Ceremony hails Sandy River dam removal (Maine)
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3021693.shtmlAugust 12, 2006
NORRIDGEWOCK -- Eloquent though some of the speakers were, the tranquil yet powerful sound of the Sandy River behind outshined them.
For 100 feet or more, the restored falls on the other side of the river flowed over rocks, creating little rivulets and pools on its way to the Kennebec River a mile or so below. The sound of the falls hadn't been heard since 1893, when one of the first dams built in Maine specifically to produce electricity stopped it.
In its place, the whir of the dam's turbine could be heard. On Friday, Rep. Michael H. Michaud, D-2nd District, and others whose work made the breaching of the Sandy River dam possible, celebrated the return of the river's original sound, and all that it means.
"It's a new sound," said Allison Murray, the licensing coordinator and project manager whose company, Kleinschmidt Associates of Pittsfield, did most of the preliminary work. "All you heard before was the turbines."
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