated MSHS | August 16, 1979 |
Croton Dam (or Croton Hydroelectric Plant) is an earth-filled embankment dam and powerplant complex on the Muskegon River in Croton Township, Newaygo County, Michigan. It was built in 1907 under the direction of William D. Fargo by the Grand Rapids - Muskegon Power Company, a predecessor of Consumers Energy. The 40-foot-high (12 m) dam impounds 7.2 billion U.S. gallons (6 billion imp. gal/27 billion L) of water in its 1,209-acre (489 ha) reservoir and is capable of producing 8,850 kilowatts at peak outflow. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The history of the Croton dam is intertwined with the history of William A. Foote (1854–1915) and James B. Foote (1867-1924), brothers from Adrian, Michigan, with a burgeoning electric power empire, along with William G. Fargo, a Jackson-based civil engineer who designed similar hydroelectric plants throughout the Midwest.
William A. Foote was a 30-year-old grist mill operator in Adrian, Michigan, in 1884 when, in what was then a common occurrence, he provided space and shaft power from his mill wheel to Thomson - Houston, a local electric utility startup, to light 12 streetlights. Fascinated by the potential, within a year he enlisted his then 17-year-old brother James and moved to Jackson, Michigan, and in 1886 they jointly founded Jackson Electric Light Works (a predecessor company to Consumers Energy), which began by lighting downtown Jackson electrically. The Foote brothers set up similar city specific companies in Battle Creek and Adrian within a few years. In many cases dams already built for grist mills, sawmills and the like were refit for electric generators, but in some cases, new dams were constructed. As the familiarity with the technology, and the technology itself, improved, the scope of projects became more ambitious.
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