First Descent! I ran the falls on the Pawtuxet River this morning at 8:30 today, the first descent in 90 years (?). It is not much of a "run", consisting of two shutes of a Class 1 variety. But the significance is symbolic because the dam has been taken down and the river opened to migrating fish, shad and herring. The river still needs a lot of cleaning, but it is jumping with bird life and hopefully fish life too. As a resident of Pawtuxet Village, it is joyful to be able to have the whole river below the Pontiac dam opened.
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