Boats sit well above the water level of the Tippecanoe River on a man-made canal, Friday, Sept. 4, 2020 in Monticello. Nikos Frazier | Journal & Courier
Boats sit well above the water level of the Tippecanoe River on a man-made canal, Friday, Sept. 4, 2020 in Monticello. Nikos Frazier | Journal & Courier
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MONTICELLO— Boaters, tubers and skiers typically choke Lake Freeman on any other Labor Day weekend, as they all enjoy the sun and the waning days of summer. But not this year.

“It’s usually the last big weekend. Everybody has friends and families on Labor Day weekend,” said Mindy Clayton as she and her husband, Don, stood on their front porch and looked out at the shrinking lake.

The man-made lake created by damming the Tippecanoe River slowly is being drained by the a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mandate to release a prescribed flow from Lake Freeman's water to support an endangered mussel found south of the Oakdale Dam. And rain hasn't come this summer to make up the difference.

The mandate does not affect the Norway Dam that creates Lake Shafer, the second of the Twin Lakes north of Lake Freeman, so the upper lake's water levels are normal.

“When it comes to the boating, there aren’t going to be any boats out there,” Clayton said. “As far as people coming to go to the restaurants or look at the lake, they won’t come.”
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