On Thursday, March 31st, 7 intrepid explorers set out on the March LCARSP caper from Troy and St. Charles to visit the Melvin Price Lock and Dam #26 on the Mississippi River at Alton.
Ranger Paige gave us a guided tour of the museum and then took us 80 feet up on top of the structure for a birds’ eye view of the structure. It was a blustery day on the river but when we arrived 80 feet up, the winds went from blustery to gale force and it was a bit nippy.
It was an awesome tour with some trying their hand at both opening and closing the locks in a display and guiding a barge through a lock at the dam from a tow boat pilot house.
Upon our return to St. Charles, we enjoyed lunch together at Black Bear Diner at I-70 and Zumbehl. As always, the meals were plentiful and most of us went home with take-out boxes.
Now, for some information on the lock and dam.
Melvin Price Lock and Dam is named after the late Illinois Congressman Charles Melvin Price. Congressman Price was instrumental in the approval and construction of the locks.
Construction began in 1979 with the main lock opening in 1990. The full structure opened in 1994. Melvin Price was the first replacement structure on the upper Mississippi River and was part of the *9-foot Navigation Project. The structure stands 80-feet above the water and extends from shoreline to shoreline.
*The 9-foot Navigation Project’s goal was to provide a dependable channel depth on the river between Minneapolis/St. Paul and St. Louis. The upper Mississippi is a major transportation route in the Midwest. Barges on the Mississippi River carry cargo that equals the cargo of 1,000 semi-trucks.
The Government assumed responsibility of the upper Mississippi in the 19th century for the purpose of 9-foot canalization.
The upper Mississippi begins as a stream near Lake Itasca in north central Minnesota. The river travels 500 miles downstream to Minneapolis/St. Paul, and then travels an additional 670 miles downstream to where it meets the Ohio River just south of Cairo IL. At Cairo, the river becomes the lower Mississippi.
Pictured in the first photo is Terry E. standing in the middle of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca.
Text on the pillar reads: Here 1,475 feet above the ocean the Mighty Mississippi begins to flow on its winding way 2,552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.
For more information on the 9-foot Navigation Project click on the following link: