A Lock, a Dam, and a Ledge --Nick

The lock in the back ground of this picture allows barges to
travel up and down stream with ease even though there is a dam.

Well, we got to see a lock and dam, which is used for controlling the flow of the Mississippi River. We were on the side that the river flows down. I personally think that how the lock works is pretty cool. The barges go in, and it takes time for them to get through. It is kind of like a gate system, where the barge goes in from the north side, the gates close and the water level changes to match what is downstream. Then they open the gates on the other side and the barge goes on down the river. I like how there are two different size locks, one for smaller rigs and one for larger rigs. The largest is 1500 ft. long, and the other is about 600 ft. long, so the smaller boats don’t have to wait on the bigger barges. The barges are pushed by tug boats, and they can push up to 15 barges at one time. The tug boats hook up to the back of all of the barges that are tied together and just pushes them up or down the river. The barges carry milo, corn, soybeans, wheat, and sometimes coal. These 15 barges contain as much as a 250 car train!

We enjoyed riding on the river boat that we boarded in Hannibal, Missouri. We ended up in Hannibal because that is where Mark Twain, the writer of Tom Sawyer, grew up. Our river boat was even named ‘the Mark Twain.’ I have never read the book, but I have heard of it. We got to see the history of a small part of the river. There were old ice companies along the bank, where people would come to buy ice to keep things cold. People were getting more fancy when refrigerators were invented, so they went out of business.

Mr. Hamilton enjoying the breezy cruise.

We also saw a point up on the side of a small mountain, called Lover’s Leap. The story is that two Indians who were from different battling tribes, fell in love. The young brave and the indian princess would meet at this point every night, and eventually her father caught them and got very angry! One day they just disappeared. As it turns out, the young brave’s name was Falling Rock and there are still signs all over Missouri asking people to find him. They say ‘Look out for Falling Rock!’