User:IveGoneAway/sandbox/Rocky Ford State Fishing Area

The Rocky Ford State Fishing Area is a Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) outdoor recreation area in northeast Kansas. It has been a popular water recreational area since the original construction of a millpond there in the 1860s.

The centerpiece of the park is a 14 foot high concrete low fall dam. There is a large abutment on the west end and on the east end are the foundations of a demolished water mill and hydroelectric power plant. Except at times of extreme flooding, this dam prevents any fish migration up-stream past that point. This blockage results in a concentration of large game fish in the waters below the dam, making it a popular location for fishing. The dam impounds the recreational fishing and no-wake boating lake of the River Pond Area of Tuttle Creek State Park.

A concrete walkway is in place to allow fishermen from the east side to get access to the flow of water directly below the dam.

The park also includes a 55 acre strip of ground along the east bank of the river, featuring a trail that extends miles south to Dyer Road and miles North to the Rocky Ford Campground, which is a part of the River Pond Area State Park.

The park's vehicle access (Rock Ford Road) is from Dyer's Road, which intersects with U.S. Route 24/Tuttle Creek Boulevard and with Kansas Highway 13 just east of the Tuttle Creek Dam Spillway Area.

From the early days of settlement and statehood, the Big Blue River had been recognized as having excellent potential for hydraulic power, being described as the "Merrimac" of Kansas Dozens of small mill ponds would be established in the watershed, usually to power grist mills and sawmills, before the availability of transported fossil fuels and higher horsepower industrial equipment rendered the relatively small water mills obsolete and relocated markets to industrialize railroad towns. With early electrification, a few of these dams were restored as hydroelectric plants.

An early dam was established at Rocky Ford to grind grain and saw lumber. Over time, four dams were built in succession at the location. Today, the present dam retains the River Pond, established during in the construction of the Tuttle Creek Dam and is the namesake of the Rocky Ford Campground on the south side of that pond.

History
As the first dams at Rocky Ford were built just upstream of the crossing, Rocky Ford remained an active river crossing until the construction of the present damn in 1929, which put the west approach underwater. The public could still cross the river at that point on foot by using the tunnel built within the new dam.

Naturally, the lake was popular for swimming and fishing. Powerboat races were regularly held in the 1930s. An outdoor dance pavilion was constructed on the west shore, and the power plant constructed a 500-foot long heated swimming pool.

Rocky Ford
4 miles above the junction of the Big Blue River with the Kansas River

Much of the old crossing underlies the present dam's waters.

3 miles upstream

reports have the length of the impounded water measured at 6-8 miles along the river channel or 3-5 miles straight up the valley.

Original wood frame dam — 1868
In 1866 a wood frame dam was constructed the year after the Kansas Pacific Railway was built through Manhattan to Junction City

dam and flour mill were constructed at the Crossing. This first dam was built above the crossing area, which could still be used, even though at this point in time there was a ferry a mile below the dam and a new bridge across the Big Blue River at Poyntz Avenue in Manhattan, the crossing was a more direct access to the mill.

While brief descriptions of the facility describe the present dam as the second Dam built in 1908 there were actually three dams built at this location

The mill was converted to a concrete power dam, built by the Rocky Ford Milling and Power Company in the early 1900s.

1866

However, there were problems of quicksand resulting from the higher water level.

1867

1868

1869 In September of 1869, having been in the area since April, Cyrus Criswell became head miller of the Rock Ford Mill.

1871 Charles Bradley replaced Criswell in 1871 as the head operator for the remainder of the grain milling operations, which ceased in the 1880s.

1872 1883 was considered some waste of potential, for the mill used but a fraction of the available power.

1886

The Manhattan Mercury (Manhattan, Kansas) 20 Mar 1889, Wed Page 1 https://kansashistoricalsociety.newspapers.com/image/254213373 ... Manhattan has now at Rocky Ford what is said to be the finest water power in the State of Kansas.

electric power generation was considered in the 1880s

1891 the timber dam is wrecked by floods

destroyed before 1893

https://kansashistoricalsociety.newspapers.com/search/#lnd=1&query=%22rocky+ford%22+manhattan+dam&dr_year=1892-1896&offset=3&silo=8&p_place=KS

Timber and stone dam
With the arrival a railroads, grain mills were located with elevators along railroad sidings, in this case

miles to the south in Manhattan. The old frame dam was not maintained and was washed away in a flash flood several years before the turn of the century.

Concrete arch dam — 1908
In 1908, with the long-considered intention of harnessing the river for electrical power, a new concrete arch dam was constructed over the foundations of the older dams, reusing the stone masonry abutment on the west end and improving the concrete race on the east end. Electrical equipment was not purchased until success with the dam was assure by its successful completion. Water turbines were installed and on line by 1910. An oil-burning steam power plant was constructed as a steel-paneled annex to the stone mill and the electrical equipment was upgraded, particular to power the trolleys on the new Manhattan-Junction City Interurban Railway.

This third dam failed in September 1919

Present hollow straight dam — 1920
200 employees banquet

second chimney {{cite journal |url= https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/487441219/ |journal= The Manhattan Tribune |location= Manhattan, Kansas |date= June 29, 1922 |page= 6 |quote= Scaffolding gave way on the new chimney at the Rocky Ford dam on Monday, letting four men fall 90 ft. That they escaped death is a miracle.

1921

1932

KPL donation of parkland — 1967
1967 "Dam Centennial" The site was deeded to Kansas Forestry, Fish and Game Commission.

KPL maintained a substation for some years afterward. (hydroelectric Tuttle)

Park expansion — 2006
Rocky Ford Outdoor Recreation Area Riley County

Mike Hayden, then Secretary of the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Department,

Dam's Centennial

Manhattan Diamond Jubilee