Hancock Lake Dam
The First Dam
The first Hancock Lake Dam was built in the early 1900s to help form a boomage lake. This was done to store the logs until they were put on rail cars and taken to the mills.
Early Dam Destruction
The dam went out in February of 1929. The lake drained down to just the creeks coming from Oneida Lake and Woodboro Springs.
At the time the dam went out, the Hancock Lake road went over the dam. Not only did the dam go out, the road was out as well. The old log dam was replaced with a cement structure, the same dam that is there today. There have been numerous repairs done to the dam and it is inspected routinely. In the 1960s the Hancock Lake road was moved off the dam to a location just south of the dam, where it is today and called Oneida Lake Rd.
1931 Bench Mark.pdfBenchmark documentation in 1931.
1948 Bench Mark.pdfBenchmark documentation in 1948.
1989-91 Repairs
In 1989, the town contracted with Del-Mar to repair the Hancock Lake Dam.
As per Board Minutes dated May 1991, the lake was lowered prior to repair so Del Mar put in an extra stop board. This raised the lake to a level of 1517.65', 3.5" above the 1517.34' level the DNR stated it should be at. The town then removed the top 8" stop board and replaced it with a 4”x4" stop board. This board is still in place.
2002 Inspection Report
The inspection report places the benchmark of the dam at 1521.16'. Currently the lake level is approximately 4' below the bench mark 1521.16'-4'= 1517.16'. Subtracting the current level from the DNR level: 1517.34 - 1517.16 = .18'. This is 2.16” lower than the DNR level.
2002 Inspection.pdf2019 Dam Repairs
2020 Dam Repairs
Dam Documents
Dam Emergency Action Plan.pdfDam Emergency Action Plan
Dam Maintenance Plan.pdfMaintenance and Operation Plan
Lake Dam Template.pdfLake Dam Template