Berry’s Creek Bridge Assault

We had very little warning. The cops came from every direction.

Our team had assembled before dawn. Everything had to be in place at the appointed hour. We could not miss it, or all of our work would be wasted. We hit the bridge first. Chet was barking and laughing. Don, Paul, Roger and I worked on the ropes and gear. Nick was on the electronics. Mary Kay, Dawn and the rest of the team was assembling below. We were good to go with only a few minutes to spare.

Then the cops hit us, piled out of there cars, hands on holsters. They had us. But we weren't commandoes. We were scientists.

The access road beneath the Route 3 Bridge provided shelter for our day's camp next to Berry's Creek. The old bridge is now gone, flattened and widened. The one we worked from that morning was hump-backed, passing over the access road, a rail line and the wide creek, and was designed to permit commercial waterborne traffic. We tied the ropes to the concrete railing to hold hydrology meters suspended into the water. This spot on Berry's Creek was downstream from a mercury contamination site, one of the most notorious in the nation. We were looking at flow. Was the mercury moving in the sediments? Should it be dredged or should we leave it alone? Big questions.

We began our vigil. Measuring, recording, sampling and storing every half hour until it was dark. Watching the water. Fighting off the boredom. Talking about the raid. Playing air guitar. Keeping hydrated. Swatting mosquitoes.

Science can be exciting.

View from the Berry’s Creek Bridge over Route 3