Decaying dams surface in Newbold’s River Road culvert project

A culvert project on River Road prompted the Newbold town board to ask the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) about multiple dams town supervisor Dan Hess said are roughly 100 years old. The topic was discussed by the board at its July 31 meeting.

The dams, on the Frederick Flowage, are on private property. Hess said he doesn’t think they’ve been inspected “for years.”

“And from what I gather now … they basically have fallen apart, so there’s really no water behind them,” he said. “But we asked the DNR to go up and at least talk to the property owner and … if they’re gone, then we don’t have to worry about anything breaking in the future. When I was a kid there I remember them, they were way back up in there off the river, backwater area and they were probably put in the 30s or 40s by the property owners. But I think they’ve disintegrated enough, but we’ll find out when the DNR gets up in there.”

The DNR would handle any issues that turn up, Hess said. 

He said director of public works Mark Fetzer was the one who brought the dams to the board’s attention. Hess indicated Fetzer was concerned they could interfere with the culvert project.

“They got to be close to 100 years old,” Hess said. “But we just wanted to check just to be on the safe side in case something would happen.”

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].