Splash dams were a marvel of early engineering. When the gates in the dam were closed, water backed and formed a pond to hold the logs. When the large gates were raised, the water carried them through the dam and down the creek to the Main Umpqua River to the mills in Gardiner.
More info & pics:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/lwm/aem/docs/burnett/splash_dam_mapping_rmiller.pdf
Splash dams were also pretty destructive to fish habitat and were eventually banned.
Gardiner is between Florence and Coos Bay, at the mouth of the Umpqua. Drove through there just a couple weeks ago.
I spent a fair amount of time in many watersheds in the Cost Range conducting fish research and monitoring. Many were ravaged by the logging industry to an irreparable end for fish habitat. It appears that after witnessing continual forest practices for thirty years, that we haven't changed our destructive ways.
ReplyDeleteI believe that I have at least one distant relative in that picture...
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