KDRV Staff
 
August 11, 2010
 
NEAR GOLD HILL, Ore. - A sand spit connected to a temporary Gold Ray coffer dam broke on the Rogue River Wednesday, sending water gushing downstream and construction workers scrambling.
 
The incident occurred in the morning while workers and heavy equipment were draining slough as part of the Gold Ray Dam removal project.
 
As the land around the coffer gave way, the water began to seep through. It soon became a torrent of water that emptied the area above the coffer dam.
 
John Vial, Jackson County Roads and Parks Department Director, says that the unplanned release of water may actually have saved work time.
 
"While this event wasn't what we planned, the river was going here anyhow. And really what we've done, even though it wasn't on purpose, is we've reduced the number of days property owners will be affected," said John Vial with the Jackson County Roads and Parks Dept.
 
Vial says the coffer dam remains intact. No workers were injured in the incident.
 
Jackson County Parks is keeping the river secured up to 1,000 feet above the dam.
 
The TouVelle State Park boat ramp is also closed until further notice.
 
The county must remove Gold Ray Dam by October 31st. In order for the county to use $5 million in federal stimulus funds for removal, the dam must be out by that date. The money is through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In September of 2009 Slayden Construction signed a notice of intent with the county to remove the dam. The tentative contract was for just over $5.5 million.
 
Jackson County commissioners voted unanimously in May to use the federal and state funding to remove the 106-year-old dam. Jackson County owns the dam, which was decommissioned as a hydropower facility in 1972.
 
The dam has long been identified by biologists as an obstacle to salmon and steelhead on the Rogue.