COLUMBUS, Ind. — Foundation for Youth officials are exploring options for how to remedy an aging dam at the organization’s Youth Camp, a structure that dates back to FDR’s New Deal.
The dam, which was constructed in the 1930s and is located on the north side of Youth Camp Lake in Harrison Township west of Columbus, has been having some issues with seepage and is need of significant repair, said FFY Executive Director Chuck Kime.
The seepage prompted officials to lower the water level of the lake 15 feet below capacity as a precaution and to give them time to explore what permanent remedies might be, Kime said.
“It has been around almost 100 years,” Kime said of the dam. “…We don’t really know what (the solution) is going to look like. We’re still picking through the options of what is possible.”
“The dam is steady at this water level,” he added. “There is no concern there.”
Youth Camp has provided an opportunity for children and adults to enjoy outdoor recreation in a natural setting for generations. Currently, the camp receives about 15,000 visits per year, including 75 children each weekday during the summer months, Kime said.
The camp is located on 137 acres of land in the hills of Harrison Township. It includes 15 acres of developed land, seven miles of trails linking 11 cabins, a lake, conference center, among other amenities.
The initial 75 acres of the camp were donated to FFY in 1935 by Q.G. Noblitt, co-founder of the former Arvin Industries. Two years later, then-Indiana Gov. Maurice Clifford Townsend traveled to Bartholomew County to attend the dedication of Youth Camp, according to The Republic’s coverage of the event at the time.
Construction of the dam started in 1935, with the structure being described in a May 1937 article in The Republic as 40 feet tall, 350 feet long, 130 feet wide at the base and 25 feet wide at the top.
Youth Camp Lake contains runoff water from nearby hills and rain into Wolf Creek.
“It’s a big part of FFY’s mission to make sure that kids have access to a place like that, that they can swim in a natural body of water,” Kime said.
But what happens next for the dam is uncertain.
Options range from repairing the structure to completely replacing it, though how much it would cost or how long it would take to build a new dam is not yet known, officials said.
For the complete story and more photos, see Tuesday’s Republic.
