Trees with leaves

The first lock & dam built on the Mississippi in 1931was #15, at Arsenal Island, Rock Island, Illinois. According to Abby, our guide from the Army Corp of Engineers, the purpose of the lock & dam system on the upper Mississippi is to make the river deeper. The upper Mississippi is narrow and, in some places, very shallow. The lock & dam system, all 29 of them, is to guarantee that the river will be 9 feet deep for navigation.

When we went to the Mississippi Visitor Center on Arsenal Island we got to see the lock in operation.

When we arrived, this barge was just leaving the lock heading north.

The north "fill" gates then closed and the drain pipes at the south end opened.

The gage on the side of the lock reads 19 feet.

The lock begins to drain and the north gates leak, just a little.

At the south "drain" end of the lock a barge jockeys into position.

The water drains down to 8 feet in just a matter of 10 minutes and the south gates begin to open.

It takes about 5 minutes for the gates to open.

The south gates are open and the barge begins to move through the lock and the bridge above the lock swings 90 degrees so the tug can pass through the lock.

The barges with tug enter through the south gate.

The water gage is at 8 feet.

Barge and tug making its way through the lock

Barge passing the observation platform.

Almost completely within the lock.

The tug reverses engins to stop the barge within the lock.

The barge and tug are stopped completely within the lock and the bridge swings back 90 degrees.

The front of the barge nestled against the north gate.

The friendly tug operator responding to my wave. He went from being below us to being quite a bit higher than we were on the observation platform.

The south gates close and water begins to enter the lock at the north "fill" end.

While the lock was filling, a 10 minute process, a train crosses the upper level on the bridge.

The barge being raised to almost dock-side level, 19 feet on the water gage, and the north gates begin to open.

The north gates are open and the tug starts moving the barge out.

Moving the barge through the north gates.

Out and away and the gates begin to close for another cycle.

The whole process took less than 30 minutes.

We moved inside the Visitor Center where a tour of the Clock Tower was being organized so we decided to join them.

This is our tour guide, Abby, who works for the Army Corp of Engineers. 

Arsenal Island is between Rock Island and Davenport and is technically part of Rock Island. After the War of 1812, the U.S. decided to build a fort, Fort Armstrong, on the island to protect the settlers from "hostile" Indians. Black Hawk lived in the Sauk town of Saukenuk, located a few miles from the fort. After the Black Hawk Wars, in 1832, the fort burned to the ground in a fire. Then, in 1850, the U.S. decided to build three arsenals - one in Columbus, Ohio, one in Indianapolis, Indiana, and one on Arsenal Island, hence its name. 

The arsenals in Ohio and Indiana have both been converted into vocational High Schools, so the only remaining one is here. Building began in 1863 and was supposed to be completed in 1865, but, as you know, the U.S. was otherwise occupied in 1861-1865 with the Civil War and supplies for the building were difficult to come by. Gen. Rodman arrived in 1864 to supervise the building after Major Kingsbury left in frustration over the slow process. 

At about this time the island was beginning to be use to house Confederate POWs and they were used to build the arsenal. Even after the Confederate Prison closed in 1865, former Confederate soldiers remained to work on the building because of uncertainity of what awaited them at home.

This is the main arsenal building, Building #A, that was completed in 1867. After it ceased to be an arsenal it was referred to as the Clock Tower, a major landmark in the Quad Cities.

Abby explained about the difference between arsenal and armory. An armory is where weapons are made and an arsenal is where they are stored.

Storehouse A was used from the Civil War to after WWI. After WWI other facilities were used and the building was closed to the storage of weapons. It was in danger of being torn down when the local residents mounted a campaign to keep it standing because it had become an important local landmark.

In 1931, when the first lock & dam was being constructed, it was offered to the Corp of Engineers as office space. In subsequent renovations, little historic displays are tucked on the stair landings. This is historic Corp of Engineers surveying equipment.

This is a 1930s office display.

Abby took us on a tour up through five floors and two additional floors to the top of the clock tower.

The top of the tower with the mechanism that operates the four clock faces - north, south, east and west.

The clockworks.

View of the lock through one of the open numbers on the clock face. A barge is just leaving the lock through the north gate.

View up the up the stairwell.

The original construction that shows in the stairway down to the basement.

Arsenal Island is the largest employer in the Quad Cities area, 7,500 people come to work on the island every day. It is the Mississippi Valley Division of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Headquarters and the  Headquarters of the 1st Army; military manufacturing continues.

Col. George Davenport arrived on the island in 1816 under contract to provide food to the soldiers building Fort Armstrong. He thus became the first permanent white settler in this area. During the 1820s he was in the fur trade with area tribes and became a wealthy man. After the 1832 Black Hawk War, which ended the local fur trade, he devoted his time and money to developing local communities, including the city across the river named in his honor. Col. Davenport had this home built in 1833. 

This is the Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, the only surviving remnant of a massive prison camp that once held thousands of Confederate soldiers, many of whom died of smallpox.

A little further down the road is the Rock Island National Cemetery which covers 67 acres.