At the Fox River mile marker 310.4, in Downtown Elgin just south of the Kimball Street Bridge, at a height of 13 feet, stands the Kimball Street (Elgin) Dam. It is the third incarnation of the dam. The current one was constructed in 1881-1882, with a framework of timber, iron rods, and cross pieces, buttressed with dirt and stones, which was later faced with the concrete.
Over the decades, the benefits have included flood control in the immediate area. It has promoted commerce, with a race that aided the creation of grist mills and a stone mill, ice farming in the still water above the dam, and the operation of a former foundry. It is one of the things that helped Elgin grow into a powerful city.
The dam also creates a myriad of recreational options for a couple miles above it in the quiet, deeper placid water, primarily boating and fishing.
However, it also creates a deadly churning whirlpool and backwash. Just below the dam, at the north tip of Walton Island, the water can still be seen churning, a complete opposite of the quiet movement above the dam.
Elgin Dam, Elgin
Located just after Kimball Street bridge in Elgin. Not an easy portage.
Before reaching the bridge move over as far as you can river left (east). Get out of your boat and use your painter line to control it while you walk under the bridge. There have been many fatalities at this dam. DO NOT RUN THIS DAM!. After you walk under bridge, carry your boat on the dirt trail by the Elgin Civic Center to get back down to the river past the dam
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| The Memorial stands in sight of a tragedy. |
In 1974, two Elgin firefighters gave their lives saving another person who had foolishly gone over the dam frivolously on a dare.
The Memorial plaque below explains the situation. It was dedicated in 2003, nearly three decades after the incident. Nearly $32,000 had been raised by friends and family of the firefighters to acknowledge their heroism.
Another man lost his life on a jet ski in 1995.
Although surrounded by the bustle of urban activity, when away from the dam, it is a very pastoral and peaceful setting. Walton Island sits serenely just below the dam, pummeled by the swirling water.
From the tip of the island, a full panoramic view of the dam can be seen. It is almost like being in a completely different place from what lies just steps away.
There is a terrific overlook, giving everyone the ability to get very close to the dam without having to be right in the water.
Recently, the city commissioned a study into the possibility of utilizing the water power for electricity. According to the preliminary study, a 750-kilowatt hydropower turbine/generator could be added to the dam that would have the potential to produce about 3,285 megawatt-hours of electricity per year. This would amount about 1 percent of Elgin residential customers’ usage. It also would reduce local carbon emissions by about 5.5 million pounds per year.
The Trygve A. Rovelstad heroic-sized sculpture of The Pioneer Family, designed in the 1930s and not actually created until 2000-2001.
With much fanfare after decades of waiting, it was dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 2001. Its completion was a longtime dream fulfilled by many.
It is perched just over dam, its subjects looking upriver seeking a new life.
It is a truly beautiful statue, evoking hope, courage, and fortitude that must have been felt by the early European settlers to the region.
In 2010, with decades of water scouring the concrete surface, it was discovered that some of the pilings have suffered some exposure, which has garnered a "below acceptable" rating from the state. While not an immediate problem, the dam will have to undergo stepped-up inspections until the appropriate remedies can be engineered and executed.
It has beneficial aspects, but it still presents inherent dangers. Despite the knowledge and warnings, including those in the water just above the dam before the water begins to race, some people never learn, as just recently was the case (below):
from The Daily Herald - Article updated: 4/24/2012 6:07 AM:
Elgin teens escaped death in dangerous dam stunt
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| A stenciled warning, sometimes unheeded. |
“Their lives were in danger whether they realized it or not,” Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said. “They were very lucky to have escaped this unharmed."
Now the two 16-year-olds who went over the dam in an inflatable raft — without life jackets ... twice — and the 18-year-old who stood by to document their exploits will deal with the consequences of their actions.
The boys in the raft, whose names are not being released because they are juveniles, were charged with disorderly conduct after their trips over the dam. Ezequiel Arce, 18, of the 400 block of Hendee Street in Elgin, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child in addition to the disorderly conduct offense.
Four officers, two ambulances, two fire trucks, a boat, firefighters and a battalion chief responded at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to the Kimball Street bridge after witnesses called 911.
While the police department doesn't have a particular fee it can charge the teens for launching the emergency response, a judge could impose extra fines related to the cost of tying up officers' and firefighters' time.
Mayor David Kaptain, who spent 31 years intimately acquainted with the Fox River and the Kimball Street dam as a chemist with the Fox River Water Reclamation District, said the young men may have been saved by the dry weather of late. He said the water level on the river is particularly low for this time of year.
The dynamics of the dam mean water rushes over and flows sharply downward, pulling anything nearby with it. When things — or people — get caught in that current, they are pulled down, pushed into the river floor or the dam, brought back up and sucked down again. The swirling water pattern is called a boil.
“Even experienced swimmers can't get out of there,” Kaptain said. “If that boat had tipped over they could have been in real serious trouble.”
Elgin firefighter Michael Whalen and fire Capt. Stanley Balsis both died in 1974 in an effort to save someone else who went over the dam on a bet. While the man was saved, Whalen and Balsis could not escape the powerful current. A memorial to both men stands on the southeast side of the dam.
Kaptain said the dam was modified a few years ago and, if plans for a hydroelectric project move forward, could be made even safer by reducing the strength of the boil. But up and down the Fox River are sites of horror stories like Balsis and Whalen's.
Arce's Larkin High School friends may have narrowly avoided being part of one. “They were probably within inches of potentially killing themselves, quite honestly,” Swoboda said.
Arce, who is due in court at 9 a.m. May 11, did not return messages to comment on this story.
This is very cool, Jon!!!!
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