Fredericksburg.com - Suctioning up a century ...

Featured Advertisers


•Snow Closings
Sun, Dec. 20  -   28.0°F •Weather Forecast  -  Mobile  -  RSS  Classifieds |Real Estate |Jobs |Star Directory
NEWSENTERTAINMENTPICS & VIDEOBLOGSFEATURESFREDTALKCONTESTS
» News homepage» Opinion» Letters to the Editor
» Archives» Obituaries» Sports
» Business» Weekender» Weddings Guide
» Editorial Cartoons
» Art Exhibits» Live Music
» Bring the kids» Movie times
» Contests» TV listings
» Events Calendar» Weekender
» Games & puzzles» Weekly challenge
» Multimedia/video archive» Your photos» Photo reprints/galleries» FLS page reprints
City Beat By Emily BattleOn the Road By Kelly HannonBusiness Browser By Bill Freehling
About Faith By Amy UmbleSpotsy govt.-the odds & ends By Dan TelvockRedskins Journal By Rich Campbell
Toon Talk By Clay JonesDoing Good By Amy UmbleRapid Assessment By Jim Hall
Caroline Crossroads By Portsia SmithStafford County News and Notes By Jonas BealsWater, earth and sky By Rusty Dennen
Tuned In By Ben SellersTen-hut! By Rusty DennenWhat's In Store? By Cathy Jett
Getting Schooled By Pamela GouldIn Moderation By Janet MarshallNews from King George By Cathy Dyson
Portsia Faces Life By Portsia SmithBack Focus: The Photo Blog By The FLS Photo Dept.It Beats Working For a Living By Mike Morones
The Chalkboard By Jeff BranscomePast is Prologue By Clint Schemmer
» Ask Fred!» Dining Guide» FredFaith
» DUI database» High school football» FredPets
» Recipes» Indictments» Tour the town
» Crime reports» Newcomers Guide» Social Services
» Register» Rules» FAQs
YOUR TOWN: Caroline |Culpeper |King George |Fredericksburg |Orange |Spotsylvania |Stafford |Westmoreland




Silt from the Rappahannock River is deposited into a large disposal pit near Bragg Road in Fredericksburg, as earthmovers arrange it to allow for more dredge spoil to accumulate at the bottom. Eventually, the pit will be filled with silt dredged from the river nearby.rez
View More Images from this story
Visit the Photo Place
View the Stafford County community page
Suctioning up a century of sediment
Workers begin the technical challenge of dredging silt from behind Embrey Dam, the first step toward removing the outdated structure next year.
By RUSTY DENNEN
Date published: 8/27/2003
By RUSTY DENNEN
Dan Miller sits in the cab of a most unusual machine that does its digging not on land, but under water.
A signal from shore crackles over his radio, and he starts the engine on the Ellicott 370 dredge barge. A giant pump roars to life, and Miller positions a protruding steel snout on the bow--outfitted with a giant suction hose and augur--into place just above the Embrey Dam in the Rappahannock River. The barge shimmies noticeably as the dredge head bites into the river bottom.
Miller smiles, shouting something over the roar of the engine that sounds like: "I love my job."
After months of preparation, the formidable task of removing a vast shoal of silt from behind the dam began yesterday.
Since May, Woodside Construction Corp. of Dayton, Md., has been moving equipment into place and preparing a massive hole along the Fredericksburg shore where decades of river muck will be deposited. Woodside is doing the dredging project under contract with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Company Vice President Russell Smith says this is not a typical silt-removal job because of the sheer volume of the material to be moved. An estimated 250,000 cubic yards of sediment has built up behind the dam since it was completed in 1910.
And, Smith says, "We'll be pumping material 170 feet up a hill," which is a technical challenge.
Normal dredging projects operate on a level plane. Deepening a channel in the Chesapeake Bay, for example, entails removing material from one spot and pumping it a short distance away.
There's one advantage here over tidal water, Smith says. On the bay, "You're always watching the tide" because the depth of the dredging is affected by the level of the boat relative to the bottom.
Underwater vacuum
The silt, gravel, clay and water sucked from behind Embrey Dam flows through a 12-inch-diameter flexible pipeline to a 400-horsepower booster pump on shore that propels the mixture uphill to the 13-acre disposal pit. The whole line runs more than 3,000 feet.
1  2  3  Next Page
Follow us on

Date published: 8/27/2003
Breaking News - click here to have the latest delivered to your email box or cell phone


Copyright 2009, The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co. ofFredericksburg, Virginia, USA
Permissions -Privacy Policy -Send email to Support Staff -Send email to the News Team
To contact all other newspaper departments, pleaseclick here or call 540-374-5000.
To contact the Free Lance–Star please use the following numbers:
Main Switchboard: 540-374-5000, Advertising: 540-374-5460, Classifieds: 540-374-5001, Subscriber Services: 540-374-5002, Toll-free:800-877-0500