Five Channels Dam


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

Background

Consumers Power Company 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 or razed. The site of the workers' camp built to support construction of the dam was listed as an archaeological site on the National Register of Historic Places on March 13, 2002.