On February 23, 2004, divers who had spent days chest-deep in freezing water finishing 250 pre-drilled holes triggered 600 pounds of explosives, and the Embrey Dam — 770 feet long, 22 feet high, built in 1910 — came down. The blast opened 71 miles of the Rappahannock and 35 miles of the Rapidan, plus as many as 900 miles of smaller tributaries, to American shad, river herring, and American eel that hadn't been able to reach spawning grounds nearly 100 miles upriver in close to a century. The Rappahannock became the longest free-flowing river in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. By 2014, shad populations had recovered enough that artificial stocking was halted — electrofishing surveys showed 2013 and 2014 among the best years in roughly 100 years.
The removal was a partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Fredericksburg, and Friends of the Rappahannock. The site itself isn't marked for visitors, but the riverfront trails below the old dam line let you see what the fish see now: open water, all the way up.
- ·Embrey Dam was constructed in 1910 on the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg; it measured approximately 770 feet long and 22 feet high.
- ·The dam was demolished on February 23, 2004, using approximately 600 pounds of explosives; divers had pre-drilled 250 holes into the dam's base in chest-deep, freezing water.
- ·Removal opened 71 miles of the Rappahannock River and 35 miles of the Rapidan River to migratory fish, plus as many as 900 miles of smaller tributaries.
- ·The dam had blocked anadromous fish — including American shad, river herring, and American eel — from reaching spawning grounds nearly 100 miles upriver for nearly a century.
- ·Following removal, the Rappahannock became the longest free-flowing river in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
- ·By 2014, American shad populations recovered sufficiently that artificial stocking was halted; electrofishing surveys showed 2013-2014 among the best years in roughly 100 years.
- ·The removal was a partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Fredericksburg, and Friends of the Rappahannock.
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