On January 8th the above article on the Fox River North Aurora dam removal appeared in the Aurora Beacon News. I thought it would show up on their website, but it never did. Rather than leave it on my Waterdog Journal Facebook page, I thought I would put it up here.
The day the article came out, I put up the following:
Two of the best fishing stretches on the Fox River are between Batavia and Aurora. I say two, though it could be one, but it’s split in half by the North Aurora dam.
These are the stretches where I used to spend the bulk of my time fishing and know them well. I’ve canoed the pool above the dam numerous times and years ago when I spent a lot of time and energy on dam removal issues, I dreamed of the day I could wade around in that area. I already know where I want to go.
In today’s Beacon News there is an article by Denise Linke (I’m assuming she’s related to Rob Linke). It’s about the possible removal of the North Aurora dam. If nothing screws up, it can happen in less than two years.
I’m speechless. I would like to see this happen without a single glitch.
Did you know that between the dam and the mouth of Mill Creek, on the west side, there are small limestone bluffs?
Like I said, I already know exactly where I want to go.
A couple of things I find disturbing about the article is that one North Aurora Village Trustee, Laura Curtis, cast the only dissenting vote. I’ve read other articles where she compares the North Aurora dam to the ones in Geneva and St. Charles. They built their downtowns around their dams, so they have some value, don’t they? She failed to mention that those downtown areas evolved around their dams over a period of over 100 years. In all the years that the North Aurora dam has been in place, the Village has done virtually nothing in the area.
You have Harner’s Bakery and Restaurant on one side (worth stopping there if you get a chance), and a dance studio and the police station on the island. That’s it. There’s nothing really to speak of radiating out from the dam. Old strip malls if you can call that a down town.
The other thing I find bothersome is the insistence of keeping the mill race. The article states that the whole project could be benched if the mill race can’t be preserved.
That I don’t understand at all. I’ve walked the whole length of the mill race numerous times. In the water. I like it because it behaves like a small creek for a relatively short length, the whole thing is not that long, and the fishing isn’t bad on a good day.
But if their reason for preserving it is because it may have some kind of historical significance, I just don’t see it. Again, for all the years the mill race has been there, the Village of North Aurora has done practically nothing with it.
One side can’t be accessed at all because of the handful of homes that line the shore. The island side that’s a park isn’t much better. Most of the shore is overgrown to the point of being nearly impenetrable. And if you could get through it, the bank is too steep to do anything with. My suspicious nature tells me there’s more to it than meets the eye. Has me wondering who lives in those handful of homes along one shore.
Hopefully the engineering studies will show that water will still flow through the mill race if the dam is removed. Over a dozen years ago when I was heavily involved with the dam removal studies and issues on the Fox River, I checked out the area where the mill race starts. There’s a good chance the water will still flow.
I hope so. I’d like to see that dam gone. It would be disappointing for something as insignificant as that mill race to end what could be a vast improvement of a nice sized stretch of the Fox River.
But then, who am I to talk. My own desire to see it gone is so I can go wading around in the river between where the dam currently sits and the mouth of Mill Creek.
Did I mention the small bluffs along the west shore?
Really would be nice to find out if the fishing is as good along there as I think it could be.
Doesn’t get any more self serving than that.
Jim McClellan
20 Jan 2015I hope you get to see the removal happen as quickly as it can. My hope is also self-serving since I hope we’ll get another blow-by-blow pictorial of the action. The last one was incredibly interesting to follow and fun to see all the way to completion.
Ken G
21 Jan 2015The time line looks to be a couple of years out Jim. I can’t imagine going to work and saying… yeah, this will take me a couple of years to get done.
I have quite a few before pictures in my collection from over the years. I drive by it within a quarter mile every day to and from work. Would be easy to stop on a daily basis if and when it gets going. I’m glad you liked the Blackberry Creek one. It was fun to follow along for me. I don’t think I did any formal follow up last year. I’ll have to do that come spring.
walt
21 Jan 2015I hope it comes down, Ken. Assuming there’s money to do the job, I say let’s put guys to work and dismantle what is no longer productive but still detrimental to a healthy environment. That way, you can do a new river shuffle in your waders, the fish will move about more freely, and the people in the nice homes near the river might question why the dam was built in the first place.
Ken G
22 Jan 2015I couldn’t agree more Walt. I’ve talked to opponents of past dam removals and they echo what you said. They like the new look and the overall improvement.
I like your choice of words… shuffle. Just a few years ago I used to step confidently through new water. The increased force of gravity that comes with age has made me a little more cautious.