CROTON DAM (MICHIGAN)

The 'Croton Dam' (or 'Croton Hydroelectric Plant') is a dam and powerplant complex on the Muskegon River in Croton Township, Newaygo County, Michigan. Built in 1907 under the direction of William D. Fargo by the Grand Rapids - Muskegon Power Company^[2], a predecessor of Consumers Energy, the 40-foot-high dam impounds 7.2 billion gallons of water in its 1,209-acre reservoir^[3], and is capable of producing 8850 kilowatts at peak outflow^[4]. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Contents

History

Predecessor projects

Damming the Muskegon

Impact and Controversy

Current status

references

External links

See also

History

The history of the Croton dam is intertwined with the history of the Foote brothers, William A. Foote (1863-1923) and James B Foote (1868-?), brothers
from Adrian, Michigan, their burgeoning electric power empire, and Jackson based civil engineer William G. Fargo.
^[5].
William A. Foote was a grist mill operator in Adrian, Michigan, when at the age of 30 in 1884, in what was then a common occurance, he provided space and shaft power from his mill wheel to
Thomson - Houston, a local electric utility startup, to light 12 streetlights. Fascinated by the potential, within a year he enlisted his then 17 year old brother James, moved to Jackson, Michigan, and they jointly founded Jackson Electric Light Works ^[6]
(a predecessor company to Consumers Energy) in 1886, which began by lighting downtown Jackson electrically. The Foote brothers set up similar city specific companies in Battle Creek, Michigan and Adrian within a few years. In many cases dams already built for grist mills,
sawmills and the like were repurposed for the electric generators, but in some cases, new dams were constructed. As the familiarity with the technology, and the technology itself, improved, the scope of projects became more ambitious.

Predecessor projects

The Foote's first projects in Jackson, Battle Creek and Adrian, like most pre 1900 electric power projects were created for street lighting, with some limited residential and business lighting. Since transmission of electricity over long distances was not well understood, they were situated near the cities they served. But the demand for power was growing, driven by among other things, the advent of the streetcar and increased industrial use of electricity, outstripping the capacity of smaller rivers and existing dams. So larger rivers were sought. In 1898 the Foote brothers, working with engineering partner Fargo, constructed the Trowbridge Dam across the Kalamazoo River, in order to supply the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The dam was located about 25 miles away from the city, near Allegan, Michigan^[7] an unheard of distance at the time, and was the first major hydroelectric project in Western Michigan . Initially beset by power loss during transmission and other problems, the Trowbridge dam successfully provided power to a larger area than previous dams, after the Foote brothers advanced the state of the art in insulators and electric transmission equipment.

Damming the Muskegon

Location of Croton Dam

Vintage postcard of Croton Dam powerhouse

Grand Rapids, Michigan was a large power market that the Footes also turned their attention to. Fargo advised the Foote brothers about possible hydropower locations on the Muskegon River, which has the second largest outflow of an inland (non Great Lakes connecting) river of Michigan, after the Grand River, which has a large basin and the largest outflow of Michigan's inland rivers.^[8][9]. Unlike the Grand, the Muskegon is not navigable so dams would not cause difficulty with river traffic. Through a subsidiary of their holding company, Commonwealth Power, the Grand Rapids – Muskegon Power Company, in 1904^[10] they commissioned the construction of Rogers Dam and Croton Dam on the Muskegon, as well as Webber Dam on the Grand River. Rogers, upstream of the Croton, was finished first, in 1906, but Croton, located where the Little Muskegon joins, was a more ambitious project. One third of the village of Croton would be submerged by the impoundment lake as it began filling in August 1907. Power would have to be transmitted 50 miles overland to Grand Rapids. Fargo was dispatched to oversee construction and served as the Chief Engineer.
The Croton Dam and hydro plant were completed in 1907 and a grand opening was held on September 7, 1907 in the village (named after Croton-on-Hudson, New York). Contemporary accounts report that "Grand Rapids Mayor George Ellis and a large contingent of city and business officials journeyed north to the village of Croton on a special train. After touring the big dam, they adjourned to a nearby field for a fine dinner, followed by cigars and a friendly baseball game."
In order to achieve the power transmission over 50 miles to Grand Rapids, the then highest voltage transmission line in the world would be used to transmit Croton’s power output. Croton became the first hydro plant to transmit power at 110,000 volts. Dr. Charles Steinmetz, the “wizard” of General Electric, visited the site and conducted tests on the transmission lines in 1908. The first two generating units were joined by two more in 1915.
Croton and Rogers dams were joined by the Hardy Dam, situated between them in 1931. The Hardy was the last major hydroelectric project constructed in Michigan by Consumers.

Impact and Controversy

While Croton advanced the state of the art in hydroelectric engineering, it also submerged significant sections of scenic and fast-flowing stretches of the Muskegon and Little Muskegon rivers. Croton Dam and the other dams on the Muskegon divide the 219-mile long river into shorter, ecologically dysfunctional units, some conservationists believe. It also blocks passage of fish from one river section to the next. It allegedly also causes potentially harmful changes in water temperature and oxygen levels in a stretch of the river downstream of the dam, according to company data.
The dam was threatened by rainfall during the flood of September 1986. The Croton and Hardy nearly failed during the peak of the flood, caused by a storm that dumped 14 inches of rain on West Michigan in 48 hours. Consumers Energy officials stated that "had the Hardy Dam failed, the Croton Dam would have been washed away and every community from Croton to Muskegon would have been submerged under several feet of water:.
Subsequently, in 1989, Michigan state fisheries director John Robertson characterised hydroelectric dams as "concrete and steel monsters" and suggested 11 Consumers Energy dams be removed from the Muskegon, Manistee and AuSable rivers. Local official then gathered petition signatures from 14,000 people who supported keeping the dams.
The federal government has relicensed the dams through 2034, but has required operating changes reducing their harmful effects on the Muskegon River.

Current status

Along with the Hardy Dam, also on the Muskegon River, the Croton Dam and hydroelectric plant is owned and operated by Consumers Energy, an electric power company headquartered in Jackson, Michigan. Croton generated 44 million kilowatt hours of electricity in 2006, which would satisfy the annual electric consumption of about 6,000 residential customers.
The three dams, Rogers, Hardy, and Croton, are operated in different modes but in concert give a net run of river effect on water flow. The Rogers itself has little or no impoundment and runs in run of river mode, passing through as much water as it receives. The Croton and Hardy work in concert as follows. The Hardy, which has a larger capacity reservoir, larger turbines, and is upstream of the Croton, runs in full peaking mode, meaning that the river flow is impounded and used to generate electricity during peak periods. This causes wider fluctuations in water flows and reservoir levels, typically with low outflow during the night when power demand is lowest. Full peaking was once very common but because of the outflow fluctuations is now less common. However, with the Croton immediately downstream, with no river segment (the Croton impoundment stretches back to the Hardy outlet), it can be run in re-regulation mode, allowing a natural flow rate to exit. The Croton reservoir level fluctuates inversely with the Hardy, rising during the day and lowering at night. Since the Hardy reservoir is so large, the reservoir level fluctuates about 4 inches in total. During the winter and spring runoff, the Hardy is allowed to fluctuate much more. It can be drawn down up to 12 feet to meet winter power demand but is required to return to normal levels by the end of April each spring.
^[11]
Together, the three dams can generate about 45,500 kilowatts with about 30,000 from the Hardy.

references

1. MICHIGAN - Newaygo County
2. Croton Dam 1907-2007 Centennial Celebration brochure
3. Historic Croton Dam changed West Michigan Jeff Alexander
4. Muskegon River Hydroelectric Resources
5. Hydroelectric Power in Michigan - The Consumers Energy Story, and The Lyons Connection
6. Lorado Taft, William A. Foote Memorial Michael W. Panhorst
7. Consumers Power Co. company history
8. Hydrology: Rivers of Michigan
9. An image of Michigan's inland drainage basins is here
10. The sunken village under Croton Pond
11. Balancing Flows and Power Production along the Muskegon River

External links

★ Image while under construction from Consumers Energy site

★ Park and Recreational information from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources

★ Fisheries information from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources

★ Dam impact study from the city of Big Rapids, Michigan
'Maps'

★ Locator map

★

See also

★ Croton_Township,_Michigan where the dam is located

★ Big Rapids, Michigan the nearest major city

★ List of Registered Historic Places in Newaygo County, Michigan

★ New Croton Dam which is in Croton-On-Hudson, New York