CISCO DAM
UPPCO owns and maintains 3 storage dams upstream of Victoria Dam. The water retained in these dams is eventually utilized at the Victoria facility.
The Cisco Dam is a low-head concrete structure 21 feet long and 5 feet high with two 6'8" - wide concrete bays. It is located on the Cisco branch of the Ontonagon River at the north end of the Cisco chain of lakes and has a storage capacity of approximately 1,800,000 kilowatt hours.
information courtesy of the UPPCO
[T]he Cisco Lake Chain . . . water level is held artificially high by a dam on the outlet of Cisco Lake. The dam was constructed sometime prior to the 1930s and probably originated as a logging dam. In 1937 the Copper District Power Company purchased the dam and subsequently, in 1948, the Upper Peninsula Power Company purchased the dam. The purpose of the dam to this day is to provide water for power generation at Victoria Dam many miles downstream on the Ontonagon River. The elevated water level also permits the passage of boat traffic through several lakes in the Chain which would not be otherwise possible.
During the late 1930s, a structure known as a Barr Fish Lock was installed on the downstream side of the dam to lift fish from the river below into the lake. It met with limited success and is not operable at this time.
information courtesy of the Michigan DNR
THE CISCO BRANCH