I have visited this dam a couple of times in 2013. During the second visit, I saw an interesting tow lock through. I describe that operation in these notes. We met some people on the visitor's deck, but they were interested in the eagles in the area, not the tows.
This dam is similar to some of the dams further up the river in that the concrete part across the main channel is a small part of the total length of the dam. There is a submersible dike across the wildlife refuge and transition dikes on either side of the river. The maximum lift is 9.8' with an average lift of 6.9'. It takes approximately 10 minutes to fill or empty the lock. "The dam is composed of 14 submersible Tainter gates (20 feet high by 60 feet long) and three submersible roller gates (20 feet high by 100 feet long). All gates submerge to a depth of eight feet....Dams 11 and 18 were the first in the Rock Island District to employ submersible, elliptical Tainter gates. They were also the first dams in the District to use submersible roller gates. Four sites were considered for Dam 18: just below the foot of Otter Island at mile 406.5, immediately above the old mouth of the Henderson River at mile 412.0, near Oquawka and at the current site. The selected site called for diversion of the Henderson River to a point below the dam. The final site was partially selected because the Iowa River Flint Creek Levee and Drainage District No. 16 drainage pumps discharged into the lower pool and were unaffected by raising of the water level for the upper pool" [USACE-fact-sheet, p1]
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| USACE-locking |
This dam is similar to some of the dams further up the river in that the concrete part across the main channel is a small part of the total length of the dam. There is a submersible dike across the wildlife refuge and transition dikes on either side of the river. The maximum lift is 9.8' with an average lift of 6.9'. It takes approximately 10 minutes to fill or empty the lock. "The dam is composed of 14 submersible Tainter gates (20 feet high by 60 feet long) and three submersible roller gates (20 feet high by 100 feet long). All gates submerge to a depth of eight feet....Dams 11 and 18 were the first in the Rock Island District to employ submersible, elliptical Tainter gates. They were also the first dams in the District to use submersible roller gates. Four sites were considered for Dam 18: just below the foot of Otter Island at mile 406.5, immediately above the old mouth of the Henderson River at mile 412.0, near Oquawka and at the current site. The selected site called for diversion of the Henderson River to a point below the dam. The final site was partially selected because the Iowa River Flint Creek Levee and Drainage District No. 16 drainage pumps discharged into the lower pool and were unaffected by raising of the water level for the upper pool" [USACE-fact-sheet, p1]
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| Satellite |
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| HAER ILL,36-GLAST,1- 2. GENERAL VIEW OF DAM, DOWNSTREAM SIDE, LOOKING FROM GUIDEWALL - Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Project, Lock & Dam No. 18, Upper Mississippi River, Gladstone, Henderson County, IL Photos from Survey HAER IL-29 |
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| HAER ILL,36-GLAST,1- 3. GENERAL VIEW OF LOCK, DOWNSTREAM SIDE, LOOKING FROM GUIDEWALL |
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| HAER ILL,36-GLAST,1- 7. DETAIL VIEW OF DAM, SHOWING INTERIOR OF PIER HOUSE, LOOKING DOWNSTREAM |
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| HAER ILL,36-GLAST,1-, cropped 9. PROGRESS ON PIERS. VIEW TOWARD IOWA SNORE FROM RIVER WALL (September 1936) |
I'm saving this one because it explains some new terminology.
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| RiverWorks Discovery posted Knock out Double Lock at Lock 18 on the Upper Miss A double lockage with barges in the first cut and only the tow boat in the second cut is called a knockout double. The boat is unfaced from the tow (knocked out of tow) to allow the 600' tow to lock thru. It can also be called a "quick double" since facing the boat back up to the tow is considerably quicker than re-laying the wires at a barge to barge coupling. Here we see Marquette Transportation's M/V Theresa L. Wood southbound with 8 loads at Lock 18 on the Upper Mississippi River mm 410. USACE's M/V Quincy is along with a gate lift/maintenance crane and support barges are tied off on the outer intermediate wall. Courtesy of Capt John Vaughn. Chase Gordon: First barge of the season. [Mar 9, 2022] |
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