Round Lake Logging Dam

Restoration of 1878 logging dam | Highway 70 east to Forest Road 144, Pike Lake Region

The Round Lake Logging Dam is one of the last remaining structures of its kind in Wisconsin. It stands as testimony to Wisconsin’s lumber boom of the 1800′s.

Originally constructed in 1878, the wood dam was the site of numerous spring log drives. During the winter months lumberjacks cut huge timbers and hauled them via ice roads upon horse-drawn sleighs to Round Lake for storage. In the spring the dam was opened and the logs were sluiced through the dam on their long journey to sawmills along the Chippewa and Mississippi Rivers.

In 1992, restoration and reconstruction of the dam began with assistance from the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, the Friends of the Round Lake Logging Dam, the Price County Historical Society, and numerous volunteers. The dam was carefully dismantled and information was recorded to serve as a basis for restoration plans. In 1995, the dam was completely rebuilt using the historic timbers and original iron hardware. Only the most deteriorated or missing materials were completely replaced.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Round Lake Logging Dam allows visitors to acquire a sense of what logging dams were like during the long past era of lumberjacks and river men.

The logging dam is located on a 13-mile loop of road that was designated as one of Wisconsin’s Rustic Roads in October 2007. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel travel writer Dennis McCann traveled the route and described the Rustic Road as covering all things beautiful. To view the article, click here.

For more information about the Round Lake Logging Dam or other recreational opportunities in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, contact the forest headquarters – Park Falls Ranger District, 1170 4th Avenue South, Park Falls, WI  54552, 715-762-2461, TTY 715-762-5701, or fax 715-762-5179.