 On the night of 13 May 1871, the ditch was ready with only a log barricade holding back the waters of Portage Lake and those who had been involved reportedly held a dance celebration for fifty people at the site.The following morning, Sunday 14 May 1871, a single ox pulled the barricade down and the waters rushed through the cut, digging an even deeper and wider passage.The new passage was nearly five hundred feet wide and twelve feet deep, lowering Portage Lake by twelve to fourteen feet and returning it to its pre-historic condition as a natural bay of Lake Michigan.