Five Channels Dam
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Five Channels Dam is a hydro-electric dam on the Au Sable River in Michigan.


Background

Consumers Power Company (now
Consumers Energy Consumers Energy is an investor owned utility that provides natural gas and electricity to 6.7 million of Michigan's 10 million residents. It serves customers in all 68 of the state's Lower Peninsula counties. It is the primary subsidiary of CMS ...
) began construction on this hydro-electric dam in 1911 and completed it in 1912. The dam, the second of six built by the company on the Au Sable River, is named for the nearby location where there were once five distinct river channels. The current plant is capable of producing 6,000 kilowatts.


Five Channels Dam worker's camp

During construction of the dam, the company tried to provide a healthy environment for workers by incorporating lessons learned on worker safety and health during construction of Panama Canal. They built a 45-acre camp for workers and their families, complete with a central water supply and sewage system, icehouse, school, washroom, store and boardinghouse. The workers also received land on which to build a house; the resulting structures ranged clapboard houses to log cabins to tarpaper shacks to tents. At the completion of dam construction, the worker's camp buildings were moved to the next construction site (the Loud Dam) or razed. The site of the workers' camp built to support construction of the dam was listed as an
archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
(designated 20ES112, 20IS113, 20IS114, 20IS115, and 20IS116) on the National Register of Historic Places on March 13, 2002.


References

{{stack, {{Portal, Michigan, Water, Renewable energy Dams in Michigan Hydroelectric power plants in Michigan Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Buildings and structures in Iosco County, Michigan Consumers Energy dams Dams completed in 1912 Energy infrastructure completed in 1912 1912 establishments in Michigan Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Iosco County, Michigan