The Cascade Dam has been dismantled and a group of onlookers witnessed the river flowing free for the first time since 1916. For two months construction crews have been working to demolish the dam, using rubber rafts and sandbags to divert the river until the project was finished. When I drove by the site, I was always amazed at their progress. Construction or in this case deconstruction, is made very difficult when a river flows in the middle of your project!
The dam provided electricity for Yosemite Valley until the mid-1980s. The original construction costs were $200,000 as compared with the demolition price tag of almost $3 million. Next time you visit Yosemite, be sure to stop by the site (at the intersection of Highways 120 and 140) and witness the new dam-less landscape.