Flint River Channel West of Downtown

[RustTown]

Not knowing a lot about Flint's history I've always wondered exactly why the Flint River was channeled in between where it meets with Thread Creek and westward to 3rd Avenue? Was it to reduce flooding, power industry, a little bit of both? Exactly when was this engineering project undertaken?

[BillyChilly]

Taken from a "Flint River Assessment" pdf I found online:

"The United States Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with the city of Flint, constructed a

[RustTown]

Thanks. I figured it must have been because the riverbanks must have been low at that location, so it must have easily spilled its banks during a storm.

BTW, I was doing some random research and turned up a proposal back in March that is asking for the dilapidated Hamilton Dam, downtown, to be removed in favor of rapids:

http://www.flintriverpaddlers.org/id15.html

Lastly, does anyone know where the Utah Dam is? I'm looking at aerials, and the only thing I could guess as an unused dam looks to be up by the old Buick City complex. Apparently, it hasn't been in use in years.

Really, if anyone whenever they get some time could take pictures of all of these dams (The relatively new Obermeyer Hydro dam by Grand Traverse Street, Hamilton and Utah) that would be really great.

I've always been interested in how cities on water dealt with their geography. Here in Lansing there is also talk of removing the North Lansing Dam which was made useless when the Ottawa Street Power station, upstream, was decommissioned. The dam only served the purpose of creating a pool of water downtown for the plant to use.

[BillyChilly]

Thanks. I figured it must have been because the riverbanks must have been low at that location, so it must have easily spilled its banks during a storm.

BTW, I was doing some random research and turned up a proposal back in March that is asking for the dilapidated Hamilton Dam, downtown, to be removed in favor of rapids:

http://www.flintriverpaddlers.org/id15.html

Lastly, does anyone know where the Utah Dam is? I'm looking at aerials, and the only thing I could guess as an unused dam looks to be up by the old Buick City complex. Apparently, it hasn't been in use in years.

Really, if anyone whenever they get some time could take pictures of all of these dams (The relatively new Obermeyer Hydro dam by Grand Traverse Street, Hamilton and Utah) that would be really great.

I've always been interested in how cities on water dealt with their geography. Here in Lansing there is also talk of removing the North Lansing Dam which was made useless when the Ottawa Street Power station, upstream, was decommissioned. The dam only served the purpose of creating a pool of water downtown for the plant to use.

[RustTown]

Thanks!

What they are proposing for the Hamilton Dam has been done here in metro Lansing at the old Dimondale Dam. It was removed a few years ago after having been dilapidated and in severed disrepair. They ended up putting in a specific kind fo rapids that allows fish to get back up stream, but that also channels the water to cut down on the erosion of the river banks

http://members.aol.com/DimondaleDam/home.html

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153--156523--,00.html