More River, Less Dam

Yesterday and today, SumCo worked on removing the south spillway, beginning at its north end where it tied into the big ledge outcrop in the middle of the river. At noon today, they began pulling back the cofferdam and allowing the river to flow over that section of the bedrock. They also finished up the low-flow channel in the riverbed between the dam site and the bridge. The river is really coming down now. Meanwhile, we're following the track of Hurricane Irene and will pull all the equipment and rubble out of the river before the storm arrives. Here's a video from today--Travis and Arthur pulling a sandbag to allow the river to flow over the bedrock in this location, perhaps for the first time in 200 years. Within a day or two, the river upstream of the dam location will be feeling the tides from Pawtuxet Cove, again likely for the first time in centuries.