Page 17 - QuakerMillDam

The End of the Story—Recent History and Demolition

of the Dam

The Iowa Electric Company owned and operated the power
plant at Quaker Mill until 1953, when the firm was acquired
by the Iowa Electric Light and Power Company. The Iowa
Electric Light and Power Company continued to operate the
plant at Quaker Mill until 1967, when it was abandoned in
favor of larger plants that could generate electricity more
cheaply. The powerhouse was subsequently removed, but
50
the Iowa Electric Light and Power Company continued to
own the property until 1996, when it was sold to its current
owner. The scenic metal arch bridge over the Maquoketa
51
River, the home of makeshift diving boards used by swim-
mers at the mill pond since the 1890s, was removed in 1969,
replaced by a modern highway bridge downstream from the
dam. 52

During the mid- to late-twentieth century, the Quaker Mill
Pond gradually silted in due to agricultural erosion up-
stream. Aerial photographs of the pond taken by the United
States Department of Agriculture between the 1930s and
2008 show the river channel at the upstream end of the
pond gradually filling in with sediment that rose above the
surface of the water and sprouted vegetation. As soil, logs,
and other debris worked their way into the pond, along with
other types of pollution, recreational activities like boating
and swimming became more hazardous and less popular. Dam demolition at the eastern end, view to the southwest, May
Increasing concerns about safety and legal liability led land- 2017 (Doug Hawker).
owners to impose greater restrictions on the use of the dam
and pond area. 53
Acknowledgements
The gradual filling in of the Quaker Mill Pond continued up
until 2008, when a major flood breached a levee along the We are indebted to many individuals and organi-
southeast edge of the pond. The Maquoketa River changed zations for their help in providing information and
course, bypassing the Quaker Mill Dam and flowing south- images used in this booklet. Special thanks to:
east to Honey Creek before rejoining the main river chan-
nel below the dam. The levee was repaired in 2009, but it Willard and Marcia Hawker, owners of the Quaker
breached again in 2010. Another repair is scheduled to be Mill Dam, and their son Doug Hawker, who is also a
part of the planned river restoration project. 54 former Iowa Department of Natural Resources en-
vironmental specialist knowledgeable about river
ecology. The Hawkers gave the OSA researchers
Starting in 2013, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, access to the dam and provided extensive infor-
working with the Delaware County Conservation Board and mation on the dam, mill pond, and river. Most of
the Quaker Mill Dam owners, developed a dam removal and the recent photographs of the dam used in this
river restoration project for this section of the Maquoketa booklet are from Doug Hawker’s collection.
River. The project involves repairing the levee to return the
Maquoketa River to its earlier channel, and removing the Robert Ungs of Manchester, who shared his
knowledge of the history of the dam and provided
Quaker Mill Dam to promote fish passage, reduce the level of most of the historic images of the dam and flour
sediment in the mill pond to help reduce flooding, and other- mill used in this booklet.
wise restore the river channel to a more natural state. The
55
Quaker Mill Dam was removed over the course of a week in Amy Gilligan, Executive Editor, and Michael Day,
May 2017 by Top Grade Excavating of Farley, Iowa. Other Senior Editorial Artist/Designer, both at THMedia
56
components of the river restoration project are scheduled to (publisher of the Dubuque Telegraph Herald), who
occur at a later date. provided the 1958 image of Sunset Beach used
here.

The Prettiest Dam on the Maquoketa River—The Quaker Mill Dam at Manchester, Iowa 15