Kickapoo River - Demise of La Farge Dam

Demise of La Farge Dam

The river has a relatively low capacity for water, leading it to quickly and frequently flooding after heavy rain. In the late 1960s, the frequent floods prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin a dam project on the Kickapoo River near La Farge, Wisconsin. The proposed dam would have created a 1,780 acre (7.2 km²), 12-mile (19 km) long reservoir to control downstream flooding. In preparation for the construction, the government used eminent domain to buy 149 farms comprising 8,569 acres (35 km²) of land from mostly unwilling sellers. This land would have either been flooded by the dam or used as a tourist area around the lake. Construction of the dam began in 1971, amid heavy opposition from local residents. After many lawsuits and numerous environmental and economic studies highlighting the negative impact of the dam, the government elected to halt construction in 1975, after spending more than $19 million and building nearly half of the dam. The 8,569 acres (35 km²) of land bought by the government remained in the possession of the Corps of Engineers until 1996, when it was split and parts were given to the state of Wisconsin and the Ho-Chunk Native American Tribe. The Kickapoo today is a popular canoeing river.