Hiawatha Lake drained for maintenance

By Stephen Clearheart Johnson
North Forty News

Residents and visitors alike in Red Feather Lakes have been surprised to see Lake Hiawatha looking like a bathtub being drained – as if someone pulled the plug.

Truth is the lake is being drained to enable routine maintenance in rebuilding the outlet head gate and strengthening the dam. Routine, that is, if gauged over a long time span.

"We think the dam was last rebuilt in 1954," said Gene Barker, "but the records aren't clear."

Barker is a board member of Red Feather Storage & Irrigation, the company that owns the lake. Known locally as S&I, the company manages water rights on the many lakes, ditches and diversion controls in the area.

The lake has been drained as far as possible. A shallow pool averaging 8 inches remains. The pool will be aerated to keep the water healthy for remaining fish. Barker said he thinks most of the fish went downstream with the water.

Downstream is where a potential catastrophe awaits if a dam should burst. Fox Acres would take the brunt of any wall of floodwater.

Barker is hopeful the work will be completed by early December. A bid opening was held in August to select a contractor. State regulators will oversee the winning bidder. Smith Engineering, house engineers for S&I, will also monitor the contractor.

"We've improved the quality of the system by quite a bit by redesigning the outlet structure," said Barker. The improvements should prevent the action of winter ice from damaging both metal and concrete components of the outlet gate.