Hersey River Dam removal

The Village of Hersey in Osceola County, Michigan (current population 374) was settled in 1851 by lumbermen, most notably D. A. Blodgett. It was an ideal location for a lumber town, at the intersection of the Hersey and Muskegon Rivers, surrounded with pine, elm, and maple forests. The Hersey River has been dammed at Hersey in one form or another since 1858. Blodgett built the fi rst dam there to power his sawmill and grist mill, and after it was built, Hersey was busy and prosperous. At one point, four sawmills and one grist mill were in operation, and the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad passed through town, moving the timber to markets. The original Hersey Dam failed in 1941, and it was patched with poured concrete over a sea of boulders. The mill's water wheel was subsequently replaced with a turbine, and the mill operated a few more years before shutting down. Since that time, the Hersey Dam had become more of an annoyance than an asset. Upstream of the current dam, the Hersey River was a designated trout stream, its fi shery considered in the top 15% among Michigan's high-quality coldwater streams. The dam's impoundment created a 14-acre shallow pond, which warmed the water in the summer. The slower water movement through the impoundment also depleted its dissolved oxygen levels, making it a poor habitat. 7 pp., and before and after photos.