Thursday, June 16, 2022

1937 Mississippi Lock and Dam #8 at Genoa, WI

(John A. Weeks III; HAERSatellite, includes a long earth dam with two permanent spillways)

USACE
Dam consists of a concrete structure 934 feet long with five roller gates and 10 tainter gates. Earth embankment 17,500 feet long [over 3 miles] with two submersible spillways, 938 feet long and 1,338 feet long.
The site had a major rehabilitation from 1989 through 2003.
("After more than 50 years of service, the Corps undertook a major maintenance program, which was completed in 2002, to replace much of the operating equipment and to construct a new control building to serve navigation customers well into the future." [wigrr])

HAER WIS,62-GEN.V,1-
3. DETAIL VIEW OF DAM, LOOKING NORTHWEST, UPSTREAM - Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel, Lock & Dam No. 8, On Mississippi River near Houston County, MN, Genoa, Vernon County, WI Photos from Survey HAER WI-49

Stanley Poznanski, Aug 2019
The La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor is in the background
"Genoa is home to one of the first commercial nuclear power plants, the La Crosse Nuclear Generating Station. It was closed in 1987 and has since been permanently partially dismantled. It was a small boiling water plant. The structure still exists, and there is a roadside marker in the parking lot (of the power plant) that describes the history of the site." [JohnWeeks]

Photo by Tamara Thomsen via WisconsinShipwrecks

JohnWeeks

HAER WIS,62-GEN.V,1-
12. INTERIOR VIEW OF HEADHOUSE, SHOWING ROLLER GATE LIFTING MACHINERY, LOOKING SOUTHEAST
[Note the gauge that indicates the height of the roller. There are detailed photos of the gauge in the report.]

This report has 120 photos so there are details one normally doesn't see.
HAER WIS,62-GEN.V,1-
24. VIEW SHOWING ROLLER GATE BULKHEADS ON BULKHEAD CARS IN STORAGE YARD, WITH DAM BRIDGE IN BACKGROUND, LOOKING EAST

Most of the dam is earth.
HAER WIS,62-GEN.V,1-
28. OVERALL VIEW OF SUBMERSIBLE DAM, LOOKING WEST

HAER WIS,62-GEN.V,1-
40. VIEW OF MAIN LOCK TAINTER VALVE MACHINERY AND WELL, LOOKING NORTHEAST

HAER WIS,62-GEN.V,1-
68. GENERAL VIEW (August 31, 1934)

HAER WIS,62-GEN.V,1-
72. ERECTING ROLLER GATE STEEL (December 4, 1936)

Angel Binner shared USACE's post:
News: We will close Lock and Dam 8 in Genoa, Wisconsin, to navigation during four 12-hour closure periods from June 14-23, to replace the lock chamber’s miter gates.
The lock will be closed to all river traffic, commercial and recreational, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., June 14, 16, 21 and 23. When the lock reopens after each closure, it is important to note that there is a priority order of lockage based on vessel type. First are government vessels, followed in order by excursion, commercial navigation and recreation boats. Once the lock reopens, lock staff will communicate specific locking instructions via marine band VHF radio channel 14. More: https://zgo.usa.gov/xJ9Cs

June 8, 2022: safe_image for Lock and Dam 8 in Genoa will close to replace 85-year-old gates
[Why wasn't this maintenance work done during the Winter closure? I guess the crane was needed for bigger projects during the winter.
Update: given the following video, you can do it "in the wet" during Winter. Doing it in the wet must be working a lot better than it did for the Olmsted Dam because after they are done here, they plan to replace the gates in 5A. Of course, these divers don't have to deal with the strong flow of the Ohio River like they had to at the Olmsted Dam.]

0:15 video @ 0:00
Check it out! With the help of the heavy lift crane, the Quad Cities, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, we are replacing the four miter gates at Lock and Dam 8, near Genoa, Wisconsin. The old gates were 85 years old.
[It looks like they are doing it "in the wet." I would hate to be the divers that have to fasten the gate to tis hinge. The two cables going horizontally back to the boom so that they can control the angle of the gate strikes me as a good idea. I wonder why I have never seen that idea used before.
Some comments indicate that the gates were built at Newt Marine Services.]
Richard Thomas shared
Lance McCall: The quad cities is an amazing crane barge... I took it on its first job... the technology in it is top of the line

Angel Binner shared U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District post
News: We are adding an additional #navigation closure date to install new miter gates at Lock and Dam 8, in Genoa, Wisconsin, June 28, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
#USACEMVD
#BuildingStrong
Mississippi Valley Division (US Army Corps of Engineers)
"he additional closure is needed to complete maintenance work on the new miter gates." (So something did not go according to plan.)

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