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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Byrnes Mill Dam Removal

The second recent news item I'd like to catch up on is the one I described in the last post as "good news that at first might seem like bad news". Back in the middle of December, an article appeared in the News Journal about the intentional partial destruction of a structure more than 220 years old. Normally that would be tragedy, but in this case the structure in question was a dam on White Clay Creek that fed a mill associated with the Hale-Byrnes House. The dam is located amidst the White Clay Creek Country Club golf course (Delaware Park), and was removed for a very good reason.

The following article was written especially for us by Jerry Kauffman, University of Delaware professor and director of UD's Water Resources Agency. I'd like to thank Dr. Kauffman for providing us with this, and for all his work in local environmental and historical preservation.




UD Removes Historic Dam to Restore Anadromous Fishery along White Clay Creek National Wild and Scenic River at Delaware Park in Mill Creek Hundred

For the first time since the American Revolution, resident and anadromous fish like the American shad, hickory shad, river herring, and striped bass will be able to spawn and swim freely from tidewater to freshwater in the Piedmont along the White Clay Creek National Wild and Scenic River in Mill Creek Hundred in Delaware.  On December 4, 2014, an interdisciplinary UD research team worked with a contractor to breach and remove 40 feet of the historic Byrnes Mill Dam at Delaware Park Race Track.  This is the first recorded dam removal for fish passage in the State of Delaware.

Hydrologists and historians from the University of Delaware School of Public Policy and Administration discovered that White Clay Creek Dam No. 1 was constructed as a 13 feet high, 100 feet long timber crib and rock fill structure in 1777 by Daniel Byrnes to divert water into a mile and a half long raceway that provided hydropower for a colonial mill at the nearby Hale Byrnes House.  The mill dam and raceway were operating when George Washington and the Marquis De Lafayette met during a war council at the Hale Byrnes House on September 6, 1777 after the Battle of Coochs Bridge to plan to defend the British advance on Wilmington and Philadelphia.  The removal connects 3.5 miles of the White Clay Creek National Wild and Scenic River to the tidal Christina and Delaware Rivers and is the first of seven planned dam removals along the creek between sea level and the Delaware/Pennsylvania state line.  The project was led by the University of Delaware Water Resources Agency with $190,000 in grant funding from the American Rivers-NOAA Community Based Restoration Program, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, FishAmerican Foundation, and National Park Service.

In addition to being the first dam removal in Delaware and one of just six projects funded by NOAA/American Rivers in the United States, the project required unique collaborations and partnerships to document the dam’s history and construction details.  The 237 year old dam was hand built by the miller Byrnes to withstand countless floods and droughts over the centuries.  The 20 to 30 feet long colonial era pine and oak timbers, hand forged iron spikes (some as long as four feet), and quarry stone were pulled from the breach and stockpiled for historic documentation by historians and archeologists from the University of Delaware Center for Historic Architecture and Design (CHAD).  The UD facilities department has provided warehouse space at the STAR campus for CHAD to examine and preserve the artifacts.

The interdisciplinary University of Delaware research team required collaboration between the Water Resources Agency in the Institute for Public Administration (Gerald Kauffman, Martha Narvaez, and Andrew Homsey) and the Center for Historic Architecture and Design (Rebecca Sheppard and Catherine Morrissey).

UD student research assistants who conducted field work for the planning and design of the project majored in civil and environmental engineering (Ian Kaliaken, Jordan Deshon, David Specht, Lawrence Latour, Dustin Briggs), chemical engineering (Erica Addonizio), environmental studies (Kelsey Wentling, Caren Fitzgerald, Thomas Santangelo, Kayla Iuliano, Seth Olsen), natural resources management (Emily Baumbach), Kevin M. Archibald (biology), and water science and policy (Kate Miller).


The effort required the assistance of the owner Delaware Racing Inc. (John Mizikar and Ryan Kidwell), contractor Merit Construction, (Vince Dills, UD ’89), Duffield Associates (David Gosse and David Diefenthaler), Delaware State Historic Preservation Office (Craig Lukezic), American Rivers (Laura Craig), NOAA (Mary Andrews), National Park Service (Julie Bell), and White Clay Creek National Wild and Scenic River Manager (Shane Morgan).


Below is a photo in response to the comments from Frank.



21 comments:

  1. I am sad to hear that the dam we referred to as little falls is gone!! We used to fish and swim there in the late 70's all thru the 80's.

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  2. Sad to hear the old dam is gone, spent many summer days there fishing and swimming, it was a great place to hang out as a kid!!!

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  3. I also used to hunt back on bread and cheese island and have seen quite a few old ruins of barns and a couple houses, there is even an old paddle wheel John Deere tractor back there and a lot of neat old farm implements.

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  4. Very cool! I've heard before that there are some ruins hidden back on Bread and Cheese Island. I've not had the courage...um, I mean chance...to go hunting around there yet.

    Now let me ask you, Scott -- when you were playing there, did you or anyone else have any idea how old the dam was? I'm sure there have been lots of kids in the area who have played on and around old ruins and relics without having any clue as to just how old they were.

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  5. I had no idea the dam was that old, and before ogletown rd (rt.4)was rerouted there used to be a newer house right up from the corner of churchmans and ogletown intersection we would buy worms from them and the farmhouse on the corner that is gone now(replaced by a medical building) we would pick apples from the tree on the corner and would access the falls across from that old farm house,you had to run across the tracks to the old road bed that had a small bridge that went over the mill race and a little further up the trail you could start to see the taller end wall of the dam and just above that end wall is where the race went back towards the tracks and made a left and parraleled the tracks, while walking up to the dam I always got an eire feeling like something was special about the place,but couldn't quite pin it down. I know now and thank you for enlightening me about it. By the way I started seeing shad show up there in the late 90's when I would venture back just to reminisce and cast a line!!

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  6. i also use to fish before &after the falls when i was younger just happend to run across this info wow pretty cool. i know now that is what a dam i always thought it was kind of trestle for a train going into delaware park. when crossing the 3sets of tracks going into the path that would lead you to the damn before getting there there was a small bridge that went across a small creek there were rements of railroad sticking out of the bridge heading toward the falls i think anyway hard to tell all grown in but i always thought it wss tracks leading into delaware park barn area im looking if someone can shed some light on this as to what the tracks were for and where did they go if not into the barn area. thanks for any help

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  7. i also use to fish before &after the falls when i was younger just happend to run across this info wow pretty cool. i know now that is what a dam i always thought it was kind of trestle for a train going into delaware park. when crossing the 3sets of tracks going into the path that would lead you to the damn before getting there there was a small bridge that went across a small creek there were rements of railroad sticking out of the bridge heading toward the falls i think anyway hard to tell all grown in but i always thought it wss tracks leading into delaware park barn area im looking if someone can shed some light on this as to what the tracks were for and where did they go if not into the barn area. thanks for any help

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    1. Frank -- Sorry I didn't get to this before. I'm not sure if this is what you're talking about, but take a look at the photos I've added and see if it is. The current aerial has the area circled. The old one is a perfect view to see the old Pennsylvania RR siding into the park. If I've guessed right about what you're referring to, your "small creek" is actually the remnants of the mill race going over to the Byrnes Mill -- the reason the dam was there. Even though the mill was long gone, the race was still there and substantial. Check out the post titled "Boat in a Race" for more info.

      If this is not the area you mean, try to guide me on the photos and I'll give it another shot. As for the farm, it's another one on my To Do List. I've danced around it a few times, but never really looked into it...yet

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  8. also does any one remenber the bell farm it was where the know white clay creek country club is my uncle rode motor cycles back in the day with clyde bell. there was a small pond a short distance from the farm. we fished there quite a bit some nice bass

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    1. thank you scott i will look at pictures better when i get home today i hope i can tell also i would like to post a couple of pictures of the spot do i need to join the blogger to post this i really dont know how to go about this thank you

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    2. The easiest way would be to email them to me at mchhistory@verizon.net. I could add them to a post and put them on the Facebook page, too

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    3. ok im looking at the arial shots i really dont think the spot is where im at. its off i guess old ogeltown stanton road you would cross the 3 sets of tracks to get back to path that lead to the dam. i will send you the pictures of where im talking about you will also see the rail sticking out im talking about thats why i always thought the tracks led to the dam which i thought was a trestle that led into dp. anyway when you get time if you could please posts any thoughts on pics and the rail as to what they were on this post brynes dam removal thank you scott finally getting some answers about this

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    4. scott on the newer map is there a way for me to highlite the spot where the entrance to path would be im not real computer savy i think i know where it would be

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    5. So, further west, closer to where old Ogletown Stanton Road comes closer to the tracks? I see there looks to be a small creek going a short way south from White Clay and under the tracks. I can't see where there was ever a railroad siding there, and I don't think the trolley line went west of Stanton. My next guess would be a small bridge built maybe by a local farmer? Could have gotten old rails and used them to support the bridge? Total guess, though. I am interested to see what you have. Thanks for sharing!

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    6. ok so im guessing you got the pictures and also is there a way for me to high lite the map as to where you go in at.so you could see where we are thank you

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  9. hello scott im on a site called arial view i typed in delaware park stanton de im looking at map if you saw the same little creek im looking at that goes underneath the tracks i see this. moving the map some youll come across the stanton ogletown road and see some i guess amtrak vehicles there you go in there where the vehicles are you cross over the tracks head left and walk down a bit to where the little creek goes under the tracks and you go in there on the right side follow in to the path and if you recieved the pictures i sent you you will see them keep folling the path a little bit and it will bring you out to the dam. hope this helps

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    1. Ok, let me try again. I think I know where you are now, and I've posted a different aerial, from 1937. To get your bearings, they're "upside down", in that north is toward the bottom. The road and tracks are to the top, the dam is visible, and the mill race goes off to the left. If I squint hard enough I could convince myself there's a bridge at the red arrow. A little easier to see in the blown-up second shot. Doesn't seem to be a road there, so not sure why it's there. Could have been for farmer or access to the dam. No idea, really. Also, I have not received any pictures from you yet. Double check the email? mchhistory@verizon.net (two h's in the middle)

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  10. yea i only had 1 glad you caught that will try to send them shortly

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  11. The aerial view from 37 is a good one showing the old farm house that had the apple trees in the yard. We would collect apples and snack on while fishing and shows the wagon cart bridge over the race. You can see the path that starts at Stanton-Ogeltown Rd and runs along the woods edge back to the tracks and almost looks like a crude grade crossing at the tracks then it goes back to the bridge over the mill race that was constructed of stone and the railroad tracks sticking out of the earth were the main supports for the span over the race, I think the cart bridge was put in to access the damn and the big chunk of ground that was basically like a peninsula between the White clay Creek and the mill race, the race was pretty deep and wide and the deer used the edges of it as a travel route. I also deer hunted in that section of woods too. The memories of my youth come pouring back and I could go on for hours about the old farms I used to frequent in the Stanton area, man it was a much simpler time then.

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    1. Scott (nice name, by the way) -- Thanks for the info and the recollections. The "wagon cart bridge" you mention is the one we're trying to figure out the history and reason for. Your explanation is as good as any, and is along the lines we were thinking. What gets me is that it appears to be early 20th Century construction, so I'm not sure why there would need to be access to the dam then.

      You say you could go on for hours about the old farms...Do you want to? I'd love to hear about your adventures and what was around in your youth (don't worry, I'm sure all applicable statutes of limitation are long past). If you ever want to write anything out (doesn't have to be long or particularly structured -- just some memories and stories), I'd love to post it here. I'm sure it would spark some old memories from others, too. I might even be able to do some research and put some people and places into context. If you're interested, email me at mchhistory@verizon.net. And absolutely no rush. Nobody's going anywhere these days. Thanks!!

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  12. does any one remember the rope swing that was above the falls. I believe the sons from the bells farm put it there the farm was where the country club is now

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