Round Lake Logging Dam

Discover a cultural gem within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest! Located at the idyllic headwaters of the South Fork Flambeau River on the Pike Lake Chain, one of the last artifacts of the the fabled pine logging days of the late 19th century is available for public exploration. Hiking and interpretive trails with picnic areas in the Doering Wilderness Study Area presents a visit to the past in a pristine setting. Visitors will experience the dam that was rebuilt in 1995, according to authorized specifications of 1878 with the original 1876 iron equipment in place. Quite a unique living history adventure!

Round Lake Dam is a four-season destination to see the natural beauty of a significant historical site.

Round Lake Logging Dam at the Doering Tract

As the treaties of 1837 and 1842 forced the Ojibwe to relinquish control of their lands, and the 1854 treaty established reserved lands assigned to the various bands, the loggers began their acquisition of pine lands. The Morrill Act of 1862 and the Wisconsin Central Land Grant of the 1870s were the vehicles of transfer of public lands to private ownership. As reported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1879: “The lumbermen (loggers, properly speaking) have been in the habit, for years, of building dams at will upon the tributaries and the main streams as well, many of the dams are permanent in nature and erected at great cost…” So it was that earlier in 1876, Black River Falls lumberman William T. Price had crews operating on the South Fork of the Flambeau. In that year, he directed his crews to construct a flooding and driving dam at the outlet of the South Fork at Round Lake, a 170-foot structure that would raise the the water six feet. Two years later, Eric MacArthur and Henry Hewitt were granted authorization in Wisconsin Law Chapter 272 to construct a dam at the site of the original W.T. Price dam. It is believed that the dam was rebuilt to hold a 10-foot head of water. John N. Vogel concluded that Joseph Viles, a noted builder of dams and owner of the property, was most likely the one to direct the rebuild. So for the next 28 years, the dam served several owners, including the celebrated Frederick Weyerhaeuser. In 1906, the dam and property was sold to Menasha Woodenware Company, at one time owned by none other than Henry Hewitt. The company ran the last log drive through the dam in 1909, although the Patterson Brothers ran a limited drive in the spring of 1923. From 1910 through the 1950s, former Sears, Roebuck & Co. vice-president Otto C. Doering purchased the cutover lands, including the dam, and brought the property back from destructive forest practices.

The private estate comprising 2,800 acres was sold to the United States Government in 1968, thus completing a full circle back to public ownership. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and completely rebuilt in 1995, the Round Lake Logging Dam sits on land owned by the United States Government designated as the Round Lake Recreation Area. This 3,600-acre tract is comprised of several stands of virgin hemlock and second-growth white pines as well as plantation stands of red pines. Non-motorized and open year-round to hikers, hunters, fishermen, naturalists and silent sports enthusiasts, this gem in the Chequamegon offers true wilderness experience for all ages.

Vogel, John N. “Folk Technology: A History of the Round Lake Loggining Dam.”

USDA Forest Service Report, October, 1980.

Vogel, John N. “The Round Lake Logging Dam: A Survivor of Wisconsin’s Log-Driving Days.” Madison, Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 66, Number 3, Spring, 1983. Pages 170-180.

Berg, John L., and Stein, Leonard [Manny] Jr. The Pike Lake Chain: A Collection of Historical Accounts and Photographs. Eagle River, Wisconsin, Hahn Printing, Incorporated; copyright by The Pike Lake Chain Lake Association, December, 2002. Published on pages 29 and 30 are the 1914 photographs of the dam at Round Lake from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Archives.

King, F.H. Geology of Wisconsin Survey of 1873-1879, Volume IV, Part VI: The Flambeau Region, pages 607-614.

Index to the Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the Third Session of the Forty-Fifth Congress, 1878-1879: Executive Document Number 54, page 9ff.Index to the Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the Third Session of the Forty-Fifth Congress, 1879-1880: Executive Document Number 54, pages 26-54