Renovations underway for Indian Lake Stone Dam; $70M in state funds slated for work at 3 other dams in the Adirondacks
By Zachary Matson
A small state agency managing important Adirondack dam infrastructure is moving forward with major overhauls of structures in the Adirondack Park.
The Hudson River-Black River Regulating District is deep into repairs at the iconic Indian Lake Stone Dam. The agency is inching toward construction projects at the Conklingville Dam that holds up Great Sacandaga Lake. The Old Forge and Sixth Lake dams in other parts of the park are also slated for work.
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A three-year financial plan the district board adopted in June boosts infrastructure spending from a planned $3.8 million this year to nearly $12 million in 2026 as it attempts to catch up on deferred maintenance for structure safety and stability.
In recent budgets, state lawmakers and the governor helped position the district for the upgrades, investing nearly $70 million for rehabilitation at three dams: Conklingville, Old Forge and Sixth Lake.
John Callaghan, executive director of the regulating district, said he expects to put those construction projects out for bid early next year with work beginning by next summer.
“When you have water-retaining infrastructure, you need to maintain it,” Callaghan said during a recent tour of Indian Lake Stone Dam.
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Scenes from the Indian Lake Stone Dam repairs:
A gallery of pictures from a tour of Indian Lake Stone Dam on June 25. Photos by Zachary Matson
A dam built before cranes
At the northern tip of Indian Lake, the stone dam built in 1898 impounds water once used to flush logs downstream. The dam gushes a continuous stream through leaks that have been noted in state inspection reports for over a century.
Those leaks — what construction workers at the dam refer to as “the waterfall” — are the most visible manifestation of decades of needed repairs that have piled up at the hulking stone structure.
Crews have been strengthening the dam since the fall, drilling into the dam’s core to fill gaps with new grout, working underwater to re-point and re-grout joints between stone blocks, replacing old gate systems and plugging persistent leaks.
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They plan to drill holes from the top of the dam to its base, dropping braided metal cables 70 feet deep to help anchor the structure.
An abutment wall will be extended and encased in concrete, while the earthen embankment will be reinforced and raised slightly.
“You’re basically refilling the dam,” said Tyler Fane, vice president and general manager of CD Perry, the project’s primary contractor.
Once construction is completed, the dam will have a new portage trail, boat launches and limited public access. The dam was last renovated in 1986, shortly after the regulating district took ownership.
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The stone dam is rated “high hazard” and state inspectors have deemed it unsound, meaning it fails to meet safety standards, and ranks among the park’s 10 riskiest dams, according to a 2023 Explorer investigation.
Callaghan said the project is estimated to cost nearly $11 million but that the specifics of construction and timing were constantly changing as workers encounter more fixes.
“Until you get into something, you don’t know what you are faced with,” Callaghan said. “Our plan is to preserve what’s here, enhance safety and bring it into compliance with dam safety standards.”
While working to repair the dam, construction crews have marveled at what went into its original raising.
Builders carved stone blocks from the bedrock surrounding the structure and leveraged them into place. They built upstream and downstream walls from the stone blocks and filled the structure’s interior with a concrete aggregate that incorporated the cuttings from the stone blocks. Some of the aggregates included chunks of granite as thick as seven feet, current builders discovered as they pulled cores from the structure.
“It’s really impressive how they built this dam without cranes, without barges. They had a lot of pride in their work,” said Jared Henkel, CD Perry’s senior project manager. “They were very resourceful in 1898.”
“I don’t know how they did it,” Fane said. “They must have had giants back then.”
Other dam projects in the works:
New hydro operator at Stillwater dam
The regulating district board at its June meeting also approved a lease agreement with Northern Power and Light to operate the hydropower facility at Stillwater Reservoir.
After the former operator, Stillwater Associates, and the district failed to come to terms on a new lease agreement, the district purchased the hydropower facility for $1,270,900 and picked Northern Power and Light’s bid .
The company will pay $50,000 per year, increasing by 3% each year, for six years, with an option to extend the contract for another 20 years. Northern Power will inherit an existing agreement with National Grid, which guarantees the utility will purchase energy generated at the dam at prices above current market rates.
Emmett Smith, who founded Northern Power in Saranac Lake with his brother, said while the family operates a pair of hydropower facilities in the park, this will be the first generation the company takes on. They have been working with other small power generators to market electricity purchases from local consumers.
Smith, who has pushed for policy changes to boost funding for small hydropower generators in recognition of their benefits to the environment and the state’s renewable targets, said the existing power agreement at Stillwater helps make the economics work. The Stillwater generating facility will be the first operated directly by the company.
“We are optimistic about the future of small hydro,” Smith said.
Paying for Conklingville Dam
An earlier move to shift the responsibility for paying property taxes around the Great Sacandaga impoundment from the district to the state has also enabled the district to reduce an assessment charged to downstream counties that benefit from flood control on the Hudson River.
The district cut the charges to Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Washington and Warren counties by 17%. The counties will be responsible for $7.7 million in total payments over the district’s three-year plan.
Those reductions would have been steeper, Callaghan said, were it not for the district’s fight with Brookfield Renewable over payments the power company has historically made to generate electricity at its powerhouse at Conklingville Dam.
Brookfield stopped its payments after a long-term contract expired. In federal proceedings, it successfully fought back efforts by the district to compel continued payments. Callaghan said the district plans to challenge the company in state court soon.
Payments increased slightly for counties in the district’s Black River section.
Watch a video of dam repairs
A video of John Callaghan, executive director of the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, explaining construction work at Indian Lake Stone Dam.
Top photo: A worker with Schenectady-based masonry contractor PCC Contracting works on the stone dams downstream face. By Zachary Matson
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