Round Lake Logging Dam stands as a testimony to Wisconsin's lumber boom of the late 1800's. Built in 1878, this dam was the scene of many spring log drives during an era when lumberjacks and rivermen harnessed the flow of Wisconsin's rivers to transport the logs to local and distant markets. Winters were spent cutting and hauling pine logs by horse-drawn sleighs on ice roads to decking areas above the Round Lake Dam. During the spring thaws the long and perilous journey to the sawmills began. Round Lake served as a reservoir and with the opening of the dam's gates produced a ten foot wall of water that flushed the logs through the dam expertly guided by nimble log drivers. Once through the dam, the logs were held in a "booming area" to be sorted before continuing the southward journey to sawmills along the Chippewa and Mississippi Rivers.

Restored to its early 20th century condition, the 1870's Round Lake Logging Dam is worth a visit. Its restoration was a long time dream for people of Fifield and Park Falls. The reality began in 1991 when a newly formed group, Friend of the Round Lake Dam, Price County Historical Society and the U.S. Forest Service signed a cost share agreement. It was completed in the summer of 1996.

Informaiton gleaned by historian John Vogel when the dam was diassembled in 1992 was the basis of the work that USFS Engineer David Campbell did in creating the plans to reassemble it. Three years were spent in planning, writing fundraising grant applications and collecting materials.

The summer of 1985, as soon as the clearances for fish spawning were met, volunteers from the Friends hit the river under the direction of Campbell and Friend Bob Kemper, Engineer and Manny Stein, Operations Manager. They used time-proved old methods with canthooks and peavies, along with modern machinery and materials. A loader moved 600 pound timbers form the staging area to the river bank and a yarder placed them exactly where they would be needed in the river, rather than the horse or oxen power used in the 1800's. There were no dead men -logs fastened to the side walls by chains, then buried under the banks to hold the walls in place - but a tough, net-like material called Geo-grid lies between timbers and extends under the banks. Hopefully, these measures plus treated timbers will assure another 100 years for the dam.

19th century engineers left no blue-prints or diaries for their dams, so the 15-20 person crew that worked for 9 weeks in 1995 learned a lot as they went along. Volunteers form the Friends were joined by the Wisconsin Conservation Corps of the Chequamegon National Forest Office in Park Falls. These young people built coffer dams, posted trails, moved rocks and other hard labor jobs which smoothed the way for construction and speeded up work time.

Plans for the dam were approved by the State Historic Preservation Officer at the State Historical Society to comply with the National Register of Historic Places status of the dam. When evidence of the old crib was found during work in 1995, clearance was given to complete the crib and side wall extensions. The dam now resembles the Otto C. Doering restoration of the dam in the early part of this century.

The restored dam was dedicated on August 21, 1996. Government officials and several hundred people were in attendance to celebrate the return of the dam to the South Fork fo the Flambeau River.

Round Lake Logging Dam is thought to be the last of its kind and was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. Visitors are welcome! From the Logging Dam, trails lead on through large pine and an expansive semi-primitive area. The Round Lake Dam is located 20 miles east of Fifield off U.S. Forest Road 144. Forest Road 144 may be reached by taking Highway 70 east.