Rare chance to share some history.
Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2023 5:56 pm
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allowed us the chance to tour the local lock and dam today I thought I’d share some pictures and I bit of the story.
This is the dam in our town. It was built in the 1930s and is kinda small by modern standards. The lock chamber is 600 feet long, meaning the barges in a big tow must be separated and locked through in sections.
Being able to share this with son was a rather special experience for me.
After my dad came home from the Army he spent the next 40 years as a civilian employee of the corps working on the dams as his day job. He worked his way up from lock man to lock master by the time he retired. He took me to work with him many times! Day, night, summer, winter it didn’t matter, he would come and ask if I wanted to go with him and I alway did! I’ve been on top of, inside, and under a few dams on the Mississippi! He would have never gotten away with bringing his kid with him these days!
Once I explained this to our guide she let us kinda do what we wanted and I told son some of the stories of being with his grandpa out “on the river”.
Here’s 3 generations standing in the middle of the river!
It’s a cold and windy day but we didn’t care, we both enjoyed it and it brought back a lot of memories for me and some fun stories to tell son!
- Son looking in the lock chamber where the boats and barges are raised or lowered as they travel up or down river.
- A view of the up river side of the gates. The position of these gate determines how much water is held back and therefore the depth of the river for navigation or flood control
- Here’s the downriver side of the same gate.
- We were allowed to go to the top of the dam a take a few pictures. It’s quite a view.
- We were allowed to go to the top of the dam a take a few pictures. It’s quite a view.
- Looking across the river into Illinois
After my dad came home from the Army he spent the next 40 years as a civilian employee of the corps working on the dams as his day job. He worked his way up from lock man to lock master by the time he retired. He took me to work with him many times! Day, night, summer, winter it didn’t matter, he would come and ask if I wanted to go with him and I alway did! I’ve been on top of, inside, and under a few dams on the Mississippi! He would have never gotten away with bringing his kid with him these days!
Once I explained this to our guide she let us kinda do what we wanted and I told son some of the stories of being with his grandpa out “on the river”.
Here’s 3 generations standing in the middle of the river!
Harry
