Klondike Mill Dam

Dams by River Index

River/Stream: Big Sioux River

Location: Klondike, Lyon County

Latitude: 43.386195

Longitude: -96.521661

Click here for an aerial view of the dam location.

Built: 1883. Rehabilitation to rock arch rapids completed in 2013.

View of dam after conversion to rock arch rapids (during high water.)

Owner: S. Dak. Dept of Schools & Land / Iowa DNR

Height: formerly 12 ft.

Length: formerly 175 ft.

Hazards: varying, visibility -- significantly reduced by rehabilitation project

Warning Signs: no longer needed.

Portage Options: scout your route through the rock arch rapids.

Comments: conversion to rock arch rapids completed in March, 2013 using 400 metric tons of rock to maintain water level for infiltration of wells upstream. Rapids will allow fish to migrate up the river.

Fatalities: none in Iowa documented during archive searches. Several drownings have occurred at low head dams upstream in South Dakota.

Rubble Dams Downstream of Klondike on the Big Sioux

Canton, South Dakota. Access above and below the rubble dam. A class I-II rapid forms below the former low head dam. Click here for an aerial view of the rubble dam location.
Site of former Hawarden Mill Dam at Hawarden in Sioux County, Iowa. Originally built in 1868. Click here for an aerial view of the rubble dam location.