Lake Chippewa Flowage Vacation

If you can remember years back, we told you a short little story about McCloud’s Dam.

If you’ve ever driven your boat into Musky Bay, you’ve gone by the old dam. It’s located in the old river channel that runs from Musky Bay, around Derro Island and past Cletcher’s Bar.

The North Fork was one of the rivers that was used to float logs down; the logs would then go down to a mill to be processed. At this turn in the North Fork

We bring this old story up, because before the Chippewa Flowage was formed, the harvesting of the White Pine’s was big business. Small dams similar in nature to McCloud’s Dam were located in river areas where the waters of the Chippewa Flowage now preside. For example, did you know one of these dams was located just west of The Landing where the topography allowed for the blockage of the dam (look for it on your graph this summer). No name is known for what this dam may have been called.

All of this brings us to Dougin’s Dam. We were thoroughly stumped over who the Dougin’s were and where exactly this dam was located until we thought to ask Dave Greene. Dave, along with his wife Betty, were the owners of D & B Bait and lifelong residents of the Chippewa Flowage & Moose Lake area. When we asked Dave, he didn’t skip a beat and knew exactly where Dougin’s Dam was located, and we quote, “it was between Moose Lake Road and Highway B, several miles south of Moose Lake Road, past the 2nd swamp”.

The logs from this dam would flow down Hay Creek, join up with Chief River and then down to the West Fork of the Chippewa River.

Not much else is known about this family or dam, but it’s a start. If you know of any other facts about the Dougin’s we’d love to hear about it!