Riverboats and the Lock at Keokuk

Most of the traffic that we see on the river are the barges.  But once in a while a riverboat comes by.  They are really beautiful. 

The riverboat with what remains of the American Lotus plants

A riverboat on a sunny day when the American Lotus was just starting to fade.

A riverboat

Riverboat on a stormy day

A dam was built at Keokuk in 1913.  Keokuk is about 12 miles from Nauvoo.  The engineer who designed the dam was Hugh Cooper so the water that is backed up behind the dam is Lake Cooper with the Mississippi River running through it.  There is a formation of limestone that goes out across the river from Nauvoo which caused the Des Moines rapids.  Before the dam was built, the riverboats couldn't get past here without unloading their cargo.  Main Street in Nauvoo goes straight north and south.  The upper landing is on the north end of Main Street and the lower landing is on the south end of Main Street.  Nauvoo is kind of on a peninsula that the river flows around.  Whatever the riverboats were hauling would be freighted overland up and down Main Street and reloaded at the opposite landing. 

A barge tow is generally made up of 15 barges that are tied together with cable and chain.  There are 3 wide and 5 long.  This picture only shows 2 sets of 3 barges. 






This photo shows the dam and the power plant and the gates going out of the lock on the south side of the dam.





This is a picture of a barge tow coming through the lock.  It is probably carrying mostly grain but it has barges of coal and scrap steel also.  

We're standing over the railroad track bridge.  The part of the bridge that turns so the barges can get through is shown in this picture. 



 

The control room in the middle of the railroad track bridge that is now turned sideways so the barge can get through..


 

The barge on the left is full of scrap steel.




 

The front end of the barge going under the highway bridge.



 

This photo shows the tug pushing the barge tow out of the lock.  The end of the railroad bridge, the dam, and the power plant can be seen. 



 

The tug going past the railroad bridge. 





The control room on the tow.

 

The last of the barge tow going under the bridge.



 

A barge tow hauls as much as 870 semi-trucks or a freight train that is 3 miles long.  They can move 1 ton of freight 616 miles on the river with 1 gallon of diesel fuel.  




Autumn Leaves, New Horses, and Birds

Our leaves are mostly gone now but they have been so beautiful.  We took some photos of them to show you.

We are approaching Main Street

more leaves

Beautiful



This is the mission doctor's house.



This was taken along the horse and carriage route

The carriage route

Sunset on the Mississippi

Another sunset



Thelma says that a family's wealth is determined by the number of sunsets they have seen.



The moon on the Mississippi

The mission purchased four new horses in the last few months.  We took photos of the newest team, Chad and Champ the other day.

Mark with Champ and Chad in front.

Me with Champ and Chad

 These horses are the largest team we have.  They are Belgiums and they weigh app. 2400 pounds each.



Another thing of interest lately have been the migratory birds.  Sometimes the sky is just full of them.  It is amazing to watch and their songs are so noisy.

The birds

The birds kind of form a coil when they reach the river.