The Fond du Lac Dam is the first hydro project on the St. Louis River when heading up river from Duluth. It is contained within the borders of the Jay Cooke State Park. In this region, the St. Louis River drops 577 feet from an elevation of 1,179 feet in Cloquet down to the lake level of 602 feet. The Fond du Lac Dam is the final 78 feet of that 577 foot drop.

The Fond du Lac Dam is owned by Allete Inc, a spin-off of Minnesota Power. The dam generates 10 megawatts of power. A large volume of water goes through the dam bypassing the power house. As a result, there are discussions about adding more generators and increasing the power output to 19 megawatts.

There is no easy public access to this impressively large dam. The access road to the dam is posted for no trespassing, while the downstream access requires a 3/4 mile hike from the nearest road. As a result, I have photos of the upstream side of the dam and pool, and a google maps view of the downstream side.