The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1910-03-25
The Indian Ford Dam to Stay.

clJudge Grimm on Monday decided in
favor of Capt. Pliny Norcross in the
Indian Ford, Rock river, dam case
brought against the present owners by
the state and other plaintiffs. The dam
was built in 1916, and property owners
about Lake Koshkonong wanted it re-
moved.
The original franchise permitted the
damming up of the current to height
of six feet above the water level. 1t is
claimed that this limit has not been ad-
hered to, and that by the putting in of
stone walls where once there were
gates inseveral places the free passage
of water in times of flood has been pre-
vented, so that thousands of acres of
land surrounding Lake Koshkonong
have periodically been submerged.
Even roads have been made impossible
by reason of high water. This dam
furnishes light and power for the city
OF Edgerton, in connection with the
Fulton power station, both being owned
by the GAINESVILLE Electric Co.
Judge Grimm in his decision says:
1t is clear to my mind that the plain
tiff has utterly failed to prove state
of facts which would warrant the court
in ordering judgment of any kind in its
favor. There is substantially no proof
that the dam has been raised, or its
capacity for holding back water in
creased at any time since the day of
its construction, more than 63 years
ago. The proof shows that the orig
inal dam was built substantially as re-
CURED by the legislative act authoriz-
ing it's construction, and that its height
did not exceed four feet above the ''or-
binary height" of the water in the
stream, nor six feet above the lowest
water level.
The several bridges above the dam
form greater obstruction to high
water than the dam could possibly be;
but, if the dam and bridges were all
entirely removed, the conformation of
the river, its depth, and the available
distance between its high banks from
the dam to the outlet Of the lake,
distance of five miles, are such as to
make it impossible for all the surplus
water which occasionally falls in this
1850 square miles of drainage area to
pass through as fast as it enters the
lake; at such times the lake acts as
temporary storage basin for the waters
which enter in volume greater than the
capacity of it's outlet.
nuisance created as alleged, by flooding
cellars, washing out highways, or 9TH
erwise, which can be traced to the
maintenance of the dam. On the other
hand, navigation has been very mater
tally improved; exposure of large
stretches of lake bottom during the dry
and hot summer months has been pre-
vented, and the consequent unwhole
some effects of decaying animal and
vegetable matter avoided; indeed SO far
as the public is concerned the effects of
the dam have all been beneficial.
But there are several other sufficient
reasons, which, under the established
facts in this case, are fatal to plain
tiff's contention. refer to the decis-
ions in the Stoughton and in the Taylor
cases. The former confirmed the right
to maintain the dam as then (and now
existing under the legislative grant;
and the latter established rule Of
property upon the faith of which large
sums of money have been expended in
improvements by the defendant, and by
the owners of property along the shores
of the lake. Many summer cottages
have been built which would become
worthless if the dam were removed,
and hundred or more power launches,
plying upon the lake and from James
vile to FIT. Atkinson, would be prac-
tically thrown out of commission. It
is inconceivable that the state, whose
legislative and judicial policy is to con-
serve it's water powers and beauty and
health spots, should wish with ruthless
hand, in this instance, to destroy that
which it had helped to create, and in
jure it's citizens in property which they
acquired in reliance upon its good faith.