1.2mw Trego Dam on Namekagon River near Trego, WI

(Satellite)

Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway posted

Xcel Energy will conduct a semi-annual test of the dam failure warning sirens below Trego Dam on the Namekagon River today, Monday April 6th, at 11:00 am.  The test will last about 90 seconds and involve a series of audible tones and messages. The test is in coordination with Washburn County Emergency Management, the National Park Service, and local townships.  Anyone with questions about this test should contact Xcel Energy’s 24-hour Customer Contact Center at 1-800-895-4999.

Image:  Trego Dam/NPS.  In the middle of the image to the right, water rushes over the concrete dam into a pool of bubbling water of the river creating white and rusty color foam.  The remaining concrete structure of the dam is in the background topped with green grass and trees.

George Scott: There are many smaller dams in Wisconsin that have been abandoned or are receiving minimum maintenance. A number of years ago a dam in DD Kennedy park on the Balsam Branch in Polk County partially collapsed causing a 6 foot crest to roll down stream into Lake Wapogasset and the Apple River. A few years before that another dam near Osceola collapsed causing the closing of Wisconsin 35 for about a year.

HydroRelicensing
The installed capacity is 1.2mw.

Cassie Baier posted
The dam in Trego Wi

stcroix360
Another alarm test notification

CSX/C&O and KY-644 Bridges over Levisa Fork of Big Sandy River near Walbridge, KY

1914 C&O: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; B&T; Satellite)

1883 Road:  (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; B&T; Satellite)

1883 Tunnel: (B&T; Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2025

In 1914, C&O completed a new, longer bridge that did not need a tunnel and that reduced the curvature of the route. The road bridge and tunnel on this map were the original railroad route.

1953/55 Louisa Quad @ 24,000

Bridges & Tunnels by Sherman Cahal posted four photos with the comments:

Kentucky is a state with few 19th-century historic trusses remaining in its statewide bridge inventory, and the eastern half of the state has very few original roadway trusses remaining in general. That’s why it was surprising to come across fairly rare King Bridge Company trusses with Phoenix columns in Walbridge, Kentucky.

⤐ View the newest journal entry at Bridges & Tunnels at http://bridgestunnels.com/.../the-bridges-and-tunnels-of.../

⤐ c. 1883 bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/location/walbridge-bridge/

⤐ c. 1883 tunnel: http://bridgestunnels.com/location/walbridge-tunnel/

⤐ c. 1914 bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/loca.../walbridge-railroad-bridge/

Bridges & Tunnels by Sherman Cahal shared with the comment: "A former railroad alignment south of Louisa, Kentucky, has been reused for a state and county road."

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As expected, the original railroad bridge is pin connected.

B&T

North Bottom Road (603rd Lane) over Rock Creek north of Quincy, IL

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, May 2024

It is not pin connected.

Street View, Aug 2019

Street View, Jun 2012

Justin Fogerty posted eight photos with no comment.

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1975 Grand Teton Dam Collapse

Dam Remnants: (Satellite)

Spillway: (Satellite)

Discover's Engineering Catastrophes, S6, EP13

The dam was 305' (93m) high.

19:22 video @ 12:34
The Wild Story of the Teton Dam Failure
The Bureau of Reclamation decided to fill the reservoir even though construction of the primary outlet works would not be done for another year. They did have a secondary outlet works available, but it was not enough to keep the fill rate under a foot (30cm) a day. (But, "after a particularly snow winter," it filled at 2 feet a day.) The dam was built on porous rock and the wind-deposited silt (loess) they used in the cutoff trench supported piping. That is, the water was able to erode a pipe through the trench.

The dam collapsed on Jue 5, 1976, during its first filling. So this year (2026) is the 50th anniversary of the collapse. That explains why I saw several videos about the collapse. The above video makes the following videos rather redundant, but I could not bring myself to delete them.

@ 12:59

Facebook Reel

Facebook Reel

This is the beginning of a sequence of stills that show how this little gurgle quickly grew into a massive breach.

12:30 video @ 2:15
The 1976 Collapse of the Teton Dam, Idaho: Investigating the Geologic Evidence

1914,2010 Airtight Bridge over Embarras River and World's Largest Statue of Abe Lincoln near Charleston, IL

Bridge: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Statue: (Satellite)

Lisa Ruble posted

Airtight Bridge over the Embarras River is one of Coles County’s best kept secrets. Located along Airtight Road, it is the only direct route between the village of Ashmore and the unincorporated towns of Bushton and Rardin. The location is isolated, and most people do not come upon it by accident.

Locals say the bridge earned the name “Airtight” because of the unnatural stillness encountered while crossing it. Designed by Claude L. James, Airtight Bridge was built in 1914 by the Decatur Bridge Company. Thanks to its remote location, it became known as a drinking spot for local teens and students from Eastern Illinois University. Otherwise, the bridge, described as “old” and “creaky,” had a pretty mundane existence. In 1981, Airtight Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

On October 19th 1980, the nude body of a woman floating near the bank of the Embarras River a few yards downstream from Airtight Bridge was discovered by two brothers from Urbana, who were deer hunting, and a local farmer. Because the body was missing its head, hands, and feet, the murder investigation became known as the “Airtight torso case.” In 1992, the body was identified through DNA as that of 26 year old Diana Marie Small of Bradley (Kankakee County Illinois). On March 1st 2017 Diana's husband, 70 year old Thomas Small, who still lived in Bradley, was arrested for her murder. After two days of talks he confessed to Diana's murder. Eight months later he pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Obviouisly, it is pin connected.

Patty Goatley, Oct 2024

The river was a lot higher in this photo.

Historic Bridges
"This is an unaltered traditional Pratt through truss bridge in a tranquil rural setting."

The world's largest statue of Abe Lincoln.

Mattox Pugh, Jul 2025

1977 Saylorville Lake Dam on Des Moines River at Johnston, IA

Outlet: (Satellite)

Spillway: (Satellite)

joey hermanstorfer, Jul 2024

In addition to flood control, the 1977 dam also provides a minimum flow for the Des Moines River. [USACE]

DamToDam
"The principal purpose of the Saylorville project is to provide additional storage to supplement the flood control capacity of Lake Red Rock downstream and help reduce flood crests on the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers." The 3-gate, 22' (6.7m) outlet conduit has a capacity of 21kcfs, and the spillway also has a capacity of 21kcfs.  

USACE, Rock Island District posted

It's #FlashbackFriday and today we take a look at the constrution of the spillway at Saylorville Lake! Authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1958, Saylorville Lake is located on the Des Moines River in central Iowa, just north of the city of Des Moines.

Fun fact: At normal pool, Saylorville holds 21.1 billion gallons of water. When Saylorville gets to flood storage pool level, the number jumps to 204.1 billion gallons!!

USACE, Rock Island District posted
This photo, dated April 7th of 1967, shows the stilling basin area of the outlet works and spillway. The equipment and vehicles in the foreground show just how big this area is!

Lin Aung, Nov 2018

The conservation pool is 836 mean sea level (msl), the spillway is at 884msl, and the full flood pool is 54' (16.5m) higher than conservation at 890msl. The spillway was used during the floods of 1984, 1991 and 1993. [DamToDam]

Street View, May 2021

CityOfJhonston, this webpage has more construction photos

NotesOnIowa
"The floodwaters of 1984 poured in at an astonishing rate of 38,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), testing every aspect of the dam’s design. As water flowed safely through the spillway, erosion carved deep into the Pennsylvanian bedrock below, creating what is now known as the Saylorville Gorge....Improvements followed, including the installation of pneumatic crest gates after the historic floods of 1993. These gates enabled even greater floodwater storage capacity, further solidifying the dam’s role as a guardian of Des Moines and the surrounding areas."

This project included the Big Creek Remeidal Works. [USACE_project]

USACE, Rock Island District posted
This photo, dated 10 April of 1972, shows the construction of the Big Creek Spillway. This spillway allows water to flow into Saylorville Lake from Big Creek. The basin at the bottom is now a popular fishing area.
[Several comments talk about kids using it as a water slide until someone drowned and it was outlawed.]

The Big Creek Remeidal Works diverts the entire Big Creek flow into Saylorville Lake.

Satellite

1924-1942 Water Reclamation Plant in Glenview, IL

(Satellite, the land is now a parking lot for the Kraft Heinz R&D Center.)

MWRD posted
 Construction of an early wastewater treatment plant in Glenview near Henley Street and the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River on May 1, 1924. The facility was in operation from 1924 until 1942 when the intercepting sewer from the O'Brien Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) was extended to the area.

It is the plant between the road and the river. I wonder why this doesn't have the round circles that most WRPs have.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP