Wednesday, September 27 - Lock and Dam Tour

Wednesday, September 27 - Lock and Dam Tour

There was a small restaurant in the office building at the marina.  The board outside listed Breakfast Casserole as the special for Wednesday and Thursday so of course we went on Wednesday to make sure they had plenty for us.  It was probably the best casserole I have eaten.  What made it so good was sausage gravy poured over the top.  Oh, my!!!

Carolyn and Craig on C Way toured the National Great Rivers Museum at Melvin Price Lock and Dam and highly recommended.  So Deb, Gil, Danny and I unloaded the bikes and headed that way.

Views looking toward the dam and back toward the marina.

We arrived just in time for the tour of the lock itself.  This is our tour guide, David.  He gave a short orientation which included a chart of the entire Mississippi River dam system and a model showing the height of a barge. 

David answered a question that has really been bothering me.  The boats powering the barges are called “tow” boats, but they don’t tow, they push.   So I had started calling them tugs.  WHAT ARE THOSE BOATS?  The answer - TOW boats.  The first cargo barges were pulled along side or behind river boats.  Then they realized it was easier to push, but did not change the name.  They are NOT tugs according to David.  Now you know. 

Melvin Price Lock is one of the largest on the Mississippi and handles 30% of the WORLD’s grain.  We were eight stories up looking down at 15 barges coming through.  The men on the barges looked tiny!

Rather than a gate that swings to close off the lock, these gates come up from the bottom.

We were making bets on whether this tow and barges would make it into the lock.  They were almost perpendicular to the entrance when they began turning.  Watching this series of pictures will make you appreciate their skill.

It was awesome watching the deckhands handling the huge lines. 

As we were walking off the lock wall, we noticed this swirl of debris.  David said the buoy had been in that same swirl in the same place for a month.

Back in the museum itself, we enjoyed the variety of exhibits on Illinois history and river ecology.  The maps show the Mississippi at normal level and during the 1993 flood.

These old box car sides are a great example of repurposing!

Night views.