page_title: Splash dam
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Splash dam / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Scope and content: Original caption: Dam for making freshet for floating logs. Northern Michigan. ~1910.
context_page_description: A splash dam was a temporary wooden dam used to raise the water level in streams to float logs downstream to sawmills. By impounding water and allowing it to be released on the log drive's schedule, these dams allowed many more logs to be brought to market than the natural flow of the creek allowed. Water releases from multiple splash dams on tributaries were also often combined to maximize the number of logs floated throughout a given watershed.
context_section_description: Splash dams operated across the United States, from about 1860 to 1930. As of 2008, the United States Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System shows thirteen place names in the United States containing the words "splash dam". Pennsylvania has the most, with eight places, but there are also places in Kentucky, Virginia, Utah, and Idaho named "Splash Dam". Two Pennsylvania state parks, Parker Dam State Park and McCalls Dam State Park, are named for splash dams.
caption: Dam for Making Freshet for Floating Logs in Northern Michigan
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