Mound Creek Brochure (PDF)
Trail Map (PDF)
Brown County's newest park, Mound Creek County Park, is located at the site of the Wellner-Hageman Flood Control Dam in the southwestern corner of the county. The park was dedicated on August 15, 1993. The flood control dam, permanent pool, sediment basins, and the park include 316 acres.
Mound Creek County Park is a "day-use" park, open from 8:00 AM until sunset from April 15 - October 15. It offers a 9 hole disk golf course, 2 picnic shelters, beach, boat launch, fishing, sand volleyball, open play areas and hiking. The park is also the site a waterfall in the picnic area.
The Wellner-Hageman Dam creates a 70 acre reservoir which partially fills narrow valleys that now provide excellent canoeing opportunities.
Mound Creek County Park is adjacent to Cottonwood County's Red Rock County Park, and is two miles from the Jeffers Petroglyphs historic site.
In the early 1960's, a group of farmers from Brown and Cottonwood Counties who farmed in the Mound Creek Watershed District decided to do something about the serious flooding that occurred after every heavy rainfall and during spring snowmelt. Citizens from the counties formed a steering committee to find ways to solve the problem.
In 1964, Brown and Cottonwood County Commissioners, in cooperation with the Brown and Cottonwood (then known as Walking Water) Soil and Water Conservation Districts, applied to the United States Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service for planning, technical, and financial assistance in easing the flooding and erosion in the Mound Creek watershed.
The Mound Creek project was approved by the Minnesota Soil and Water Conservation Commission in 1966, but languished until 1978, when Area II River Basin Projects, Inc., was formed, and when SCS and the Army Corps of Engineers launched the Public Law 87-639 implementation study.
Between 1984 and 1988, Area II staff, working with SCS area and state engineers, gathered the information necessary to design and construct what would become the Wellner-Hageman Dam. Activities included surveying, soil exploration and testing, and drawing up preliminary designs. After discussing the project with state legislators, the Area II board of directors decided to finance the project in the 1990 legislative session.
Plans and specifications for the dam were completed in December 1990, and construction began the following April. The entire project was completed in 1992. Many areas of the park are handicapped accessible.