Riley Dam Gets a Facelift

Riley Dam on Union Lake has served the area well for nearly 100 years. The dam is named after Halbert F. Riley, who donated the land for it to the Village of Union City in 1923. Electricity was expensive back in the 1920s and as the town’s demand for it increased, a suggestion was made to create a hydroelectric plant. Amid strong opposition and doubt, the Riley Dam was built on St. Joseph River to deliver cheaper electricity to the town. The backwater that formed behind the dam was then known as Municipal Pond and now known as Union Lake.

The dam has certainly stood the test of time. Its two hydroelectric generators remain virtually the same as when they were installed, except for upgraded electronics and stainless-steel bearings. However, the earthen embankment was not designed to modern standards and had developed problems over the years. The slopes on both the upstream and downstream sides of the embankment were designed to be far steeper than would be the case today. This made the embankment hard to keep mowed and maintained, which resulted in brush overgrowth in areas that could not be push-mowed. Because of this, over the years the dam was not mowed regularly and roots from the resulting overgrowth caused the earthen embankment to weaken.

Also, growth at the base of the dam restricted drainage, causing the earthen embankment itself to retain more water, thus weakening it further. Even when the three gates of the dam were all open, it still didn’t release enough water to relieve strain on the berm. (A berm is a raised bank bordering a river or canal.) The heavy rains of the past few years put additional strain on the situation, and wave action under the berm also added to the mess.

The combination of a waterlogged embankment with a steep slope caused alarm about the long-term survival of the dam, and the Village could no longer obtain insurance for the structure due to the condition.

Fixing the project brings more challenges

On September 4, 2018, the Village of Union City, in cooperation with the Union Lake Association, kicked off the long-standing $630,000 project to rehabilitate Riley Dam and its earthen berm. This project, engineered by Lawson and Fisher and completed by Balkema Excavating, reshaped the approximately 540 feet of earthen embankment and added a drainage system.

William Courliss, president of the Union Lake Association, had nothing but praise for the project and for Union City Village Manager Chris Mathis, who was head of the project, and his crew. Courliss said, “Chris always kept me up-to-date on the progress and developments and we worked together to make this project go smoothly, in spite of some surprises.”

The project began by gradually lowering the lake level by about seven feet so that work could be completed on both sides of the embankment. This lowering caused two main challenges. First, it caused several water wells to go dry for residents around the lake. These were older wells that were primarily shallow, thus they were temporarily affected by lowering the water level. The second challenge was that the lake lowering exposed several thousand stumps, some with sharp spears extending several feet above the lowered water surface. Local residents were amazed because they had no idea that there were so many stumps in the lake. Some even started referring to it as “Stump Lake.”

As challenging as the project was, Courliss was ecstatic in highlighting how the challenges provided the perfect demonstration of what cooperation can do. “Both the Village and the Lake Association met [the challenges] head on,” he said. “The Village provided clean drinking water to those affected by the wells going dry. Some neighbors with deeper wells also pitched in. The Union Lake Association addressed the stump issue by funding the lowering of over 1,000 stumps to increase safety for the people and recreational equipment that utilize the lake.”

He went on to explain why there were so many stumps under the lake. “The area where Union Lake is today was originally farmland. Folks didn’t want the dam when it was first proposed, instead they wanted the area to remain farmland. The dam created the lake, and the first year it froze the people went out and cut out all the trees, leaving the stumps.”

The project was completed on November 2, 2018, finishing nearly a month ahead of schedule and well below the initial estimates from the bid. The new earthen embankment, drainage system and reduction of stumps have greatly improved the safety and longevity of Riley Dam and Union Lake.

The dam delivers up to 375 Kw of power at its peak. Originally, that was more than the Village of Union City needed but today, when it is in full operation, it can deliver up to 25% of the village’s power needs. Overall, it supplies, on average, a total of 15% of the electric needs of the village and surrounding community from Union City to Marshall. Sometimes, it produces enough energy to push some back to Consumers Power.

Added bonuses of the project

Besides stabilizing the berm, the project also yielded some additional benefits to local residents. The first shows how a problem can sometimes turn into a blessing. “We paid $15,000 to get the stumps cut out,” Courliss laughed. “The guy did a good job and worked until the water was raised but the way he did it amazed many of us. He loaded the stumps on his johnboat and hauled them to shore. The best part is that his father is a woodworker and plans on using some of the stumps to fashion furniture.”

Some of the stumps are between eight and 15 inches in diameter and are still in good condition. They were deep enough that the oxygen couldn’t get to them so the stumps didn’t deteriorate. Some are black cherry and others are red or white oak, which are all good woods to be made into lumber.

The dam rejuvenation project was purposely put off until after summer so residents could still enjoy their lake. However, the draining of the lake provided landowners with beaches, even though they were short-lived.

“We were surprised how clean the bottom of the lake was,” said Courliss. “It wasn’t at all polluted like some had previously thought. For a while we all had good sand on our small beaches and many people found some relics with metal detectors. Lots of folks found old bottles, lots of ketchup bottles and old Coke bottles.”

Concerns of the project

Although thousands of minnows were seen when the lake was drained, people are concerned that temporarily lowering the lake may have negatively affected the fishing on Union Lake. “We’ll just have to wait for this summer and see what the season brings,” Courliss said.

Union Lake hosts fishing tournaments and is usually well-stocked, thanks to the rearing pond that is just below the dam. “Here is another joint effort that benefits all,” Courliss added. “The DNR supplies the fish for the rearing pond and our Lake Association supplies the food. We raise bluegills and Northern Pike in the pond. Out of between 45,000 to 48,000 fingerlings we have about a 15% mortality rate. We drain the rearing pond and dump them in the lake in the fall.”

The rejuvenation of Riley Dam is a step forward for Union Lake and the surrounding community. “In an era when many dams are left to a state of ill repair, it is good to see a community come together and make improvements that will ensure the lake’s future,” Courliss stated. How true!