On May 15, 2003, an earthen dike in the Silver Lake Basin failed, releasing a torrent of water down the Dead River. Very fortunately the downstream dams held, but the raging waters flooded everything in their path, including the Presque Isle Power Plant, causing that facility to shut down. This power plant supplies the Empire and Tilden Mines, forcing them to shut down also. The City of Marquette has an excellent photo album of the flooding at http://www.mqtcty.org/departments/Flood/disk1/index.htm

Here are a few photos of the Dead River in flood under the LS&I bridge.

The foundations of the bridge were damaged and required repair with rip-rap and concrete. For a couple of days, the LS&I were pushing empties up from West Yard to the bridge. An engine waiting on the other side of the bridge then took them the rest of the way up to Eagle Mills. This allowed some movement across the bride without the weight of an engine on it. 

Return to the LS&I 2002 Excursion Report

Last edited 28 January, 2018