The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Visitors remain welcome at Lock & Dam 18
By David Grimes, Quill Correspondent
GLADSTONE - After Sept. 11, 2001, group tours ceased at Lock and Dam 18 and other lock and dam sites up and down the Mississippi River. In addition, part of the open grounds were closed off.
But things are returning to the way they were before, if slowly and in different forms.
"We haven't given tours during (Henderson County) Heritage Trail weekend or even to school groups since 9/11," said lockmaster Frank Robbins.
"We were completely closed down (to visitors) for 14 months following 9/11, but people are beginning to come out again. They still like to come and watch the lock in operation and the bald eagles in the wintertime."
The Corps of Engineers does not record visitor numbers to lock and dam sites, with the exception of number 15 at the Rock Island Arsenal in the Quad Cities. But Robbins said tourist traffic is beginning to look like it did prior to the terrorist attacks of 2001.
Physical changes at the dam site include an 8-foot-high security fence topped with three strands of barbed wire running the length of the lock and completely enclosing the administrative and maintenance buildings.
Lock and Dam 18 is one of 29 lock and dam sites - most constructed in the 1930s - stretching along the upper Mississippi River from Minnesota to just north of St. Louis, Mo.
The Gladstone operation includes a 110-foot-by-600-foot lock, a 1,350-foot gated dam and a 2,200-foot spillover area.
Thirteen employees handle the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year business of steering towboats and barges through the narrow passage.
It takes a 15-barge tow 90 minutes to two hours to negotiate the lock.
"Probably 700 to 800 tows pass through in any given week," Robbins said. "Given the amount of maintenance work we have to do and the river traffic, it's amazing we get it all done with the small staff we have."
River traffic generally begins in mid-February, picks up speed through the summer months and ends around mid-December. However, the lock and dam's level of activity is driven by the grain markets.
"It all depends on if the market is up or down at the time," Robbins said. Of the 30 million tons of commodities that pass through the lock at Gladstone each year, some 20 million tons is grain.
The entrance and fenced area along the lock is manicured and dotted with flower plots and an 8-foot-high observation deck was built earlier this summer to allow better viewing of the locking operation for visitors.
Lock workers also planted the lock walkway in wildflowers this year, "but that was because we wanted to look at something other than grass," Robbins said.
And, Robbins added, if he or another employee are available, they're still happy to take the time to answer questions from visitors.
Robbins surveys the lock and dam area and surrounding woodlands as if reminiscing about how things were prior to Sept. 11.
"We sure hated to put that fence up," he said.