Miami & Erie Canal Lock #9 in Piqua, OH

(Satellite)

Miami & Erie Canal Overview

Justin Beebe, May 2021

They built the pavilion and restored the lock as an access ramp. Note the notches in the walls for the lock gates.

Rylan Stoltz (cdt_squirel_yt), Sep 2025

The lock was excavated and officially opened on Jul 18, 2024. [GambleAssoc]

The ramp in the lock allows users of the Great Miami River Trail to access downtown Piqua for food and potty. It also provides a connection between the Great Miami River and Ohio to Indiana Trails. The Ohio to Indiana Trail follows the abandoned Pennsy Panhandle route, including their bridge over the Great Miami River.

Satellite

Like the Ohio & Erie Canal on the east side of Ohio, this canal was severely damaged by the 1913 flood, which caused it to close.

Matthew Good, Jun 2019

Mud Mountain Dam on White River near Enumclaw, WA

(Satellite)

Dec 2025 Flood:

Facebook Reel

Most big dams have multiple functions. This one has just one function --- flood control. This is the upstream side of the dam and the reservoir is empty except for the normal flow of the river.

USACE
"The core of the dam is a compacted blend of sand, gravel and glacial till. Upstream and downstream sides of the dam are crushed rock covered by large quarry rocks. The massive weight of the rock holds the core firmly in place. Two tunnels channel the river around and under the dam. A 9-foot-[2.7m]wide tunnel passes normal flows [including sediment]. A 23-foot[7m]-wide tunnel is used during periods of high flows and during floods."

This view is from the other side and it shows that the dam is holding a pool.

USACE

This is a comparable view but the pool is empty. Note that the pool above is almost to the top of the round tower.

Rajesh Kodali, Aug 2021

 Rajesh Kodali, Aug 2021

Why can't the fish use the 9' (2.7m) tunnel to pass through the dam?

$112m was spent for a trap-and-haul facility for the Chinook run. [USACE]

USACE, Seattle District posted
Mud Mountain is a "dry bed" dam with a primary goal of remaining as empty as possible. During a drawdown here, our water managers must also manage sediment and debris. Using specialized tunnels, we "flush" glacial flour (fine-grained, silt-sized rock particles) and wood through the dam to maintain the reservoir’s capacity and ensure the White River’s natural ecosystem remains healthy.

I could not find an explanation of what gets flooded downstream at the various phases of discharge.

KingCounty

Michael Snyder tweeted
White river from Mud Mountain dam release, still flooding local areas and may get worse in Auburn/ Kent areas. 

2:15 video @ 0:21
The person being interviewed says the river is higher than he has ever seen before.

TP&W Farmdale Bridge over NKP/LE&W near East Peoria, IL

(no Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

At first, I was confused by the skinnypiers in the middle and the fat piers on the edges.

Street View, Aug 2011

But these photos confirmed that the skinny piers are parallel to the NKP tracks while the fat piers are square with the TP&W tracks so that they can be smaller.

Noah Haggerty posted four photos with the comment: "An eastbound Toledo, Peoria & Western mixed freight led by three different EMD locomotives cross over the N&W at Farmdale Bridge around late 1979. On the rear of the train, SW1500 #305 is giving the train a push up Washington Hill. John & Roger Kujawa Photo, Thomas Dyrek Collection."

David Jordan: The single TP&W unit makes me wonder if this was the Watseka trip one week after the LaHarpe/Keokuk move? I saw both back then.

1

2

3

4

Mark Zook commented on Noah's post
I took this photo, however, it was back when I lived in East Peoria prior to moving to Florida. I believe it was around 1976 or 1977.

Noah Haggerty: Mark Zook Sweet photo! Exact dates escape me, 765 was first on the TP&W in May of 1980.

Mark Zook commented on his comment
here’s another photo. I was chasing the train.

This map helped me find the bridge

1950/50 Peoria East @ 24,000

The NKP route was the western part of the Lake Erie & Western.

Rails and Trails via Dennis DeBruler

1932 Prettyboy Dam on Gunpowder River near Parkton, MD

(Satellite)

kiddle
"The Prettyboy Dam was finished in 1932." The reservoir and the forests around it are owned by the City of Baltimore because it is part of its water supply. "There's a story about how Prettyboy Reservoir got its name. It's said that the lake was named after a settler's horse, named Pretty Boy. The horse supposedly drowned in a creek that was once in the area."

The water dissipation technique for the far spillway is different than the middle two. A closer look at the above photo shows the outer two spillways curve into an apron while the middle two just drop down into the river.

yelp, Ana B. on Mar 10, 2024

This view clearly shows that they run the outlet works while spilling water.

AmericanWhitewater

Down the Gunpowder River posted
If you've walked up or down those almost vertical stairs in Parkton, MD., You have found one of the sources of the Gunpowder River coming out of Prettyboy Dam.

Tim Feeser: Back in the 1970’s, the water flow was held to a trickle in the summer. Thanks to Trout Unlimited and some cooperative folks in Baltimore, a minimum flow agreement was reached. This was the genesis of the year round trout fishery we have today.

176 steps [overview]

Kimberly Moore commented on Daniel's post
This is a picture from my son’s drone. Spent many years there hiking and swimming.

 

reddit, RusselStrouseStudio (also Instagram)

Note that the outlet works is running in every photo of the dam. The outlet works removes the water from the lower depths of the reservoir where the water is colder. The cold water and constant flow is probably to help the fish. 

This information confirms my fish theory and informs us that the fish are trout. It also informs me about Google's relatively new AI application. I read that some websites are suing Google because people are no longer "clicking through." That is, they use the summary info rather than click the link and go to the website for the information. Obviously, that reduces the website's "hit count." I'm a boomer, and I still click through. But in this case, I could not find the information on the websites! For the reddit link, I could not access the comments. For the Facebook link, I have no idea where Google found that information. But that was exactly the info that I was after.

Google search results
reddit link
Facebook link

Upstream has different fish species than the downstream has.

storymaps
"Boat propulsion is limited to rowing, paddling, or battery powered motors...The black bass population is the primary focus of sampling efforts and management. Electrofishing surveys are conducted to assess the population structure of black bass and other gamefish.  "

brayman
$6m project completed in Apr 2010.
"The Prettyboy Dam project involved the installation of an underwater anchorage system necessary to secure the concrete gatehouse to the dam."

1931 Bill Graves Bridge over Coosa River in Wetumpka, AL

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter is broke; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Brian Tannehill, Mar 2019

The lampposts indicated where the piers are from which the arches launch. So about an eighth of the rainbow arch is under the deck on both ends of the arch.

Street View, Sep 2023

Historic Alabama Online posted
Opening of the Bibb Graves Bridge over the Coosa River in Wetumpka, Alabama.1931

HistoricBridges
This 878' (240m) long bridge has spans of 140' (43m).
"This large multi-span rainbow arch bridge is the only one of its kind in Alabama, and one of the top historic bridges in the state. The bridge retains excellent historic integrity. Overall the bridge is in good condition as well, although for unknown reasons a single through arch span is suffering from ASR [Alkali-Silica Reaction] cracking."

GlobalGilson, photo credit: ASR Identification Handbook
"Although Alkali-Silica Reactivity (ASR) has created problems in concrete mixtures for centuries, the mechanism was not understood and documented until the mid-1930s. Thomas Stanton, an engineer with the California State Division of Highways, identified the issue. By 1940, he had completed his research showing that alkali content in cement, the amount of reactive silica in the aggregate, and the availability of moisture caused the expansion of sample mortar bars in laboratory tests. ASR is now recognized as a significant cause of concrete deterioration anywhere in the world where siliceous aggregates are found."
A diagram shows that the problem in the aggregates is SiO2.
[I thought that sand was used as one of the aggregates in concrete mixtures. But I guess not because I just confirmed that SiO2, or silica, is the primary chemical in sand. [CivilToday]]

Bonus

This had to be a lock. Note the notches for the gates.

Satellite

Erie Canal Locks #20 (Original) and #29 (Enlarged Empire) east of Fort Hunter, NY

Enlarged: (HAER; Satellite, "about a mile east of Schoharie Creek Aqueduct" [ErieCanal])

Erie Canal Overview

HAER NY,29-FORHU,2C--2, 1970
North end. - Erie Canal (Enlarged), Empire Lock Number 29, Fort Hunter, Montgomery County, NY

"Significance: Part of the remaining fabric of a historic transportation system. Adjacent to remains of Empire Lock No. 20, part of DeWitt Clinton's Big Ditch of 1822. Its 8-foot lift replaced the original 4-foot lock. Improvements were made on Lock 29 in 1885." [HAER_data]

I do not understand why the Enlarged lock number is higher than the "Clinton Ditch" lock number. There were more locks on the Clinton Ditch than the Enlarged Canal. And in every other case where the locks were close, the Clinton Ditch had the higher number.

I dropped the pin on the center divider, which is between the two lock chambers. Note the wall extending from the south chamber. The improvement made in 1885 is that one of the chambers in each lock was made longer. I think the caption for the above photo is wrong. I think the photo was taken from the south end looking a little east of North across the south chamber, the center divider and the north chamber. Note the notch about halfway along the south chamber. That would have been the original length of the chamber at the end of the center divider.

Satellite

The stones are looking a little rough and nature is gaining.

ErieCanal
"'Erie Canal National Historic Landmark, Glen and Florida, Montgomery Co., NY' (Oct. 1983) -- View southeast across Empire Lock (from National Park Service site)."

Someone has taken a much needed chainsaw to the area. But Roundup is needed on the vegetation growing out of the lock walls.

ErieCanal, this is one of several 2007 photos on this webpage
"'Empire' Lock No. 29 -- lengthened south chamber looking east; north chamber at upper left."

Joel Torres posted two photos with the comment:

Enlarged Erie Canal 

"Empire Lock 29" 

Fort Hunter N.Y.

Thomas Constantine: Up to date pic?

Joel Torres: Thomas Constantine a few yrs old

1

2

2002 US-231 William H. Natcher Bridge over Ohio River bypassing Owensboro, KY

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

This 4,505' (1,373m) long bridge has a main span of 1200' (366m). [BridgeHunter]

 

Street View, Aug 2012

Dan Murphy posted
William H. Natcher Bridge near Rockport, IN

rockportky_bridges

 

Mar 2015 Photo by Adam during the flooding via BridgeHunter

Facebook Reel

IUOE Community posted five photos with the comment:

If you’ve ever crossed the William H. Natcher bridge between Owensboro and Rockport, IUOE 181 helped make it happen. Building useful infrastructure and noticeable landmarks is just one thing that makes our work so rewarding..

.

Post Credit: IUOE Local 181

1

2

3

4

5