# old aep/ ohio power lakes gone??



## grewell (Jun 9, 2009)

we used to go down to ohio power lakes in the 70's. we plan on returning soon. i heard that a few of the old camps and lakes are gone?? there was a white house at the top of a large hill that sold bait and such, at the bottom of that hill just before a haul rd we would turn right down a long gravel rd and a great campgrounds sat back in there.i heard they filled the lake with dirt and shut er down years ago.man i hope thats not true!! can someone tell me what all is gone since the 70's?? thanks


----------



## Tatonka (Aug 23, 2007)

I haven't been down there in about a batrillion Years so I can't help ya out


----------



## PJF (Mar 25, 2009)

AEP has done away with many of the Large Ponds in their Area. The reason is ODNR Division of Water has jacked up their Annual Yearly Permit Fees for large Ponds and Lakes to the Point that it is no longer feasible Economically for AEP to continue to pay these fees. Also many of these Ponds would have to be Rehabilitated to meet todays burecratic and Engineering Standards. Once again they can't afford the Bureacratic Costs so it is cheaper to breach them. Fees can be up to $650 per year per pond and some may be more-and then if they chose to rehab one-they have to pay a permit fee for that also.....That is the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say.....


----------



## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

I don't know about pond permits , but back in the 90s they re-stripped many areas and many ponds were taken out. It's still an active minging area, so I'm sure things are still changing, though I haven't been there in 10 years.


----------



## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

PJF said:


> AEP has done away with many of the Large Ponds in their Area. The reason is ODNR Division of Water has jacked up their Annual Yearly Permit Fees for large Ponds and Lakes to the Point that it is no longer feasible Economically for AEP to continue to pay these fees. Also many of these Ponds would have to be Rehabilitated to meet todays burecratic and Engineering Standards. Once again they can't afford the Bureacratic Costs so it is cheaper to breach them. Fees can be up to $650 per year per pond and some may be more-and then if they chose to rehab one-they have to pay a permit fee for that also.....That is the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say.....


I should would like to know where you heard all that from??


----------



## FishJunky (May 20, 2004)

Your crazy PJF


----------



## Tatonka (Aug 23, 2007)

PJF
I would also like to know where you got this info from


----------



## DaleM (Apr 5, 2004)

PJF

Post a link to your info please. 
I checked with ODNR and they have no idea what your talking about??? 
Maybe you dreamed that on a bad night.
These lakes are private on private land. That's why you need a permit to camp and fish there.


----------



## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

Many changes have occured since the 70's. Campsites have opened and closed. The reason some lakes have been drained are....risk of culverts caving in and flooding. AEP is no longer mining here. Therefore they have no heavy equipment around to make any culvert repairs should they be required. They drained some of the bigger lakes that were at risk. Campsite D lake and Campsite N lake are 2 that they drained that were high risk. They drained another nicknamed Horse Run for the same reason...there was no camping at this lake but it was one of the largest and oldest lake's and was very high risk is what I was told so they drained it to be safe. Fee's, permits or whatever else had no effect on the closing and draining of these lake's. Now you have the rest of the story......will the real Paul Harvey please stand up!


----------



## grewell (Jun 9, 2009)

that makes sense,man i hate to hear that!! thanks..


----------



## squid_1 (Jun 2, 2005)

Just who would be at risk if a dam cut loose? Kinda curious to that.


----------



## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

Risk factor's ( senerio )......large lake's culvert breaks and collapses....nothing to hold back water.......large amounts of water entering creeks and rivers at one time or just flooding the land, or over the County and Township roads. Home owners in the area ( there are many that live on the outskirts of AEP land ) their creeks or streams on their property rise and flood their land...crops destroyed? live stock? Who knows? This would not be considered an act of God like a flood from heavy rain. AEP would be responsible since they own the lakes.


----------



## basmuskyanglr (Jul 28, 2008)

This is why you don't wan't the Gov't coming in and taking over the business. And that is the rest of the story!


----------



## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

When did they quit mining that area? They were active not too long ago.


----------



## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

M.Magis said:


> When did they quit mining that area? They were active not too long ago.


I've lived down here 9 years now and they have not mined since I've been here. When I first moved here I saw them haul the Big Muskie to the scap yard in pieces. I would guess that the mining stopped well before that because they had the Miner's Memorial with the Muskie bucket already in place when I moved here. I will try to get more detail ...... as soon as I do I will post


----------



## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

basmuskyanglr said:


> this is why you don't wan't the gov't coming in and taking over the business. And that is the rest of the story!


what......?


----------



## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

I know the Big Musky has been out of operation for many, many years, but they were still mining for years after it was shut down. We had a string of ponds we always hit, but they came back though and re-stripped much of the area and the ponds were lost. They knocked the dams out of many other ponds we fished, and I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;ve been back much since. It seems like only yesterday, but I guess it&#8217;s been 15 years now. It&#8217;s certainly different than it was 30 years ago.
It&#8217;s a shame some people can&#8217;t put their active imaginations to good use.


----------



## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

M.Magis said:


> I know the Big Musky has been out of operation for many, many years, but they were still mining for years after it was shut down. We had a string of ponds we always hit, but they came back though and re-stripped much of the area and the ponds were lost. They knocked the dams out of many other ponds we fished, and Im not sure Ive been back much since. It seems like only yesterday, but I guess its been 15 years now. Its certainly different than it was 30 years ago.
> Its a shame some people cant put their active imaginations to good use.


I don't think they restripped....I think they went in and did some land reclaiming. I'll find out for sure and let ya know.


----------



## franman78 (May 27, 2008)

In response to when they quit mining down there, Ohio Power/AEP sold off Central Ohio Coal Company (the mining arm of AEP) to CONSOL Energy in 2001 which mined the Muskingum Mine since the 1940's (give or take some years). Big Muskie was parked in I believe 1989 or 1991 I cannot quite remember. However, they did have other draglines working down there, I believe 4 other large drag's and some other shovels that continued to work until they were either scrapped or sold off. I know that there was a Bucyrus-Erie 2570 Drag that was sold and shipped to Australia for example and is still running. Anyway....They were still actively mining coal up until the sale date and transporting the coal via electric railroad and conveyor to the Muskingum River Plant at Beverly in 2001 but the workforce that used to be around 2000 workers say in the early 1980's was reduced down greatly by 2001. CONSOL agreed to reclaim the remaining stripped areas and continued to mine limited amounts of coal for AEP until 2004 when I believe they pretty much quit active mining. The conveyor was dismantled and scrapped, the electric railroad too. Coal is now fed to the power plant via railroad from other mines. Central Ohio Coal has pretty much gotten rid of all of their equipment from the fellows I have talked to. I know on St. Rt. 83 near the drive that goes to Camp K, the sign still says CONSOL and if you drive back there is still a locked gate that goes back to their yard and buildings. I think if they wanted to, that is, if the price for coal went up, and Muskingum River Plant gets the scrubbers that they are scheduled to get in a few years, they could once again mine coal from the hills, but there are a lot of if's there. They have pretty much let a lot of the haul roads go, and have removed countless overhead railway and haul road bridges over the state routes in the area. AEP still owns all of the ReCreation Lands, but CONSOL owns about half of what used to be all AEP's.


----------



## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

franman78 said:


> In response to when they quit mining down there, Ohio Power/AEP sold off Central Ohio Coal Company (the mining arm of AEP) to CONSOL Energy in 2001 which mined the Muskingum Mine since the 1940's (give or take some years). Big Muskie was parked in I believe 1989 or 1991 I cannot quite remember. However, they did have other draglines working down there, I believe 4 other large drag's and some other shovels that continued to work until they were either scrapped or sold off. I know that there was a Bucyrus-Erie 2570 Drag that was sold and shipped to Australia for example and is still running. Anyway....They were still actively mining coal up until the sale date and transporting the coal via electric railroad and conveyor to the Muskingum River Plant at Beverly in 2001 but the workforce that used to be around 2000 workers say in the early 1980's was reduced down greatly by 2001. CONSOL agreed to reclaim the remaining stripped areas and continued to mine limited amounts of coal for AEP until 2004 when I believe they pretty much quit active mining. The conveyor was dismantled and scrapped, the electric railroad too. Coal is now fed to the power plant via railroad from other mines. Central Ohio Coal has pretty much gotten rid of all of their equipment from the fellows I have talked to. I know on St. Rt. 83 near the drive that goes to Camp K, the sign still says CONSOL and if you drive back there is still a locked gate that goes back to their yard and buildings. I think if they wanted to, that is, if the price for coal went up, and Muskingum River Plant gets the scrubbers that they are scheduled to get in a few years, they could once again mine coal from the hills, but there are a lot of if's there. They have pretty much let a lot of the haul roads go, and have removed countless overhead railway and haul road bridges over the state routes in the area. AEP still owns all of the ReCreation Lands, but CONSOL owns about half of what used to be all AEP's.


Very well said franman..you have all your facts in a row. That is pretty much what I found out too. Thanks for your post.


----------

