[Kim Brown]

I didn’t notice the corrugated pipe thingy, but did notice the concrete work; and you didn’t notice the concrete work but noticed the corrugated pipe thingy. Had we been there together, we’d have been as One.

[RodF]

The natural outlet of Lake Isabel, and the outlet which is the source of most of May Creek's flow year round, is 200 yards further northwest. This artificial channel appears to have been cut by miners, presumably as several have suggested above, to lower Lake Isabel and supplement May Creek's flow in late summer to keep Pelton wheels for the Copper Bell and Jumbo mines running.

[Kim Brown]

Great input but please don't turn this into an argument where none exists. It's an interesting subject and we're enjoying the discussion about Ringleandclaw's question.

[Ringangleclaw]

[Schroder]

Yes, the weir and the channel were 1890's vintage for the mines but the standpipe and platform are modern. As I said previously, I believe it's to house a level recorder to monitor stream flow and lake capacity. I helped a Conservation District install one last week very similar to that, though their size is now much smaller with the newest equipment.

[H. Hound]

Gotta agree with Schroder. Initially I thought it was a gauging station, but Schroder's explanation makes more sense. As for the seaplane thing, it's a very deep lake one or more feet difference in elevation is irreverent (not a sea plane owner, but seriously the landing strip is 1 to 3 feet lower ?/! how is this relevant)?

[Sculpin]

This is another great thread on NWHikers. If miners cut the channel, the dam/weir would bring the water level back to its original height.

[Kim Brown]

Discovering Washington's Historic MInes discusses the use of water energy from May Creek for mining, as Schroder says; it doesn't say anything about a wier or dam at Lake Isabel though; but surely Schroder is correct. Will continue looking for that bit of information I had read about the area. Now I'm wondering if I hadn't read about it in some wierd, obscure publication I ran across in a dusty back room at a USFS office.

[timberghost]

[Ringangleclaw]

[Sore Feet]

So that corrugated stand pipe is almost certainly a gauge for water level in the lake - it wouldn't make sense for it to be a stream gauge since there are two outlets to the lake. Assuming that is the case, the weir is likely there to provide an even reading on the gauge and nothing more. I really doubt it's big enough to have any measurable impact on the pool elevation of the lake itself. The other possibility is it was constructed to prevent the full volume of May Creek from channeling down that outlet stream rather than the other one (and the gauge would then probably be there to monitor the level of the lake to ensure the dam isn't breached and pouring down that side exclusively). I had never even considered the possibility that this outlet would be unnatural, but looking at how uniformly that channel is carved again, plus the mining activity nearby, it makes perfect sense. If the channel was deliberately dug deep enough to provide maximum flow to power a pelton wheel, I could see valid reasons for attempting to plug up that side after the mine(s) ceased operating because sending the whole creek down that outlet could potentially have damaged the roads downstream.

[GC99]

I'm pretty sure that the pelton wheel was not connected to the dam on Lake Isabel. The Copper Belle powerhouse had around a 1600' long penstock with a head of around 300' (I read this in a promotion for the mine written when it was running). That means that the top of the penstock is only 300' above the powerhouse. The lake is over 1000' above the powerhouse so it is really unlikely that it was was used for the mine. Maybe it had something to do with the Red Cross prospects which were closer to the lake. My guess is that it was related to the historic cabin that used to be at the head of the lake, and was maybe made to flood out some of the marsh around it so the lake would be nicer. It's still a really neat dam though, there aren't many historic ones like that still in the area that are holding water.

[RodF]

[GC99]

That could be that they raised the lake to provide a backup when it got drier, but none of the reports I have seen on the mine mentioned the dam in relation to the mine. The old mining reports and promotions usually mention things such as that since they were so expensive to make for such a large lake back then, and the mining companies would want to make it known that they expended so much money on that. The more they can say that they've improved the mine (powerhouse, mill, etc.) the more attractive it was to investors. It looks like the "Sultan Electric Co" had a dam on the lake according to: https://books.google.com/books?id=2A9GAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-PA33&lpg=RA5-PA33&dq=%22lake+isabel%22+%22dam%22+%22may+creek%22&source=bl&ots=W378sNjyj7&sig=pGsA2n4_HNRIoNz18msiLyh3EPQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiB1NeynInbAhVT4mMKHemfC-IQ6AEIZzAN#v=onepage&q&f=false A map of the mine property from 1905 in the Index Museum shows a powerhouse owned by some other company located a ways below the mill (possibly the Sultan Electric co), but I don't think it was related to the mine. It seems like something that was there before the mine was developed and provided power to the town below it. The map shows a penstock running from the powerplant owned by the other company off of the map, so maybe it connected to the lake. The old promotion said that the other company was able to provide power to the mine, but had not done so when it was written. If I recall correctly, the mine didn't really expand that much after the promotion was written so it seems like they wouldn't have used the extra power. The mine had a large generator inside their powerplant (the one with the compressor) that was enough to run the mill and provide lighting. One last thing I thought interesting was this: https://books.google.com/books?id=rEg_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA426&lpg=PA426&dq=%22lake+isabel%22+%22dam%22+%22may+creek%22&source=bl&ots=uNQsAaYt6X&sig=JUYqNqGdzP7yc_LzVrpMmyAkMHE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiB1NeynInbAhVT4mMKHemfC-IQ6AEIajAO#v=onepage&q=%22lake%20isabel%22%20%22dam%22%20%22may%20creek%22&f=false The Everett Railway and Electric Co. had a plan to put a much larger dam on the lake and build a 10,000 hp powerplant which would have been quite amazing. I guess they never got together enough funding.

[RodF]