This letter and pictures were sent to the City of Bentonville. It is intended to counter the "historical" importance of Lake Bella Vista and instead support the benefits of Little Sugar Creek. Recently, there was an extremely bad algae infestation that nearly covered the entire lake. The City opened the gates and released the algae downstream.
Both Ward 1 Aldermen in the City of Bentonville are interested in a plan that will allow our waterway to run free!a
We are making headway!
Whether a new dam is built to replace the failed Lake Bella Vista dam or Little Sugar Creek is restored and allowed to run free will have a profound effect on the largest watershed in this part of Northwest Arkansas, and also on our community as a whole.
A growing number of people believe the best answer for our waterway is the natural answer – a free-flowing, Ozark waterway. There are, of course, differing points of view on this issue, which is all the more reason to give our democratic process an opportunity to work.
Bentonville’s City Council has had ample opportunity to meet with and hear from "pro-dam" representatives, but I'm not aware of any meetings to discuss the benefits associated with a free-flowing waterway.
If all facts were fully presented, public opinion would overwhelmingly support a waterway restoration plan for Little Sugar Creek – and not a dam reconstruction plan. We are blessed to have a clear, clean, spring-fed waterway running through our community! That kind of natural wonder is rare and is the true history of the Ozarks.
Lake Bella Vista was created in 1915, when a poorly-engineered dam was constructed to quickly and cheaply create a lake to support a real estate development. That effort failed, and the owners sold the property less than two years later. Its new owners raised the dam slightly and began work on a resort in 1917.
In 1921, a flood overtopped and nearly destroyed the dam. The new resort's dance hall, dining hall, and several other structures suffered severe damage.
By 1925, guests were complaining that the water in the lake had become murky and was no longer suitable for swimming. The resort owners responded by building a swimming pool just north of the lake – an alternative to a lake no one wanted to swim in.
In an attempt to generate interest in the resort in the 1930s, its owners created a brochure that promoted the lake as a great fishing destination. The owners failed to disclose that they had had to catch fish downstream for the brochure's photographs. Because the dam had blocked fish migration, small-mouth bass populations had plummeted and the lake was "fished out."
Over the next 20 years, Little Sugar Creek would rise quickly during the Ozarks’ frequent heavy rains. The dam trapped large trees, silt and debris floating downstream. The Linebarger Bros., owners of the resort since 1917, finally sold the property in 1952.
By this time, the lake had silted up, and its new owner, E.L. Keith, had to deepen the lake – then known as “Lake Keith” – for boating activities. (He still found it necessary to modernize the swimming pool.) Keith also constructed a new hotel. Ultimately unsuccessful, it was sold and became a boarding school. After 13 years of frustration, Keith sold the lake and surrounding property to John Cooper, Sr.
Cooper, effectively, abandoned the lake and the old resort and developed “New Bella Vista” to the north of the lake. Cooper could have invested more money in Lake Bella Vista and the dam on Little Sugar Creek, but he recognized the mistakes of his predecessors. He had also learned that lakes receive much more effluence from floodwaters when they are located lower in the valleys and on larger creeks – as is Lake Bella Vista – instead of higher up in the valleys and on smaller streams. That is why the other six lakes in Bella Vista are located higher and on smaller streams than Little Sugar Creek.
Cooper Communities, Inc. (successor to John Cooper, Sr.) didn't want to retain the potential liability of a poorly-constructed dam, but also didn't want to expend the resources to make the dam safe either. The Bella Vista POA declined to take over the lake. Cooper finally convinced the Trail Blazers Association to take ownership of the lake and the surrounding land. The Trail Blazers Association then "gifted" it to the City of Bentonville.
In 2008, after more heavy storms and another dam overtopping, the dam was finally classified as a “failed” dam by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, listing the cause of failure as “hydrologic deficiencies and faulty material.”[1] Since 2008, the dam has been overtopped more than six times. Dam overtopping is the number one cause of catastrophic dam failure. The dam was overtopped three times in 2013 alone!
Since long before Little Sugar Creek was first dammed in 1915, Northwest Arkansas has attracted visitors because of its springs and flowing waterways and not because of this shallow man-made reservoir. And history has proven that the dam was a mistake. It was not built to generate power or control flooding. It was built to create a lake that might attract real estate investment and holiday travelers, and it was ultimately an economic and ecological failure. The “new” Bella Vista is a resort community despite Lake Bella Vista – not because of it.
Allowing Little Sugar Creek to follow its natural path would:
● allow opportunities for developments such as river walks, water gardens, and walking bridges;
● eliminate harmful algae blooms, which de-oxygenate water and kill aquatic animals and plants;
● create new, varied opportunities for family recreation – float fishing, paddling, canoeing, kayaking; and
● recreate a living, flowing, spring-fed Ozark waterway!
The days of dam building in the Ozarks are decades behind us. The porous limestone in this area necessitates deep (and expensive) footers for safe dams. The cost of building and maintaining a safe dam for the sole purpose of re-creating a recreational lake that was never successful is a waste of community resources – and not just tax dollars. A failed dam has deprived four generations of Arkansans and our visitors of the beauty and recreational possibilities of an Ozark stream that was created over thousands of years.
I appreciate your interest and your concern. Allowing Little Sugar Creek to run will have a long-term positive impact on our community.
Below is a link[2] to a short video about towns that were faced with similar situations with dams that are past their useful life. The photos were taken on July 23rd and then on July 26th after the flood gates of the dam were opened to send the algae infestation downstream. The photos show that Little Sugar Creek still lives beneath this reservoir.
Thank you,
Greg Van Horn