A historic dock in Leland’s Fishtown village has been badly damaged by ice.
One of the wooden posts that supports the dock was raised upward several feet, taking the dock upward with it.
Leland Harbormaster Russell Dzuba says the posts – called pilings – are in danger every winter, but this year was particularly bad. Dzuba says ice forms on the pilings when the dam near the mouth of the Leland River is shut down.
“Once you close it down, [there’s] no current, no circulation in the river and all of a sudden, you’ve got ice problems,” says Dzuba. “And all of those pilings in Fishtown have been there for 100 years, so some of them are going to go.”
Dzuba says when the water level shifts, the ice pulls the piling out of the lake bed.
The affected dock supports a privately-owned shanty that’s part of the Fishtown Preservation Society. Harbor workers will have to wait until spring to fix it.