Although there have been dams on the Wisconsin River
since at least the 1840s, the turn of the 20th century saw
a surge in the number of hydro projects being created up
and down the Wisconsin River Valley. After seeing the
success of the famous Niagara Falls dam in 1889, many
communities across the United States saw hydro dams as
the answer to their problems. It did not take long for this
hydromania to travel up the Wisconsin River.
By harnessing flowing water, a community could capture
the power of a river and turn it into cheap and easy
electricity. This could be used to power everything from
lights and electric streetcars to equipment to help make
sawmills and mining operations more efficient. By 1907,
the Wisconsin River was generating three times the
horsepower equivalent it had in 1880.
But these dams were all operating independently, and the
lack of coordination had been a source of frustration and
difficulty for businesses operating further downriver. Gates
on dams were routinely opened each Friday, to allow water
to flow downstream (since they didn’t need it for the
weekend). This caused flooding downriver. On Sundays,
in preparation for the return to operations for the week,
dam operators would hold back water, which made it
difficult for mills down the line—and meant they might
need to suspend operations until the water returned. With
the increasing reliance on hydroelectric power generated
for communities across Wisconsin, it would be important
to find a way to control the flow of the Wisconsin River.
To address this, a group of leaders from across the
Wisconsin River Valley successfully lobbied the state to
take action. The result was the creation of the Wisconsin
Valley Improvement Company in 1907. WVIC would step
in and take over running the dams as a private company.
WVIC began as a group of 16 smaller dams from the
logging era, but over the next 25 years it would acquire
another 10 facilities that were built or rebuilt in the
Wisconsin River Valley. The total capacity of the system
had reached a staggering 15.6 million cubic feet of water.
Hydromania is not as widespread now as it was a
century ago. Although there was indeed great potential
in the “white coal” in the Wisconsin River, hydroelectric
dams turned out to be insufficient to meet the explosion
in demand for electricity in the 20th century. The WVIC
continues to operate the dams along the Wisconsin River,
which they proudly refer to as “the hardest working river
in the nation.”
