Shipoke lies on this east shore and Lemoyne on the west, and between them the Dock Street Dam straddles the Susquehanna in front of you. This low-head structure is a hollow, reinforced concrete buttress dam, built to create recreational depth as a 3-mile lake, to provide flood control, to prevent mosquitos, and to minimize odors. Up here the river often looks placid and lake-like; downstream the water becomes surprisingly turbulent.
Even with this dam, the Susquehanna at Harrisburg is often only a few feet deep. The idea of raising the dam to improve navigability and recreation has been proposed, but it remains controversial. Critics point to a more serious problem: currents downstream that can draw small boats back toward the face of the dam, an effect linked in reports to at least seventeen drownings.
Since 1935 there have been over 30 documented fatalities associated with this structure. Various solutions have been suggested — for example, piling stone or concrete debris south of the dam to break up the current — but none have been implemented. Notice the churning water downstream, and the calm, lake-like stretch of river upstream.