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One of many trees completely blocking the Canal |
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Crew removing one of the fallen trees |
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A job well Done |
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Crain barge Elizabeth |
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Hurricane Isabel Photos— Dismal Swamp Cleanup This is part of why funding must be preserved!
After Hurricane Isabel’s passing on Sep. 18,2003 the Dismal Swamp Canal was left in chaos. More than 700 trees, saplings, bushes and blown debris would have interfered with navigation had fallen across and along the waterway. Some of these trees were more than 100 years old, having grown there undisturbed since the canal was widened in 1899, and stood over 100 feet tall. Dozens of trees completely bridged the canal. As soon as possible, the Corps of Engineers Crane Barge Elizabeth, Captained by Leonard White, with crane operator Dennis Barnes and crewmen (Richard Bruton, Stan Caldwell and Glen Boykins, go underway to start the clearing work. Commercial power was out in the Deep Creek area so that lift lock was out of commission. Luckily, South Mills NC had power so the ELIZABETH did an end run maneuver, going south through the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, through Albemarle Sound and up the Pasquotank River, through Turner Cut, which also needed clearing, and into the Dismal Swamp Canal by way of the South Mills Lock. The mammoth job of cutting, lifting and moving to the side all of those trees --some thought it would take months--was done in three weeks. The crew then turned to clearing the Feeder Ditch, the control dam area and the short canal into Lake Drummond. Due to the great flood's erosional damage and physical damage to the dam and railway area due to tree fall that work is still in progress as of this writing.
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