Southern Illinois' Largest Man Made Lake, Carlyle Lake

The largest manmade lake in Illinois is Carlyle Lake, extending north from Carlyle, the county seat of Clinton County.

History

Construction began on the lake in 1957, the Kaskaskia River was dammed, and the work was completed in 1967. The result was a 26,000 acre lake, 15 miles in length and 3 1/2 miles wide. Surrounding it is 13,000 acres of public land maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, except for a portion on the east side of the lake that makes up the Eldon Hazlett State Park, named after a key figure in getting the lake built.

Recreation

The lake provides water for neighboring communities and numerous recreational opportunities.

The lake offers camping, boating (hosting the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival Sailing Competition), swimming at three beaches (Dam West, McNair, Keyesport), picnic shelters, hiking trails, and has a visitor's center in the Dam West Visitor's Center on the south end of the lake, just off Illinois Route 127.

At the visitor's center you can get information, visit the gift shop, or view exhibits which include a 215-gallon aquarium with native fish and a snake exhibit which includes the massasauga rattlesnake, a rare pygmy rattlesnake that is native to the area.

There are several special events throughout the year, including a Halloween Haunted Trail, a September Wine Festival, and a major Independence Day fireworks display, generally on the Saturday before the 4th of July.

Most of the activity, of course, takes place during the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but there is usually something going on all year round. Birdwatchers, for example, will only see the American bald eagles during the mid-winter months when the birds are wintering over...and when it comes to bald eagles, everyone's a birdwatcher.

Kaskaskia River

The Kaskaskia River feeds into the lake in the north and at the south end, the spillway sends the overflow underneath the General Dean Suspension Bridge, named for Carlyle-native Major General William F. Dean, US Army, recipient of the Medal of Honor, with service in World War Two and the Korean War. The bridge is located where there was once a ford across the Kaskaskia for westbound travelers on the Goshen Trail, bound for Alton which had steamboats running 30 miles south to St Louis.

Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife

As for wildlife, fisherman will find more than 35 species of fish including white bass, bluegill, crappie, channel catfish, largemouth bass, freshwater drum, carp, flathead catfish, and walleye. The state record flathead catfish and white bass were caught in the spillway below the dam on the south end of the lake.

Hunting is also permitted at the lake which has an abundance of white-tailed deer, turkeys, squirrels, bobwhite quail, rabbits and mourning doves, and is especially noted for its waterfowl and other migratory birds.

Those who enjoy simply watching and appreciating the wildlife will be interested not only in the American bald eagles during the winter, but the ducks, geese, ospreys, cormorants, great blue herons, and numerous species of shorebirds and songbirds.

Brown signs along the highway bearing a binocular logo indicates the location of six Watchable Wildlife Sites with viewing towers around the lake.

Location, Additional Information

Carlyle has shopping, restaurants, and hotel rooms available for visitors who don't feel compelled to rough it.

The lake is about one hour's drive east from the Mississippi River at St Louis on I-64 (exit at Illinois Route 127 North; the entrance road to the right is on the north end of Carlyle).

The U.S Army Corps of Engineers maintains a website on Carlyle Lake at http://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Carlyle/.