I&M Canal: Lock: #14 and #15 and Canal Boat Ride

Canal Boat: (Satellite)

#14: (Satellite)

#15: (Satellite)

I think #14 is the only I&M lock that has preserved its gates. But they are not used because a bulkhead has been added upstream of the upper gate.

Satellite

 

Illinois and Michigan Canal Photo Tour posted
Looking into Lock 14, LaSalle in 2006.
Paul Braun: From the river side looking back, right?
Dennis DeBruler: Paul Braun I agree, the view is looking upstream. It appears that the upstream gate is as tall as the downstream gate. I wonder if that was normal for the I&M Canal. That is not normal for most locks.

Andy Zukowski posted

Old US 51 bridge over Lock 14 

Bridge over Lock 14 looking east from Lock 15, what appear to be piers are actually for the bridge further east carrying Ill 351 of the canal and the RR, this section of US 51 thru La Salle was renamed Ill 351 when US 51 was rerouted over the Peru Bridge in the 1960's. Dave Wozniak photo

Don Lavotny: The changes over time are very interesting. I wonder why the CB&Q trestle is not visible in the foreground. Maybe it was not yet made or maybe this photo is taken from it or under it. My memories of it are from the 1960s.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
The bridge was made in the 1800s, so it would be a question of when that bridge was removed, not made. I found that it was damaged and removed in 1979, https://web.archive.org/web/20160807020945/http://bridgehunter.com/il/la-salle/bh51036/. This 1970 aerial photo shows that the RR bridge was just east of Lock #15, so it would appear in the photo. The old bridge is not being used, but it still exists. After studying some Google Earth images, I discovered that the piers are extant, https://maps.app.goo.gl/jy413S19inLVSfYS8. The southern pier must be just out-of-frame to the right of the photo. The oldest usable Google Earth image, 1999, shows that the old bridge had already been removed. So the photo must have been taken after 1979 and before 1999.

Don Lavotny: Dennis DeBruler thank you for your awesome research.

 

We are looking downstream with the Illinois River in the distant backround.

Andy Zukowski posted
Lock 14 (foreground), Canal Boat Basin, CB&Q RR bridge piers, Lock 15, Steamboat Basin & canal to Illinois River junction

Back when the CB&Q Bridge still went over the canal near Lock #15.

Andy Zukowski posted

Andy Zukowski posted
Highway Bridge that went over Lock 14 over the I&M Canal with the Bridgtenders House in view at right looking East. Photo from the Ray Tutaj Collection

40:47 video @ 0:54

The canal basin was just west (downstream) of Lock #15.

Michael Nieslawski posted
LaSalle Canal Basin 1865 Canal Boat Cluster

Is that a zinc or coal mining operation on the right?

Larry E. Bird posted
Other Immke 1875 glass photo looking west toward Lock 14& 15.

Jane Ousec: Boat down

Larry E. Bird: Jane Ousec the wood boats leaked if not in use on regular runs.

My my reference: <20150808 3809+>

2025 Huajiang Canyon Bridge Souath of Anshun, China (World's Highest)

(Satellite, someplace over this canyon.)

21:17 video @ 1:07

The span is 3km long and the "clearance" is 2,050' (625m) making it the "world's highest bridge." The towers are another 859.5' (262m) above the deck.

2012 Skydance (Scissortail) Footbridge over I-40 in Oklahoma City, OK

(Satellite)

Street View, Feb 2024

Trail View, Nov 2016

okc
"Inspired by Oklahoma’s state bird, the scissor-tailed flycatcher, Skydance bridge soars over Interstate 40. The bridge is a 380-foot-long pedestrian bridge with a 197-foot-tall sculpture." It cost $5.8m.

ColorKinetics

ColorKinetics

William Alter Jr. posted two photos with the comment:

From 2022.

The Sky Dance, or “Scissor Tail” Bridge in OKC. I’ve driven under this so many times over the years I’ve lost count. While I do like the bridge, I think it’s a perfect example of how the wrong setting can mar an otherwise appealing design. To me it always seemed odd, or out of place in its “concrete” jungle setting, especially if you’re traveling on Interstate I-40 which it crosses. Such a bridge would have been better off by itself in a park as a standalone structure. 

Just my opinion…

1

2

1859 UP/T&P Morely Bridge over Port Allen Canal near Baton Rouge, LA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

T&P = Texas & Pacific

This bridge is the first bridge downstream from the Port Allen Lock.

2016 Photo by C Hanchey via BridgeHunter

MorleyMarina
The bridge was bult in 1959 as part of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, "a 1,050 mile inland channel running from Carrabelle, Florida to Brownsville, Texas."

MorleyMarina
"On Sunday, September 16, 1973, however, something went horribly wrong.
"As engineer Gerald Morrow raced his 100-car Texas and Pacific train from New Orleans to Shreveport, all signs indicated that the Morley Bridge was in the proper position for his crossing. What he didn’t know is that a power failure had hit the bridge while it was in raised position, and the bridge tender was unable to start a gasoline backup engine that would enable him to lower the bridge allowing safe train passage. Neither Morrow or the bridge tender knew that the automatic derailer located about two miles from the bridge, which is supposed to automatically derail any oncoming trains when the bridge is raised, was not working.
"When engineer Morrow and his brakeman, William E. Smith approached the bridge at full speed late that Sunday night, they saw that the bridge was in raised position and applied the train’s emergency brakes, but, by then, it was too late. The two engines and 16 cars plunged into the Intracoastal canal. Morrow and Smith, who were both in the lead engine, were buried beneath the other cars in 30-35 feet of water. Fortunately, none of the train cars contained chemicals or other dangerous cargo."
[In addition to the gas engine and derail failure, the railroad's signalling sysem had a big failure. It should have been fail safe and not provided a green signal if the lift span was not properly locked in the down position.]

D&S Marine Service posted 1:29 video
M/V Darian Alexandra passing through the Morely Railroad Bridge.

...

Aban/NYC/Kankakee Belt/II&I Bridge over Yellow River in Knox, IN

(Satellite)

Street View, Aug 2023

7 of 16 photos posted  by Austin Sasse with the comment: "Spanning the Yellow river in Knox, IN., this former New York Central right if way was once part of the Kankakee Belt Line, originally constructed by the Chicago Indiana & Southern. Immediately SW of the bridge is a small display honoring the towns railroad history." 

Locomotive Jordan: Actually originally part of the 3 - I's, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana Rwy.

Tim Shanahan shared

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

1966 112mw Beaver Dam on White River near Eureka Springs, AR

(Satellite)

In addition to the usual functions of flood control and hydropower, this dam provides water for the surrounding communities.

Street View, Jan 2024

USACE
"The watershed basin for Beaver Lake covers 1186 miles [I presume they meant square miles.] (759,040 acres) and there are 449 miles of shoreline at the top of the conservation pool (1120’ m.s.l)."

I could find only information on the reservoir on the USACE page, but this reference provides information on the dam itself.

"The 2,575-foot-long dam consists of a 1,333-foot-long concrete section keyed into a limestone bluff, 1,242 feet of earth and rock embankment, and three small earth and rock dikes that fill gaps between adjacent hills. The spillway section is 328 feet long. Maximum height of the dam above the streambed is 228 feet. Mean depth is fifty-eight feet, and the maximum depth is 216 feet. The structure contains 780,000 cubic yards of concrete and 1.6 million yards of rock and dirt embankment. Storage capacity is 1.95 million acre-feet, which includes flood control storage. At full conservation pool, or normal managed lake level, the reservoir covers 28,200 acres with a shoreline of 449 miles. The mean hydraulic retention time (the time it takes for water to cycle through the reservoir) is one and a half years....The construction and maintenance of Beaver Dam has not been without technical challenges. A large cavern a few hundred feet upstream of the dam site was discovered during initial excavation work and was filled with 200 cubic yards of grout material. The earth embankment also rests on the Price Mountain fault line, and the dam underwent seepage repairs from 1989 to 1994 at a cost of about $33.5 million." [EncylopediaOfArkansas]

Four construction photos on the USACE page.

1

2

3

4

M Yu, Sep 2024

Shannon Becker, May 2022

1:19 video @ 0:43

The powerhouse had two 56mw units.

12:22 video @ 10:56

12:22 video @ 11:15

May 2025 Flood:

Facebook Reel

SP+Santa Fe Tehachapi Loop and 1918 Tunnel #10

Loop: (Satellite)

#10: (Satellite)

TripAdvisor
Tehachapi Loop

TripAdvisor
Tunnel 10 at Tehachapi Loop - Picture of Tehachapi Loop

The portal has a build date of 1918. [zyxcreative]

I'm not surprised there was a stringlined derailment because a light freight car was placed before a heavy load. But what caught my eye is that a well car was able to flip over a locomotive. Some comments indicate that the locomotives were mid-train helpers. The S-curve didn't help.

Locomotive Trails posted

String lined train derailment Burlington Northern Santa Fe train in Tehachapi.

📸 Amy Miller 

1966/67 Keene Quad @ 24,000

This source taught me that Tunnel #10 was the one east of the loop. And the S-curve on the topo map is consistent with the above photos.

svchistory, c1878