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.
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| The riverboat with what remains of the American Lotus plants |
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| A riverboat on a sunny day when the American Lotus was just starting to fade. |
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| A riverboat |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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The fuel costs alone to transport that much freight by truck that distance would be $325,380. That's assuming maximum fuel efficiency most likely a Freightliner with a Detroit motor getting 7 miles per gallon at $4.25/ gallon for diesel. Compare that to a cost of $73,950 to freight that same load by barge at $4.25/gallon diesel. It costs almost 4.5 times more in fuel costs alone to ship that. Pretty amazing!
ReplyDeleteWhat's even more crazy is for that many trucks hauling that many miles at an average of $.30 per mile they would pay a driver, the driver costs for that load by truck would be $160,776. I'd say the barge operator wants a raise!
The cost to transport that load by truck would be $325,380 in fuel costs alone at $4.25/gallon for diesel. That's assuming a maximum fuel efficient truck, probably a Freightliner with a Detroit motor at 7 miles per gallon. Compare that to $73,950 in fuel costs for the barge to take it. That is almost 4.5 times the cost in fuel alone. That's crazy!!!
ReplyDeleteThe cost of the drivers to haul that load by truck would be $160,776. Assuming an average mileage rate of $.30/mile. I think the barge operator wants a raise!