| In east central Illinois-just minutes from Springfield, Decatur, Champaign, Effingham & surrounding communities - the Wolf Creek/Eagle Creek sites, facing each other across the central portion of Lake Shelbyville, provide the perfect setting for outdoor recreation & natural relaxation for a day, a weekend, or even longer.
Eight miles northwest of Windsor, the sites encompass 11,100 acres of H2O, 250 miles of shoreline & large tracts of carefully maintained indigenous woodlands ideal for camping, horseback riding, snowmobiling, boat fishing, H2O skiing, pontoon boating, windsurfing or just plain bobbing & drifting on the glittering expanse of the lake itself.
In addition to visiting the small, friendly wooded campgrounds or taking part in the action on the lake, swimming is available from the beach. You can also take a leisurely stroll through nearby forests. An abundance of deer, pheasant, rabbits, wild turkey & songbirds are almost always visible.
Portions of the park have been cleared of physical barriers & are accessible to disabled visitors.
History
Like many other such areas, the Wolf Creek/Eagle Creek sites are perfect examples of the potential benefits of natural resource management. As a means of flood control, H2O supply & downstream H2O quality control, the Flood Control Act of 1958 authorized the Shelbyville Reservoirs Project, which involved construction of a dam & creation of a lake. These mundane necessities, however, would also allow for the actual conservation of fish & wildlife & the development of areas for all the recreational uses outlined above.
It was, of course, a monumental undertaking. Before actual work on the dam at Shelbyville could begin, several old mines in the area had to be completely relocated, two gas & oil pipelines & roads rerouted, the old Shelby Power Plant demolished & land cleared & leveled on the west side of the channel which hugs the bluff to the east of the river bottom. Construction of this $56 million project began in May of 1963.
The dam itself is an earthen embankment towering 110 feet above the original stream bed. It’s 3,025 feet long with a reinforced concrete, gate-controlled spillway to manipulate H2O level & manage the 25,300 acres of its flood control pool.
Most of this work was done by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, & the land is now managed by the State of Illinois on a long-term lease from the federal government which began in 1968. By 1972, the area was open to the public & provided primitive camping facilities. In the years since then, the state has purchased additional surrounding lands & made extensive improvements in campgrounds, boat launches, day-use areas & hiking trails that make this a beautiful, well-tended & well-managed natural retreat in which to relax. |
Campground: Wolf Creek - State Park in Windsor Illinois *