Mark Zygiel (standing) and Dwayne Hanchett of Sterling, contractors of Katterman Trucking of Hale, pour concrete into the center section of the Brevoort Lake Dam gate control structure Friday, September 30. The $100,000 reconstruction project of the gate control structure is set to be finished by October 17. The $100,000 reconstruction project of Brevoort Lake Dam’s gate control structure not only will preserve the lake’s recreation and marine and wildlife habitat, it also preserves a small symbol of America’s success in ending years of economic depression during the 1930s and 1940s.

The Brevoort Dam was completed in spring 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps’ Camp Round Lake Company 3628. The group consisted of men ages 18 to 27. The only remnants of the camp are a few white wooden pegs near St. Ignace’s U.S. Forest Service office, just off US-2. The project, fully funded by the U.S. Forest Service, includes restoration of the dam’s concrete walkway that is a 43-foot-long stretch of the North Country Trail, a nationally designated scenic trail, and the gates, through which the water flows from the lake into Brevoort River, leading to Lake Michigan. Deteriorated parts of the gate control’s concrete walls will be chipped away and replaced with new concrete, as well.

The walkway platform will be increased from 30 inches wide to 51 inches wide. Handrails will be placed on both sides of the walkway. Only one side of the walkway previously had handrails. The walkway will meet American with Disabilities Act requirements.

About 400 tons of rock from the Les Cheneaux quarries are being spread around the dam on the downstream side to prevent erosion, to prevent water from undermining the dam itself, said Russ Sutton, U.S. Forest Service East Zone engineer, overseeing the project.

Reconstruction is being performed by Katterman Trucking of Hale. The project is expected to be completed by mid-October.

The gate control is part of a 470-foot earthen dam that provides control of water levels of the 4,230-acre lake that stretches more than 16 miles of shoreline.

Mr. Sutton said the gate control is being constructed as much to its original design as possible, with changes only to meet modern safety requirements.

The dam was completed in 1939, a time when Eastern Upper Peninsula’s tourism industry was developing and when the country was close to fully regaining its economic footing from the Depression, which Americans had been suffering through since the stock market crash in 1929.

The builders of the dam were young men from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), an organization that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created to stimulate the country’s economy.

An avid outdoorsman, President Roosevelt’s goals were to employ young men at various CCC labor camps, providing them with pay that would be sent to family members in exchange for labor of preserving the country’s long-exploited natural resources.

“Our greatest task is to put people to work,” said President Roosevelt during a speech in March 1933. “It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the government itself, treating the task as we would threat the emergency of war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our national resources.”

Recruiting began in April 1933, with 25,000 men signing up initially. By July, CCC enlistment totaled nearly 275,000. Camps in Michigan numbered in the hundreds, with several camps sprinkled across the EUP, including in St. Ignace, Moran, Newberry, Trout Lake, and Seney.

CCC members emphasized, among many things, forest fire control and prevention, erosion control, establishing and maintaining outdoor recreation facilities and sites, and reforestation.

CCC’s Camp Round Lake was established in July 1935 as Company 3628. It was about 12 miles from St. Ignace, a half-mile off of US-2, a short distance inland from Pointe Aux Chenes, and four miles from Brevoort Lake. The camp was named after Round Lake, which was two miles northeast of the camp.

Tourist attraction to Brevoort Lake was growing, especially after the forest service planted 870,000 walleye pike into the lake in 1937. That complemented the lake’s already abundant fish population, which included small mouth bass, rock bass, sunfish, great northern pike, and perch.

The lake’s significant water level fluctuation threatened the quality of the lake, however. Warm water temperature during low water level periods affected the lake’s fish population and the stagnancy of the water was not inviting to swimmers.

This prompted the U.S. Forest Service to plan two CCC projects: building a dam at the tributary stream connected to Brevoort Lake and building a picnic area and beach development. The result was an establishment of many resorts, a residential community, and a national forest campground that continues to flourish today.

Camp Round Lake initially was to begin construction of the Brevoort Lake Dam in 1936, however, legal establishment of a proposed water level through the Mackinac County Circuit Court slowed progress. By fall of 1937, CCC enlistment numbers started to dwindle. As a result, CCC’s Camp Round Lake was closed.

The camp, however, was re-opened in 1938 after CCC enrollment numbers improved. The dam project was revived in the fall of 1938 and was completed the following spring in 1939.

“The result of the dam being built was water elevation increasing two to three feet,” said Mr. Sutton. “It has made this a very nice lake.”

(Photograph courtesy of the National Association of CCC Alumni Museum)