# Kalamazoo River - Allegan Dam Access Improvements



## K-zoo (Jul 19, 2008)

I have no reason to spin a yarn here. Yes, it "REALLY DID" happen. When I said clean up day, it wasn't for the whole day. If my memory serves me correctly, it was a couple of hours or so.


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## Julez81 (Feb 6, 2009)

It is a common practice when doing bridge and other infrastructure work to lower levels when possible. The Covered Bridge in Centerville on the St Joe was worked on a couple years ago. It was dried up too, and held low for at least a few months that I know of.


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## jatc (Oct 24, 2008)

Swampbuckster said:


> I have a hard time understanding how they could completely stop all of the flow over the dam. Seems you would have limited time to do a cleanup. Like actually minutes. And the impacts it would have had on the entire river system below. Did this actually happen?



I've seen it at Tippy about ten years ago while they were working on the turbines. Same story as K-zoo. I ended up with about 100 spoons in about 30 minutes until the horn sounded the 10 minute warning.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

K-zoo said:


> I have no reason to spin a yarn here. Yes, it "REALLY DID" happen. When I said clean up day, it wasn't for the whole day. If my memory serves me correctly, it was a couple of hours or so.


I remember that also. They shut it down one other time and there was a dozer working on the edges. They also cleaned all the snags out below the dam at that time. If I remember right they opened the dam wide open and drained lake Allegan when they did the work that time.... I also heard form a guy that there was a big rope across below the dam under water and someone pulled it up and got a ton of lures. If you go to Hamilton under the bridge in Nov. with waders on you can pick alot of lures up laying on the bottom . I use to do that every year. You would also be surprized at the steelhead fishing under the ice at Hamilton. The ice had to break loose from the bottom of the dam then drift spawn up under the ice. When I was growing up I spent a lot of time around those rivers. One year they drained the Ottawa Marsh and you should have seen the fish that came out of there. They put a road i past the pipeline by the high banks where a boat launch is now and you could drive all the way to the control dams that were there then. I use to bow hunt that area also


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## syonker (May 7, 2004)

K-zoo said:


> I have no reason to spin a yarn here. Yes, it "REALLY DID" happen. When I said clean up day, it wasn't for the whole day. If my memory serves me correctly, it was a couple of hours or so.


We have home movies from the early 60s when Hardy Pond was drained on the Muskegon.

Stump city & a bunch of cement filled bucket anchors.

Crazy moonscape.


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## Swampbuckster (Nov 28, 2010)

Wow. I have never thought it was possible to cut all flowage off above a dam. I would love to see pictures of any of these events if any one could dig them up!!!:SHOCKED:


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

From what I remember of when the dozer was in there the dam was wide open for a period before and then they shut it up. The river was just a stream that you could jump over. What really surprized me was the bottom was all gravel. Lake Allegan had just a stream flowing thru the middle in the river channel


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