• A project inspector stands at the entrance to the York Creek dam spillway as a worker walks along Spring Mountain Road. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)
  • The concrete spillway portion of the dam will eventually be filled with earth. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)
  • Workers and visitors were required to sanitize their boots prior to entering the York Creek dam removal and creek restoration project site. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)
  • Workers used heavy earth-moving equipment to remove built-up sediment from the creek bed and cut a V-shaped notch in the York Creek dam in order to restore the creek to a more natural state. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)
  • A crew works to remove sediment and soil for the York Creek dam removal project. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)
  • Pumps were used to divert the water from York Creek while downstream the earthen dam was being removed. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)
  • Electrical boxes used to supply power to the pumps were set up on the creek bank. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)
  • Vehicles and equipment parked on Spring Mountain Road during the York Creek dam removal project. A pipe carried the creek’s water up the creek bed, along the road and back into the creek just below the work site. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)
  • Screens were set up both upstream and downstream of the dam removal project area in order to keep aquatic creatures out of the work site. (Photo courtesy of Kiley Russell)

In a quiet corner of Napa County, tucked away in the hills above its famous valley, a bucolic trickle of a creek is now flowing free after languishing behind a dam for more than a century.

The waters of York Creek began their unabated journey to the Napa River on Sept. 14 for the first time since the latter part of the 1800s, when they were corralled in order to irrigate thirsty vineyards and provide drinking water to the little town of St. Helena about 1.5 miles downstream.

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Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.