LAKE DELTON — Finally. After a summer of no swimming, boating, water skiing or fishing, water and hope have begun to return to Lake Delton.

Almost six months after the 267-acre lake drained into the Wisconsin River during a massive flood, water was expected to go over the Mirror Lake dam tonight, flowing into Dell Creek and onto the stump- and grass-covered bed of Lake Delton.

Most hope to never again see the bottom, unless they are in the shallows, splashing with grandchildren or sight fishing for spawning bass.

Millions of dollars in improvements and repairs are designed to make sure a repeat of June 9, and the dismal summer that followed, never occurs.

"You can't guarantee it 100 percent but I feel pretty confident," said Angie Tylka, owner of the 42-room Cliffside Resort & Suites on the lake's southeast shore. "Business will definitely be better and to look at (the lake) will be much, much nicer. For some just sitting and looking at the lake is important."

The lake could start looking like a lake again by February and by spring should be at full pool.

That means the water skiers will return to the Tommy Bartlett Show, tourists will crowd Lake Delton Watersports to rent pontoon and ski boats and the sunsets will have something on which to reflect.

Officials say the $3.6 million spent by the state and the $2.5 million spent by the village of Lake Delton will be enough to contain the lake, should record rains return.

"The most rewarding part of the whole project was to have an absolute catastrophe happen and being able to complete the project on time and under budget and being able to have water filling this lake," said Tom Diehl, co-owner of Tommy Bartlett and a member of the Lake Delton Village Board. "We couldn't afford to lose another summer."

Gov. Jim Doyle will lead a ceremonial ribbon cutting Friday morning and will be joined by other state, county and local officials. The contingent will converge near the new 650-foot-long and 300-foot-wide section of land that held Highway A and was replaced after it washed away along with five nearby homes.

The bulk of the village's expenditures went into modifying the Lake Delton dam, just a few hundred yards from the breach.

The three gates (each 4 feet wide and 6 feet high) of the 80-year-old dam were modified to increase flow by 45 percent. The main spillway was adjusted so water can flow over the top at a much faster pace and an 80-foot-long emergency spillway was constructed to handle excess water.

With the improvements, which began July 22, the dam can handle 216 percent more flow and is now designed to handle a 1,000-year storm without the lake levels going up, Diehl said.

"I feel confident in the calculations that have been done by the design engineers that this dam will now perform to its expectations," said Paul Werner, who supervised the dam project for MSA Professional Services of Baraboo and has lived in Lake Delton for 17 years. "This isn't your typical project."

The state's part in the project primarily involved the replacement of the breach and Highway A, a main thoroughfare around the northeast side of the lake.

After a coffer dam was constructed to divert Dell Creek away from the breach and back through the Lake Delton dam, crews began in September filling in the breach.

But instead of using the natural sands, which can become saturated and unstable, a highly compacted and dense fill was used. The embankment, which separates Lake Delton from the Wisconsin River, has also been lined with a rip-rap rock armor that protects the soils from erosion on both sides.

"We've designed it so it really shouldn't wash out again," said Bill Oliva, project supervisor for the state Department of Transportation. "This shouldn't be a weak link in the lake."

The Dell Creek valley, which now contains the lake bed, was a wetland before Chicago construction millionaire W.J. Newman purchased land around the Dell Creek valley and had an 18-foot dam constructed to hold back water from the creek.

The lake was filled in 1927 and served as a centerpiece for his Dellview Hotel. The Dells area took off in the 1950s with the arrival of another Chicagoan, Tommy Bartlett, who started a water-ski show on the lake's south end.

Diehl is hopeful that the tourists will return to his business and to the resorts, restaurants and other businesses that rim the lake.

"When you interrupt a cycle for a year, there's no guarantee on anything," Diehl said. "We hope the positive publicity the Dells will receive will help the whole area."

Todd Nelson's Kalahari Resort is not on the lake but Nelson has lived on Lake Delton for 21 years. Looking at the lake bed was a tough task all summer, but he believes the lake could come back and be more popular than ever.

He has no doubt the improvements will hold, regardless of the amount of water that enters the lake basin.

"It's Fort Knox," said Nelson, who lives about 1,000 feet from the repaired breach area and had a front-row seat to its repair. "An earthquake couldn't move that thing."