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County planning continues for upgraded Antoine water system

D & L PLUMBING, Heating and Air Conditioning employees Brian Amundson, left, and Bryan DeForge install new pipe and risers Friday that will bring water to campsites at the Lake Antoine Park campground in Iron Mountain. DeForge estimates D & L employees will install about 1,500 feet of pipe during the ongoing project. (Brian Christensen/Daily News photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Work continues on water system repairs at the Lake Antoine Park campground with a larger project potentially on the horizon.

Coleman Engineering Co. of Iron Mountain has been authorized by the Dickinson County Board to check out an exploratory well drilled in 1999 near the park’s boat landing. If uncapping it proves feasible, the cost of a new pumphouse and 700 feet of connecting lines to the campground and bathhouse would be roughly $150,000, Chairman Henry Wender said.

Other construction options include rehabbing the existing well and pumphouse and replacing the feeder line under Lake Antoine Road for an estimated $170,000, or drilling a new well in the center of the park at a rough total cost of $65,000. The latter, however, comes with no guarantees on production or water quality.

After pipes were found broken this spring, the county closed the campground until further notice. The park itself remains open for day use, including swimming and pavilion rentals, and portable restrooms have been set up.

The board’s vote to uncap the existing well was 3-2 during a committee meeting last week, County Controller Brian Bousley said. Wender and Commissioner John Degenaer Jr. voted no.

Meanwhile, D & L Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning of Iron Mountain is installing 2-inch supply pipe with 44 galvanized risers for campsites. That project was authorized May 27 at a cost of $16,938 but has been slowed by delays in getting materials.

The county board will reevaluate the opening of the campground once D & L has completed its work, Bousley said.

The well being studied as a new water source was built by Kleiman Pump & Well Drilling of Iron Mountain in an effort to develop an artesian flow, similar to the once popular Old Faceful spring that had to be razed. Kleiman’s effort was reportedly unsuccessful, so the well was abandoned and capped, though it’s believed it can be developed.

An artesian spring near the pumphouse would remain accessible if the current well is abandoned as the park’s water source. The feeder line from the pumphouse is 4-inch pipe laid more than 50 years ago.

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