About

The Dead River watershed in Marquette County, Michigan has five dams. Upstream to downstream, they are: the Silver Lake Dam, the Hoist Dam, the McClure Dam, the Forestville Dam, and the Tourist Park Dam. The first three are operated by the Upper Peninsula Power Company, while the Forestville and Tourist Park dams are operated by the Marquette Board of Light and Power. In 2003, the Silver Lake Dam failed, leading to the collapse of the Tourist Park Dam. The other dams held. The Silver Lake and Tourist Park dams were subsequently rebuilt. 

This collection is an artificial collection of digital government documents put together by the Lydia Olson Library at Northern Michigan University and made accessible online by the Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives. The original documents are not available at the archives. This collection contains government documents relating to the dams and hydroelectric projects on the Dead River in Marquette County, Michigan, with a focus on the environmental impact of these projects and the programs in place for monitoring and assessing effects on the environment. Another prominent topic in the collection is the 2003 failure of the Silver Lake Dam. 

See the full finding aid here.

For more information about the Silver Lake Dam, see the Silver Lake Regional Documents Collection. The Au Train Regional Documents Collection and the Escanaba River Regional Documents Collection also contain items related to hydroelectric projects in the Upper Peninsula.