As a river restoration contractor myself, I am impressed with what you guys accomplished without a thumb on that Cat. That takes more skill than what most appreciate. Love to see what the rest of the country is up to. Keep up the good work!
It's weird to me seeing thumbs being used on excavators. Over in western Europe we tend to use very different stuff. The hammers are actually a rarity to see, it's all hydrolic shears here which tend to just be a lot more flexible. If you're curious google Verachtert equipment and you could see some examples.
The history lesson up-front was invaluable. Don't mess with a hungry CAT and very talented operators! Love the cheering section in the background, too. The audio, editing, appropriate music, all first class.
I love it when the UA-cam rabbit hole brings you to interesting videos like this one. I ended up watching the whole thing. I was looking for John Deere tractors. :)
Hi and thank you for this video. Watching this just days after the Michigan dams disasters, it really brings home the Importance of keeping dams either in good order or taking them down if no longer needed.. Thanks again.. Ian, North Essex Coast - UK
Am I the only one who heard (and appreciated) the Byrd's cover of "I'll Probably Feel a Whole Lot Better (When You're Gone)" at the end? Damn great choice of closing music, obviously made by someone as "well-seasoned" as myself
Magnificent! Thanks so very much for having the "real" sounds instead of intrusive elevator music like most of the other similar videos! You folks have class! It is great to see so many areas "un-raped", if you will. We live in Idaho and our streams run clear and it is interesting to see the suspended sediment you contend with. The very best of luck to you and thanks for sharing.
Thanks very much for the feedback, I very much appreciate it. It's funny, but I had the privilege of kayaking the Middle Fork of the Salmon this past summer and I said the exact same thing to myself ("wow, this water is so clear"). Thanks again for your nice comments.
March 13, 2019---Thanks for the video. It's strange (at least to me) that this was a technical marvel back in the 1800's and helped build America, but has now outlived its usefulness. With all these dams removed, wonder if the fishing quality improved.
It had out-lived its usefulness, but you are absolutely correct. The history of this country would have been poorer if not for water-powered milling. And yes, the fishing has greatly improved and we are seeing migratory fish upstream of this former dam structure for the first time since the mid-1700's. Thank you for your comment.
I grew up a few blocks from this dam and have fished the Millstone my whole life. As a kid I was there fishing early in the morning right by that dam when I heard a creaking sound, then a snapping sound, then the whole mill collapsed and fell into the river. I watched it happen. This was back in the early 80s. I still fish there, and I hope the Northern pike come back. I've never caught one, and I'd love a good fight with one.
Wow, that is amazing that you were there. I wish I could have prevented that catastrophe from happening. The more I learn about Weston Mill (which I'll be posting a video about fairly soon), the more I wish it was still here for us to appreciate. Thanks.
Beautiful cleanup, that river will be quite a lot better off for it. I'm all in favor of hydropower dams and usage of natural resources like this for renewable energy, but when something has become outdated and disrepaired like this, it's time to remove it again and clear the river. Hoorah better fishing! I'm surprised there was no thumb fitted to the excavator used! That operator is darn good.
That is very kind of you to say, thank you. I was hoping to show all the major steps in a dam removal for others to learn from as I hope the next generation will continue this work. Thanks.
That was pretty awesome! I have a good friend who lives in Maple Shade, NJ, I need to visit him and tour parts of your state and maybe Delaware and go to see the city of Philadelphia too! I'm wayyyy over here in CA. I need to see more of the East Coast, and visit my brother down in North Carolina, in the Fall when the weather is much nicer! Thank you for sharing! 😁💖
Yes. What the video doesn't show is the staging area where all the concrete was brought out of the river, and there, a small excavator broke apart the concrete from the rebar so they could both be recycled separately. Thanks for your question.
Wow very cool! Loved to see those old wood cribbing timber of 1844 to use to make something? I bet that old growth wood grain would be impressive after a stain was applied?
John , i have a question , is that a bridge i see behind the dam ? and if it is, was it built after or before the dam ? The only reason i ask is the difference of pressure pushing or holding against the earth when it comes to the ground shifting do to weight, i just wondered if removal would cause any unstable ground shifting around the bridge structure, and if so why they didn't concrete cut paths threw the weir for the fish.
Nick, this is such an excellent question. By my reckoning, that bridge may be the 4th or 5th bridge at that location, and luckily when it was rebuilt in 1995, instead of having the bridge abutments/piers rest on the gravelly stream bed like the former bridges, they dug down and anchored the abutments/piers deep into bedrock. Our scour analyses (required by our Dam Safety removal permit) indicated that the removal would not affect those anchored piers (but it would have if those piers were resting on the stream bed). I hope this answers your superb and insightful question. Thanks.
The damn provided a ecosystem of its own, and now that has been destroyed. All in the name of reverse progress. Not to mention all the contaminants that were deposited into the soil and muck that are now disturbed and back in the river system.
if i missed it i apologize but i was paying attention to the credits and noticed that everyone and their grandmother was credited and yet failed to name the operator and driver. that certainly shows a lack of respect.
At 10:15, all the names of the dam removal contractor RiverLogic Solutions, LLC were cited. These are friends of mine also (they have done all four of my dam removals) so no lack of respect was shown to these excellent operators and drivers. Thanks.
Interesting that you would say that. The operators of the Island Farm Weir downstream occasionally dredge sediment to keep their intake pipes clear and they do send the material off to be bagged up and sold as top soil at a local garden center. Thanks for your comment.
I don't mind; I make these videos as an educational tool for people and if by answering questions, I can help them understand why this work is important and how much good it is doing (in my opinion), then it is well worth my time. I do appreciate you helping answer questions also because sometimes I can't check into UA-cam for long stretches of time. Thanks.
@@JohnWJengo Thank you. I am not an expert, but once served on the board for a local watershed partnership organization for several years. I learned a lot over that time. I did my administrative duties and let the experts do their thing. We were instrumental to the removal of several low head dams.
Thanks for your comment. The studies performed following the dam removal indicated an increase in fish migrating upstream, including species that have been absent upstream for over 275 years. This article presented some of the fish data, although they have the number of years incorrect: www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/somerset-county/2018/10/23/manville-millstone-river-dam-shad/1728182002/. Separate studies have indicated an improvement in water quality as compare to the stagnant waters of the former dam impoundment. I think this evidence indicates we improved the condition of the Millstone River with the removal of the dam. Thanks.
Indeed, and I think there is more than 2361 (estimates vary but I've heard the number exceeds 250,000). This would be job security for anyone entering this field. Thanks.
I am so pleased to report that staff from the NJDEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found evidence of successful American Shad spawning in the Millstone River following my August 2017 removal of the Weston Mill Dam. Five juvenile shad averaging 4.3 inches in length were found 4.5 miles upstream of the former dam. I am convinced that this is the highest upriver occurrence of shad since the original construction of the Weston Mill Dam in the late 1740's, and it's such wonderful news. For more information about the types of fish now re-populating the Millstone River, please see: www.njfishandwildlife.com/artmillstone.htm?
Simply fantastic! My deep respect, very well done. Thanks a lot for making taping editing uploading and sharing. Best of luck and health to all involved people. Best regards.
Say they did it for the fish. What a load of crap. Did it so they can kayak without having to portage around the dam. Because that means having to walk. The fish didn't care about the dam during the centuries of history that it was there.
In a manner of speaking, yes. Unlike salmon, a certain percentage of our species of anadromous (migratory) fish (American shad, river herring) will choose a different river than their hatching river to return to in order to spawn. So, when an obstacle like Weston Mill Dam is removed, there are indeed fish that arrive the next spring to migrate upriver to spawn, which is exactly what happened the year after this dam was removed. This is a species-specific characteristic that has really helped shad and herring re-populate rivers that have long been blocked by dams and other obstructions. Thanks for your question.
The actual time in the field demolishing the dam, including several weather delays when the river flooded after a rain event, and mobilizing/demobilizing the equipment from the site, was two weeks. Actual time in the river, if I excluded these delays and other housekeeping that we needed to do, was about 5 days. Thanks for your question.
I suppose it is a great thing to "return" the river. But I could understand that three or more generations grew up with the structure and might miss it.
I’m wondering why none of the equipment that’s inside the water had a spill prevention kits on them. And I don’t seem to see any sediment retention ponds or anyway to separate the concrete sediment into the following creek I thought the whole point of this project was to restore the natural habitat
They may have had it father down. One bc of the articulation truck having to cross back over to the other side. I have been environmentally hazardous trained site worker. And I did see a couple things that were not noticed. But I would say that they did have the retention damn down stream just out of camara view. Or I'd hope they did anyway. I'm sure the EPA was there for the whole thing. If not then wow they justed posted a big fuck up. Bc theirs way more to this than just tearing a damn out for better fish population. Good eye though. Sounds like you too have some background on this kind of stuff. I had to take a 40 hr class in Indiana for my certification. It was definitely not a easy thing to get and it's been well worth it.
Keoni hawelu idk how to get it to tag you in this so it gives you a notification so hopefully you will see this. If you know how I can get it to tag like turn your name blue. Let me know bc I've done it once or twice bit I dont remember how lol.
I mentioned this under another comment that although not a requirement of our removal permit, we swapped out the usual hydraulic oils of the excavator with biodegradable, non-toxic oils in case we had a leak, which thankfully did not occur. The integrity of the hydraulics of the truck were checked before each foray into the river. Our engineering evaluation determined that there would be a de minimis release of concrete that would not affect the downstream environment (and the Bureau of Dam Safety that issued our removal permit agreed, as did the Division of Land Use) and the entrained material would be part of the approved sediment release that was needed to restore sediment-starved embankments just downstream. There are instances where sediment has to be captured (or removed ahead of time if it is contaminated) before a dam removal but those conditions did not apply to this removal. Thanks for your comment.
@@JohnWJengo thanks for that info. I'm not a damn expert lol. But that makes sense. I didn't think about the embankment downstream. And I did forget about the environmental hydraulic oil. Haha I tell ya theirs alot in that book for hazardous materials handler class I took and it's hard to remember all of it. But like I said I'm no damn expert either lol. But I was surprised that their wasn't not floating oil pads or booms down a little ways just as a back up for the articulating truck. The way I understood it was that the trac hoe had the evo hydro in it but the truck didn't, it was just inspected every trip bf entering the water. Correct? And I'm glad yall didn't have any leaks at all either bc that could have been a hell of a costly job then. I've had to clean up diesel out of a creek before and man it wasn't fun even with the floating skimmer hooked up to my vac truck. You go pushing and pulling a 3 inch hose with that skimmer on it and you get tired really quick and with the epa breathing down your back it's no fun. All though not all the epa people are asses but most of them are. Yeah they are doing their job but man they can be some picky picky people. Did they make yall take water samples bf and middle and after? Just wondering bc I get into this kinda stuff. And the hole damn removal is something new to me. It's not like pulling the steal fuel tanks out of the ground and putting fiberglass ones back in or just filling the hole back up and then ever so often go and check the groundwater and make sure theirs no more fuel in the ground that may have seeped out even though dirt samples are taken bf. Can't wait to hear back from you. Thanks for all the info. O and one more thing I noticed you never said anything about the epa just the DLU and BDS. Was the epa even their or make a presence known? I kinda figured they would have showed up bc of the equipment in the water. Just wondering. Thanks
@@fetsluck5620 Yes, that's right; the oil pan of the articulated truck was inspected prior to each trip in the water. It just wasn't feasible to boom off the river downstream, especially with the current restored once the dam was breached. And the USEPA had no involvement in this project; they are not involved in projects in New Jersey that are not in the Superfund investigative/remediation program or don't have PCB issues (those are the only areas where their jurisdiction overrides the New Jersey Dpt of Env. Protection [NJDEP]) - all the work was governed by the five different permits issued by the NJDEP and their ancillary agencies. I did have a kit to sample surface water if we had a leak, but as you noted, we had no problems so I didn't need to use it. Thanks for your comments.
Very good question. Because this was a run-of-the-river dam, it had no flood storage capacity. The lowering of the impounded water level upstream of the former dam is perceived by local residents as reducing their flooding frequency because the river has more carrying capacity before it crests its banks. Thanks.
The contractor RiverLogic and all their employees were recognized in the credits. But you make a good point, I need to add that they were the demolition contractor. Thank you.
I completely agree but the rental agency did not have that equipment available. I used such a set-up on the Robert Street Dam removal, and that video can also be found on UA-cam. Thanks for your comment.
@@delcasaleexcavating9508 Indeed, and there are efforts being made on that weir/dam also, although there are complications because the USGS uses the weir to gauge the discharge flow for the whole Millstone River and they don't have any other gauge to replace it. Negotiations are continuing to see if they will consent to a replacement gauge that doesn't require a weir/dam so I hope that we can reach an amenable agreement with them to allow the weir to be removed while not affecting the USGS's essential and important role of discharge monitoring, which among other things is how they alert citizens of impending floods. Thanks for your question.
Thanks John for your attention my question... I'd like to be kept in the loop on this project if you don't mind..... would be interesting to see if they can find a way to monitor the river without a weir ???... thanks again Tom
@@delcasaleexcavating9508 I would be happy to Tom, thanks. I am researching a pressure transducer technology that is capable of measuring a river's discharge without the use of a weir. The USGS uses this technology in other states and we are hoping they will consent to trying it here at Blackwells Mills and also at an identical weir structure on the North Branch of the Raritan River. Thanks for your interest.
I am so very pleased to tell you that staff from the NJDEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found evidence of successful American Shad spawning in the Millstone River following my August 2017 removal of the Weston Mill Dam. Five juvenile shad averaging 4.3 inches in length were found 4.5 miles upstream of the former dam. I am convinced that this is the highest upriver occurrence of shad since the original construction of the Weston Mill Dam in the late 1740's, and it's such wonderful news. For more information about the types of fish now re-populating the Millstone River, please see: www.njfishandwildlife.com/artmillstone.htm?. Thanks for your question.
It's allowed under UA-cam's Fair Use provision, particularly when the whole song isn't used; thereby making it useless to people who pirate music from the Internet. Thanks for your comment.
Excellent question! The mounded sediment from behind the dam was used to fill in scour holes caused by the dam just downstream and re-build the shoreline back to the way it was originally. All of the concrete was taken to a concrete recycler (and I heard some of it was re-used as roadway foundation material), the few pieces of steel were recycled also at a local metal recycling facility, and lastly, some of the timber crib wood was given to historical organizations, some was re-purposed by wood turners into bowls (they liked the black color of the wood) and the rest was left by the mill ruins for historical context. Thanks for this great question!
@@16kings This was a good observation on your part. The river was flowing but because it was early September during overall "low-flow" conditions in the watershed when I filmed the post-dam removal video clips, the current is not noticeable on the video. Thanks for your comment.
Ah, okay. That makes a little more sense, being filmed in September. I was just curious because the water looked pretty still there at the end. Thanks for the response, great video too by the way.
Thanks for your comment. In my continued research on the dam itself, I am certain now that the concrete dam that was capping the older dam structures was built in circa 1948. It is true that a 1935 date is often quoted as the date the concrete dam was built based on two newspaper articles from that year [The Newark News (September 30, 1935) and The Sunday Times (October 6, 1935)] and indeed Wilbur Smith (who owned the property between 1925 and his passing in 1984) reinforced the timber crib dam that year with steel sheets purchased from junkyards, 16-inch beams, and galvanized bolts. But by cross-checking these 1935 articles with other newspaper accounts and interviews with Wilbur Smith in subsequent years, Wilbur stated that he rebuilt the dam using concrete some 13 years after trying to repair it with steel sheets, which would place the concrete dam construction date in circa 1948. Thanks for your interest in this project.
As a river restoration contractor myself, I am impressed with what you guys accomplished without a thumb on that Cat. That takes more skill than what most appreciate.
Love to see what the rest of the country is up to. Keep up the good work!
Why would he need a thumb? It was a simple demo and excavation.
You're the guy I was talking about who doesn't appreciate it.
I felt bad for the hammer though
It's weird to me seeing thumbs being used on excavators. Over in western Europe we tend to use very different stuff. The hammers are actually a rarity to see, it's all hydrolic shears here which tend to just be a lot more flexible. If you're curious google Verachtert equipment and you could see some examples.
Yeah, I guess it takes quite some training to "become one" with this equipment. That timer could have easily fallen off the shovel, for example.
The history lesson up-front was invaluable. Don't mess with a hungry CAT and very talented operators! Love the cheering section in the background, too. The audio, editing, appropriate music, all first class.
I love it when the UA-cam rabbit hole brings you to interesting videos like this one. I ended up watching the whole thing. I was looking for John Deere tractors. :)
I started out looking for "female pole vaulters with nice butts" and ended up here.
Jed Gregerson no idea how I got here...
Very interesting.
Gunther Ultrabolt Novacrunch find any?
John Deere tractors very good machines. Had one with 10,000 hours before it was in a bad crash.
@@ferguson20diesel49 but, zero luck in finding pole vaulting John Deere tractors with cute butts.
Hi and thank you for this video. Watching this just days after the Michigan dams disasters, it really brings home the Importance of keeping dams either in good order or taking them down if no longer needed.. Thanks again.. Ian, North Essex Coast - UK
Am I the only one who heard (and appreciated) the Byrd's cover of "I'll Probably Feel a Whole Lot Better (When You're Gone)" at the end? Damn great choice of closing music, obviously made by someone as "well-seasoned" as myself
Those heavy machine operators are all artists. Such precise skill
Magnificent! Thanks so very much for having the "real" sounds instead of intrusive elevator music like most of the other similar videos! You folks have class! It is great to see so many areas "un-raped", if you will. We live in Idaho and our streams run clear and it is interesting to see the suspended sediment you contend with. The very best of luck to you and thanks for sharing.
Thanks very much for the feedback, I very much appreciate it. It's funny, but I had the privilege of kayaking the Middle Fork of the Salmon this past summer and I said the exact same thing to myself ("wow, this water is so clear"). Thanks again for your nice comments.
March 13, 2019---Thanks for the video. It's strange (at least to me) that this was a technical marvel back in the 1800's and helped build America, but has now outlived its usefulness. With all these dams removed, wonder if the fishing quality improved.
It had out-lived its usefulness, but you are absolutely correct. The history of this country would have been poorer if not for water-powered milling. And yes, the fishing has greatly improved and we are seeing migratory fish upstream of this former dam structure for the first time since the mid-1700's. Thank you for your comment.
of course it's improved, that's the whole point!
Great video and great cinematography and music. Thank you! Flow rivers flow free!
Thank you for those kind words, I really do appreciate it.
Never would have thought you could take machines in the water any more like that. Great job!
This was so satisfying to watch. That is a damn good operator on the excavator+
Very satisfying to watch the removal of these old dams...long overdue.
@dungoist it's purpose of serving the mill was no longer needed, and it was starting to break
@dungoist As already stated, it's useful purpose ended decades ago and has since been a liability.
I'd like to reclaim that wood for guitars.
very interesting. i liked that you gave some brief history of the dam, too, as I've never even heard of this lol.
Thank you for your very supportive comment, I appreciate it!
John Jengo's video's , to me, are the best. Best organized, best instructions and all. Thanks John, and keep up the good work.:-)
It amazes me how powerful such a machine is.
Paddling through newly freed river “WHOO!” 😂
Nice to see a Dam Removal video that actually shows a dam being removed. Usually get mostly talking heads in these videos...
Thank you..........I'm an old man.....but just a kid at heart.....This was Fun to watch !!! Thanks for sharing.....
That operator is highly skilled!
Assigned to watch this for a natural resources management class, the person kayaking through the opened dam got me
That would be me, one of the perks of managing these worthy projects. Thanks for watching!
The bit with the kayak running the gap is a crucially important part of the process and should not be overlooked. ;)
7:10 Hahaha! I love it. Makes me happy. I love kayaking and not having to plan around dams.
I grew up a few blocks from this dam and have fished the Millstone my whole life. As a kid I was there fishing early in the morning right by that dam when I heard a creaking sound, then a snapping sound, then the whole mill collapsed and fell into the river. I watched it happen. This was back in the early 80s. I still fish there, and I hope the Northern pike come back. I've never caught one, and I'd love a good fight with one.
Wow, that is amazing that you were there. I wish I could have prevented that catastrophe from happening. The more I learn about Weston Mill (which I'll be posting a video about fairly soon), the more I wish it was still here for us to appreciate. Thanks.
Beautiful cleanup, that river will be quite a lot better off for it. I'm all in favor of hydropower dams and usage of natural resources like this for renewable energy, but when something has become outdated and disrepaired like this, it's time to remove it again and clear the river. Hoorah better fishing!
I'm surprised there was no thumb fitted to the excavator used! That operator is darn good.
Thumbs up for the skill of the excavator operator .. :)
Best dam removal video save the video of the Elwa dam removal. Good job to all!
That is very kind of you to say, thank you. I was hoping to show all the major steps in a dam removal for others to learn from as I hope the next generation will continue this work. Thanks.
tremendous skill by the operator, wd.
There are few things I enjoy more than seeing dams removed.
That was pretty awesome! I have a good friend who lives in Maple Shade, NJ, I need to visit him and tour parts of your state and maybe Delaware and go to see the city of Philadelphia too! I'm wayyyy over here in CA. I need to see more of the East Coast, and visit my brother down in North Carolina, in the Fall when the weather is much nicer! Thank you for sharing! 😁💖
Beautiful job, Thanks to everyone that made it happened!
I just love haul trucks up to their rims in water, a rare sight in my corner of the prairie. Thx for the vid
No kidding! Here in Nebraska, most of the riverbeds are basically quicksand.
@dungoist stfu that was uncalled for
All praise to the men who removed the concrete and junk so that the river might run free again....
Im so happy seeing this videos..i hope there is more dams removal
Love the cheers in the background
It was nice to have an audience cheering on the work. Thanks!
Really nice job by the backhoe operator.👌
This footage is around the ten top satisfying videos around, for the right reasons.
did they manage to clear all the dangerous sharp steel rebars??
Yes. What the video doesn't show is the staging area where all the concrete was brought out of the river, and there, a small excavator broke apart the concrete from the rebar so they could both be recycled separately. Thanks for your question.
Wow very cool! Loved to see those old wood cribbing timber of 1844 to use to make something? I bet that old growth wood grain would be impressive after a stain was applied?
Hahaha, I recognized the canoeist from the last video. Nice video, good job.
Some body got good taste in music ,God rest Tom.
Great job on Dam.
Thanks for your kin comments, I appreciate it.
I love these dam videos.
John , i have a question , is that a bridge i see behind the dam ? and if it is, was it built after or before the dam ? The only reason i ask is the difference of pressure pushing or holding against the earth when it comes to the ground shifting do to weight, i just wondered if removal would cause any unstable ground shifting around the bridge structure, and if so why they didn't concrete cut paths threw the weir for the fish.
Nick, this is such an excellent question. By my reckoning, that bridge may be the 4th or 5th bridge at that location, and luckily when it was rebuilt in 1995, instead of having the bridge abutments/piers rest on the gravelly stream bed like the former bridges, they dug down and anchored the abutments/piers deep into bedrock. Our scour analyses (required by our Dam Safety removal permit) indicated that the removal would not affect those anchored piers (but it would have if those piers were resting on the stream bed). I hope this answers your superb and insightful question. Thanks.
Some hate to see the old dams go and some love it. I think it is worth losing a little to regain alot in the longrun.
Broken older ones like this, it's time to remove. If the mill was still there and whatnot, it'd be different.
The damn provided a ecosystem of its own, and now that has been destroyed. All in the name of reverse progress. Not to mention all the contaminants that were deposited into the soil and muck that are now disturbed and back in the river system.
The backhoe driver deserves a frikken metal. He made it look easy, although it is not! LOL... better than watching paint dry!
Where was there a backhoe??
Where was there a frikken metal?
Thats an excavator dummie
Roth Laren there was a frikken trackhoe in this video or some people prefer to call it an excavator
Medal**
Great captions, very helpful
Thank you!
if i missed it i apologize but i was paying attention to the credits and noticed that everyone and their grandmother was credited and yet failed to name the operator and driver. that certainly shows a lack of respect.
10:09 - 10:15 i thought some of the names listed there were the operators.
At 10:15, all the names of the dam removal contractor RiverLogic Solutions, LLC were cited. These are friends of mine also (they have done all four of my dam removals) so no lack of respect was shown to these excellent operators and drivers. Thanks.
Exactly. They did all the work. Not pencil pushers behind a desk. That guy runs hoes for money. Real work. Lol.
It's because they didn't have a permit!!
That was cool, I watched the whole thing I don't do that very often...
I bet that sediment is some fertile soil.
Interesting that you would say that. The operators of the Island Farm Weir downstream occasionally dredge sediment to keep their intake pipes clear and they do send the material off to be bagged up and sold as top soil at a local garden center. Thanks for your comment.
@@JohnWJengo are there any plans for the removal of the Blackwell's Mills dam ?
Imagine all the hydrocarbons it collected over the years and how they were re-released back into the system.
@@froggleggers1805 , the hydrocarbons are still contained in the solids.
Great job people! It's funny how these dam removal videos seem to be a magnet to uninformed comments.
I don't mind; I make these videos as an educational tool for people and if by answering questions, I can help them understand why this work is important and how much good it is doing (in my opinion), then it is well worth my time. I do appreciate you helping answer questions also because sometimes I can't check into UA-cam for long stretches of time. Thanks.
@@JohnWJengo Thank you. I am not an expert, but once served on the board for a local watershed partnership organization for several years. I learned a lot over that time. I did my administrative duties and let the experts do their thing. We were instrumental to the removal of several low head dams.
Best video and editing good job
awesome video!
AWESOME WORK!!!!! I HOPE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THE ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF THIS, AND SIMILAR PROJECTS!!!....
Thanks for your comment. The studies performed following the dam removal indicated an increase in fish migrating upstream, including species that have been absent upstream for over 275 years. This article presented some of the fish data, although they have the number of years incorrect: www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/somerset-county/2018/10/23/manville-millstone-river-dam-shad/1728182002/. Separate studies have indicated an improvement in water quality as compare to the stagnant waters of the former dam impoundment. I think this evidence indicates we improved the condition of the Millstone River with the removal of the dam. Thanks.
Good job! Now how about the remaining 2361 dams? ;)
Indeed, and I think there is more than 2361 (estimates vary but I've heard the number exceeds 250,000). This would be job security for anyone entering this field. Thanks.
Please do an update of the river and the river bank's recovery 1 year later.
I am so pleased to report that staff from the NJDEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found evidence of successful American Shad spawning in the Millstone River following my August 2017 removal of the Weston Mill Dam. Five juvenile shad averaging 4.3 inches in length were found 4.5 miles upstream of the former dam. I am convinced that this is the highest upriver occurrence of shad since the original construction of the Weston Mill Dam in the late 1740's, and it's such wonderful news. For more information about the types of fish now re-populating the Millstone River, please see: www.njfishandwildlife.com/artmillstone.htm?
@@JohnWJengo YAY!
Simply fantastic! My deep respect, very well done. Thanks a lot for making taping editing uploading and sharing.
Best of luck and health to all involved people.
Best regards.
Thank you very much for your kind comment, I really appreciate it. Thanks.
@@JohnWJengo
You're welcome!
Wow i know its old concrete and its not in good shape but im impressed by that hammer at the start just chopping through it like that.
Amazing work.
I'm glad to see the dam gone but the Eco-Hippies cheering at every excavator scoop is a bit much.
some of us just get a little too excited when we see heavy machinery in action ;)
Bruh why can't people like big diggers and destroying stuff?
Who are the eco hippies?
Say they did it for the fish. What a load of crap. Did it so they can kayak without having to portage around the dam. Because that means having to walk. The fish didn't care about the dam during the centuries of history that it was there.
@@tombrown730 dam straight
thank you for sharing this vid. fun watching it
If the fish had been prevented from swimming up river for 275 years did they then suddenly resume doing it?
In a manner of speaking, yes. Unlike salmon, a certain percentage of our species of anadromous (migratory) fish (American shad, river herring) will choose a different river than their hatching river to return to in order to spawn. So, when an obstacle like Weston Mill Dam is removed, there are indeed fish that arrive the next spring to migrate upriver to spawn, which is exactly what happened the year after this dam was removed. This is a species-specific characteristic that has really helped shad and herring re-populate rivers that have long been blocked by dams and other obstructions. Thanks for your question.
Very good video, thanks for uploading this
Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it.
How long did this job actually take?
The actual time in the field demolishing the dam, including several weather delays when the river flooded after a rain event, and mobilizing/demobilizing the equipment from the site, was two weeks. Actual time in the river, if I excluded these delays and other housekeeping that we needed to do, was about 5 days. Thanks for your question.
You know the trackhoe operator was having a blast that day.
What a waste of money to make a few kayakers happy ....
The dam was failing. It was either take it down while it's mostly in one piece or fish the river for hundreds of miles.
The dam was out of service. Why dam a river if u don’t need to?
What a great project, it is now a thousand times safer for boaters , the fish like it too.
Thank you very much for that kind comment; we are, in fact, seeing a lot more boaters and a lot more fish, since the removal of the dam. Thanks.
I suppose it is a great thing to "return" the river. But I could understand that three or more generations grew up with the structure and might miss it.
Excellent filming!
Thank you very much, I really appreciate that. Thanks.
I’m wondering why none of the equipment that’s inside the water had a spill prevention kits on them. And I don’t seem to see any sediment retention ponds or anyway to separate the concrete sediment into the following creek I thought the whole point of this project was to restore the natural habitat
They may have had it father down. One bc of the articulation truck having to cross back over to the other side. I have been environmentally hazardous trained site worker. And I did see a couple things that were not noticed. But I would say that they did have the retention damn down stream just out of camara view. Or I'd hope they did anyway. I'm sure the EPA was there for the whole thing. If not then wow they justed posted a big fuck up. Bc theirs way more to this than just tearing a damn out for better fish population. Good eye though. Sounds like you too have some background on this kind of stuff. I had to take a 40 hr class in Indiana for my certification. It was definitely not a easy thing to get and it's been well worth it.
Keoni hawelu idk how to get it to tag you in this so it gives you a notification so hopefully you will see this. If you know how I can get it to tag like turn your name blue. Let me know bc I've done it once or twice bit I dont remember how lol.
I mentioned this under another comment that although not a requirement of our removal permit, we swapped out the usual hydraulic oils of the excavator with biodegradable, non-toxic oils in case we had a leak, which thankfully did not occur. The integrity of the hydraulics of the truck were checked before each foray into the river. Our engineering evaluation determined that there would be a de minimis release of concrete that would not affect the downstream environment (and the Bureau of Dam Safety that issued our removal permit agreed, as did the Division of Land Use) and the entrained material would be part of the approved sediment release that was needed to restore sediment-starved embankments just downstream. There are instances where sediment has to be captured (or removed ahead of time if it is contaminated) before a dam removal but those conditions did not apply to this removal. Thanks for your comment.
@@JohnWJengo thanks for that info. I'm not a damn expert lol. But that makes sense. I didn't think about the embankment downstream. And I did forget about the environmental hydraulic oil. Haha I tell ya theirs alot in that book for hazardous materials handler class I took and it's hard to remember all of it. But like I said I'm no damn expert either lol. But I was surprised that their wasn't not floating oil pads or booms down a little ways just as a back up for the articulating truck. The way I understood it was that the trac hoe had the evo hydro in it but the truck didn't, it was just inspected every trip bf entering the water. Correct? And I'm glad yall didn't have any leaks at all either bc that could have been a hell of a costly job then. I've had to clean up diesel out of a creek before and man it wasn't fun even with the floating skimmer hooked up to my vac truck. You go pushing and pulling a 3 inch hose with that skimmer on it and you get tired really quick and with the epa breathing down your back it's no fun. All though not all the epa people are asses but most of them are. Yeah they are doing their job but man they can be some picky picky people. Did they make yall take water samples bf and middle and after? Just wondering bc I get into this kinda stuff. And the hole damn removal is something new to me. It's not like pulling the steal fuel tanks out of the ground and putting fiberglass ones back in or just filling the hole back up and then ever so often go and check the groundwater and make sure theirs no more fuel in the ground that may have seeped out even though dirt samples are taken bf. Can't wait to hear back from you. Thanks for all the info. O and one more thing I noticed you never said anything about the epa just the DLU and BDS. Was the epa even their or make a presence known? I kinda figured they would have showed up bc of the equipment in the water. Just wondering. Thanks
@@fetsluck5620 Yes, that's right; the oil pan of the articulated truck was inspected prior to each trip in the water. It just wasn't feasible to boom off the river downstream, especially with the current restored once the dam was breached. And the USEPA had no involvement in this project; they are not involved in projects in New Jersey that are not in the Superfund investigative/remediation program or don't have PCB issues (those are the only areas where their jurisdiction overrides the New Jersey Dpt of Env. Protection [NJDEP]) - all the work was governed by the five different permits issued by the NJDEP and their ancillary agencies. I did have a kit to sample surface water if we had a leak, but as you noted, we had no problems so I didn't need to use it. Thanks for your comments.
Very satisfying!
Thank you!
Does these spillways not help with flooding situations? Or is that different from a watershed flood control dam?
Very good question. Because this was a run-of-the-river dam, it had no flood storage capacity. The lowering of the impounded water level upstream of the former dam is perceived by local residents as reducing their flooding frequency because the river has more carrying capacity before it crests its banks. Thanks.
Now to remove the dam at Passaic River Falls.
What a great preamble.
Recognizing everyone but the contractor doing the work?
I kept waiting for the name of the contractor or the operators. nope!
The contractor RiverLogic and all their employees were recognized in the credits. But you make a good point, I need to add that they were the demolition contractor. Thank you.
They got paid. What other recognition do they need?
That excavator needed a thumb to operate more efficiently. But the operator made the best of it for sure.
I completely agree but the rental agency did not have that equipment available. I used such a set-up on the Robert Street Dam removal, and that video can also be found on UA-cam. Thanks for your comment.
@@JohnWJengo ... when are you going to remove the dam at Blackwell's Mills ?? Another VERY dangerous damm
@@delcasaleexcavating9508 Indeed, and there are efforts being made on that weir/dam also, although there are complications because the USGS uses the weir to gauge the discharge flow for the whole Millstone River and they don't have any other gauge to replace it. Negotiations are continuing to see if they will consent to a replacement gauge that doesn't require a weir/dam so I hope that we can reach an amenable agreement with them to allow the weir to be removed while not affecting the USGS's essential and important role of discharge monitoring, which among other things is how they alert citizens of impending floods. Thanks for your question.
Thanks John for your attention my question... I'd like to be kept in the loop on this project if you don't mind..... would be interesting to see if they can find a way to monitor the river without a weir ???... thanks again Tom
@@delcasaleexcavating9508 I would be happy to Tom, thanks. I am researching a pressure transducer technology that is capable of measuring a river's discharge without the use of a weir. The USGS uses this technology in other states and we are hoping they will consent to trying it here at Blackwells Mills and also at an identical weir structure on the North Branch of the Raritan River. Thanks for your interest.
great job. nice to see humans being good to nature.
This is a great video
so it has been a year. What are the results regards fish migration and repopulating the areas above the dam?
I am so very pleased to tell you that staff from the NJDEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found evidence of successful American Shad spawning in the Millstone River following my August 2017 removal of the Weston Mill Dam. Five juvenile shad averaging 4.3 inches in length were found 4.5 miles upstream of the former dam. I am convinced that this is the highest upriver occurrence of shad since the original construction of the Weston Mill Dam in the late 1740's, and it's such wonderful news. For more information about the types of fish now re-populating the Millstone River, please see: www.njfishandwildlife.com/artmillstone.htm?. Thanks for your question.
I see the operators are not wearing PFD's?
That is the 2nd time ive seen the kayak guy woohoo'ing
Excellent choice of music. Though, "How can I miss you when you won't go away?" would've worked.
I'm surprised "The UA-cams" didn't flag this video for the use of the Tom Petty song. . .
It's allowed under UA-cam's Fair Use provision, particularly when the whole song isn't used; thereby making it useless to people who pirate music from the Internet. Thanks for your comment.
WHAT IS DONE WITH ALL THAT STUFF DUG OUT OF THE WATER AND PLACED INTO THE TRUCKS ?
Excellent question! The mounded sediment from behind the dam was used to fill in scour holes caused by the dam just downstream and re-build the shoreline back to the way it was originally. All of the concrete was taken to a concrete recycler (and I heard some of it was re-used as roadway foundation material), the few pieces of steel were recycled also at a local metal recycling facility, and lastly, some of the timber crib wood was given to historical organizations, some was re-purposed by wood turners into bowls (they liked the black color of the wood) and the rest was left by the mill ruins for historical context. Thanks for this great question!
How satisfying!
Great work to all concerned.
Won’t the water be gross and stagnant now since it won’t be aerated?
16kings it’s a flowing river it will never be stagnant
Didn’t look like it was flowing to me...
16kings 4:52
@@16kings This was a good observation on your part. The river was flowing but because it was early September during overall "low-flow" conditions in the watershed when I filmed the post-dam removal video clips, the current is not noticeable on the video. Thanks for your comment.
Ah, okay. That makes a little more sense, being filmed in September. I was just curious because the water looked pretty still there at the end. Thanks for the response, great video too by the way.
Do fish bathe?
Americans will cheer anything !
Two Interesting facts about the Weston Mill Dam:
1. It was built in 1935
2. You didnt search for this video...
Yes, I did!! I grew up a couple blocks from this dam.
Thanks for your comment. In my continued research on the dam itself, I am certain now that the concrete dam that was capping the older dam structures was built in circa 1948. It is true that a 1935 date is often quoted as the date the concrete dam was built based on two newspaper articles from that year [The Newark News (September 30, 1935) and The Sunday Times (October 6, 1935)] and indeed Wilbur Smith (who owned the property between 1925 and his passing in 1984) reinforced the timber crib dam that year with steel sheets purchased from junkyards, 16-inch beams, and galvanized bolts. But by cross-checking these 1935 articles with other newspaper accounts and interviews with Wilbur Smith in subsequent years, Wilbur stated that he rebuilt the dam using concrete some 13 years after trying to repair it with steel sheets, which would place the concrete dam construction date in circa 1948. Thanks for your interest in this project.
awesome video
Hell yes. This is what I want to do.
It is a load of fun and rewarding too. Thanks.
haa haa what a lovely entertaining video,guy in digger almost being swept away trying to get rid of concrete
Any one else wondering if they screened the silt in front of the dam? 150 years could yield some good gold.
every little helps ,great work.
AWESOME!!!!!!
Loved it!!! Those guys worked their asses off!! Good job!
Good job!
You mean there is clean water in New Jersey
Should've got 617 squadron to do it.
Is there a peanut gallery cheering on the demo guy?
up on the bridge behind him. must be one heck of a boring town.
Good job boys!!!!
Nice job, removing a useless dam is always and excellent investment for the future in many ways