1. We are still waiting for the MPOA structural engineer to produce their report and recommendations on the location and extent of needed concrete repairs on the vertical sidewalls.
2. We are still waiting for the Village of Wonder Lake permit for the Merchant Creek footbridge.
3. Preliminary discussions continue with a soil vendor who has expressed an interest in buying the dried sediment from the lake dredging project.
4. A request for proposal to conduct our annual state required inspections of the dam and Sediment Drying Facility this fall has been sent out.
5. With a long-range forecast for a warmer than average summer and fall, it’s important to keep in mind that in-lake nutrients, the lack of rainfall, and hot temperatures are the main triggers for significant algae blooms to occur. In these conditions, there is also the potential for an out-break of Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs). A HAB algal bloom can be green, blue, red or brown, and can be scummy or look like paint on the surface of the water. Representative photos of HABs can be found here: https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/81962.html
6. A copy of a 1929 newspaper article on the formation of Wonder Lake is provided:
Printed 11/6/1929 in the True Republican
Changing A Creek Bottom Into Lake
Earthwork to Be Completed This Week and It Is Expected In 60 Days Wonder Lake, Nearly Two Miles Long, Will Be Formed near Woodstock
Completion of the earthwork and grading, incidental to the filling of Wonder Lake, six miles from Woodstock, on the south branch of Nippersink creek is expected this week, according to R. W. Braucher, of Chicago, in charge of the work. This information was given to the occupants of the 300 automobiles who visited the grounds last Sunday.
Two Months to Fill. It is estimated that it will take at least 60 days to fill the artificial lake, created by the throwing of a 1000 foot embankment across the valley of the stream.
“Wonder Lake” as it is called in the prospectus, will include 750 acres of creek bottom, the body of artificial water to be three and three-quarter miles in length and varying in width from one-quarter to one and one-half miles.
This great body of water, 20 feet deep at its maximum, is to be held in check by the embankment, and a concrete dam, 150 feet wide and twelve feet high.
To insure the project the developing company purchased 15 farms, with a total of 1640 acres. The 800 acres remaining will be cut up into lots, some of which have been plotted.
Road is Abandoned. As the backing up of the water will cover Cranberry Marsh road to a depth of seven feet, that thoroughfare will be abandoned, and a new road paralleling the lake to the east, constructed.
The south branch of the Nippersink has a water shed of 95 square miles, and an annual rainfall of approximately 39 inches. The resultant flow, the engineers who conceived the plan declare, is adequate to keep Wonder Lake filled.
