Lake Shafer is one of two

reservoirs A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

located in the Twin Lakes area of

Monticello, Indiana Monticello ( ) is a city in Union Township, White County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of White County. Monticello is known as a tourist destination in north-central Indiana an ...

. It was created along with Lake Freeman in the 1920s when two dams were built outside of Monticello on the

Tippecanoe River The Tippecanoe River ( ) is a gentle, U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 river in the Central Corn Belt Plains ecoregion in northern Indiana. It flows from Croo ...

. It remains a popular recreational area and helps generate an estimated $70 million in tourism revenue for White County.

History

Creation of Lake Shafer began in 1922 with the construction of the Norway Dam at

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle roa ...

30.2 above the confluence of the

Wabash River The Wabash River (French: Ouabache) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows from ...

. Construction of the dam finished in June, 1923, and it remains standing approximately one mile north of Monticello. Lake Shafer remains the more commercial of the Twin Lakes, largely due to the presence of the

Indiana Beach Indiana Beach is an amusement park located on Lake Shafer in Monticello, Indiana. The resort was developed by the Spackman family, who owned it from 1926 to 2008. The park was then sold to Morgan RV LLC, Apex Parks Group, LLC, and now is owned a ...

Amusement Park and Camp Resort. There are also a vast number of rental cottages and homes as well as boat rental marinas. Many of Lake Shafer's residents are part-timers, spending the majority of their time at the lake on weekends, traditionally April through October. The lake is often busy with boat traffic on summer weekends due to the increase in tourists.

Ecology

Because it is located in the Tippecanoe River

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

, it is a natural sediment trap. These feeding sediments have caused some parts of the northern part of the lake to be shallowed to as low as 4 feet. Since 2004, there have been active efforts on the lake to dredge many parts of the shallow areas on the lake to remove debris from the bottom of the lake, remove sandbars, and increase the lake's depth. Since formed, Lake Shafer has been drained in 1965, 1975, 1985, and 1995, so repair work could be made to the Norway Dam.. It was announced that in late April 2008, Lake Shafer will be drained once again for repairs to the Norway Dam. It will be drained 3 feet the weekend of April 26–27, and six feet by May 3–4. Only the main riverbed will remain during the draining of it.

References

Monticello, Indiana - Official Tourism and Business Directory

Norway and Oakdale Hydroelectric Project Draft Application for License

Lake Shafer Preliminary Investigation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafer Reservoirs in Indiana Protected areas of White County, Indiana Bodies of water of White County, Indiana