More Dam History

When Senator William Proxmire announced his withdrawal of support for the La Farge Dam Project in October 1975, the actual work on the project did not stop. Previously appropriated federal funds were still in the pipeline and would be spent by the Corps of Engineers, the federal agency working on the project. Negotiations on the final purchases of land and easements needed for the project, mostly in the Ontario area, continued. Indeed, Joe Davis of Ontario, became known as “The Last Man Standing” because of his refusal to sell to the Corps during this time. Eventually, Davis would win out and retained some parcels that the Corps never did buy.

The leadership of the Corps’ regional headquarters, believing in the old maxim of “Never Say Never!” had sought solutions that might be politically digestible to conclude the La Farge project. Drawing on a commissioned study done by the URS Corporation, the Corps announced an alternative compromise on a “Wet-Dam” solution in November of 1976. The compromise called for the completion of the dam structure located north of La Farge to impound a smaller lake of 840 acres. This would be down from the previous plans for a lake of over 1,800 acres. The new smaller lake would have an elevation at 822 feet above sea level compared to 840 feet with the bigger lake. What the URS proposal had done was shrunk the water impoundment back to the same sized lake as when the project first had been authorized in 1962. The new smaller lake would fill up much of the Star Valley lowlands and cover the river’s lowlands up to Rockton as well as the lower portions of Weister and Jug Creeks. This new proposal of reverting to the earlier lake size and depth was a “Blast From The Past!” in many regards, but it did have one new feature. The Corps asked for a variance on water quality in the smaller lake from the Wisconsin DNR. Other alternatives listed by the URS study included protective dikes downstream on the Kickapoo River for the villages of La Farge, Viola, and Gays Mills.

The Corps’ new smaller lake wet-dam proposal tried to address some of the reasons for opposition to their previous plan, particularly in the area of environmental concerns. By asking for a variance on the water quality issue, the Corps was trying to buy time to deal with that issue. The earlier study, which had been done on water quality of the La Farge Lake by the UW-Madison, was already under attack by local soil & water conservation groups and agencies. By buying time with a variance on water quality in the smaller impoundment, the Corps could wait for solutions to come forward to rectify the problem. Another environmental concern addressed by the alternate proposal was the loss of rare plant species. By lowering the level of the lake by nearly twenty feet, much of the habitat for the rare plant species would not be submerged as in the previous lake level. Or so the Corps thought.

Reaction from environmental groups to the Corps new proposal was immediate and all negative. The governing council of the DNR rejected the variance request on water quality by a 6-1 vote. In December 1976, the Scientific Areas Preservation Council, based in Madison, issued a statement, which said that 75% of the Kickapoo Valley habitat for the endangered species Arctic Monkshood and Lapland Rosebay would be “inundated” by the La Farge Reservoir under the alternate proposal.

The reaction on the local scene also took a negative turn regarding the Corps latest proposal. After the rejection of the Corps water quality variance by the state’s DNR board, Lonnie Muller, editor of the La Farge Epitaph published a scathing editorial titled, “DNR, Kiss Our Butt”. In the editorial, Muller promoted the idea that the reason for the rejection of the variance by the DNR was because that state agency already had other ideas for the dam project property. In other words, the DNR wanted that nearly 9,000 acres in the Kickapoo Valley taken for the dam project for its own uses. I’m not sure if the local editor originated that idea, but he certainly gave it greater exposure. It was an idea that would remain pervasive on a local level right up through the present. (Ironically, when the land did become available to state agencies during the creation of what would become the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in the 1990’s, the DNR would have to pass on the property.)

At the same time that the Corps alternate wet-dam proposal was being introduced, local protest turned to a more hard-lined stance. Bridge #16, now on the “government land” was set fire late in November. The Schroeder Bridge, as it was known locally, ironically had caught fire once before, back in the 1930’s. (Could Immaculate Ignition have been at work here?) Most thought the bridge being set on fire was a local protest to the dam controversy, another way to vent frustration. When another suspicious fire was ignited in nearby Bard Lawrence Hollow the following month, also of unknown and mysterious origin, the message seemed clear that at least a certain part of the local population was not taking the defeat of the dam project graciously.

As 1977 began, State Senator Paul Offner tried to inject some reason into the whole process by appealing to the various factions to sit down and develop a policy as to how to proceed. La Farge businessman Ward Rose offered a reward of $1,000 for anyone who would tell the truth about the La Farge dam project. Local activist and dam supporter Bernice Schroeder wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter asking for his help in resolving the matter.

To further fuel the controversy, Wisconsin Governor Patrick Lucey rejected the Corps alternate wet-dam proposal entirely and further rejected Senator Offner’s idea of a policy session. Editor Muller reacted to the Governor’s rejections by calling him a “Liar” in an Epitaph editorial.

In February 1977, the Corps of Engineers threw up its hands and asked for a halt to the La Farge project. The agency had run out of alternatives and political support for the project. The local reaction to the Corps’ announcement was to organize a new group called KLOUT, Kickapoo Landowners United Together. The group’s first president was Roger Gabrielson (Gabby, as he was known, was also the La Farge School District president at the time), the treasurer was La Farge teacher Al Szepi, and Bernice Schroeder was secretary. In its first public meeting held at the La Farge gymnasium, KLOUT attracted a crowd of nearly 200, who vowed to sign and circulate petitions to support what the new organization stood for. KLOUT’s platform was simple; either finish the La Farge dam and lake as originally proposed or give the land back to the people. A new phase in the dam controversy was beginning.