Lake Delton
| Lake Delton | |
|---|---|
Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show in 2005
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| Location | Lake Delton, Wisconsin |
| Coordinates | 43°36′01″N 89°46′42″W / 43.600284°N 89.778214°WCoordinates: 43°36′01″N 89°46′42″W / 43.600284°N 89.778214°W |
| Lake type | Reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Dell Creek |
| Primary outflows | Wisconsin River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 267 acres (108 ha) |
| Average depth | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Max. depth | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Water volume | 600,000,000 US gal (2,300,000 m3) |
| Settlements | Lake Delton |
| References | |
Lake Delton is a man-made freshwater lake in Sauk County in central Wisconsin. For much of 2008, it was a mostly empty lake basin after a portion of a county highway that forms part of the dike wall eroded on June 9, 2008, under the pressure of floods in the area. The resulting washout caused the lake to empty, leaving behind only rainwater pools and the flow from Dell Creek. By March 2009, major repairs to correct the problem were completed, and the lake was allowed to refill. Minor repairs were expected to continue after that time, but the lake is now completely refilled and has been usable since Memorial Day weekend of 2009.
The lake was formed in 1927 to attract tourists to the area and became a popular attraction in the Wisconsin Dells tourist area following the economic recovery after the Great Depression. Resorts and tourist attractions line its banks. The lake is the site of Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show, which features acrobatic water skiing.
In 1926, Chicago construction company owner William J. Newman decided to build a resort area in the tiny Delton, Wisconsin area (as the community of Lake Delton had been known at the time). Newman engaged a local land agent to purchase tracts of land along both banks of a stretch of Dell Creek. After taking title to the tracts, Newman brought engineers and construction crews to the area, who built a 30 feet (9.1 m) high dam near the confluence of Dell Creek and the Wisconsin River. They built a 1,000-foot-long (300 m) dike along the dam. They also created 1,000 acres (400 ha) of artificial shoreline for the resort area.
Newman was particularly knowledgeable about dam and dike construction as his companies had done a majority of the caisson work that downtown Chicago skyscrapers are built upon. Caisson work involves building retaining, watertight structures used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier or for the construction of a concrete dam.
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Wikipedia