Dam's Demolition Begins in Cateechee, SC

"CATEECHEE — U.S. District Judge G. Ross Anderson Jr. leaned forward in his wheelchair overlooking a dam that has choked Twelve Mile Creek in southwest Pickens County for more than a century.

Anderson pressed a button wired to a foghorn, and with that signal, a jackhammer affixed to the business end of an earthmover fired up Tuesday morning and started an hour-and-half long assault on the cement structure. Over the next 90 days, the dam will be removed entirely and its rubble carried to a landfill nearby.

'I never thought I'd live to see this day,' said Ross, who is 82. 'Now we will get the river back to its natural state.'"

Anna Mitchell reports for the Anderson Independent Mail February 22, 2011.