Life on The Mississippi: M/S Mississippi V

.

A short break from the local artists portraits series:

The navigable rivers of America are maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They are responsible for the channels, dredging and the complex lock and dam system. The Mississippi has 26 of them, from the northern end of St. Louis up to Minneapolis-St. Paul. The river is so flat between here and New Orleans that none are necessary.

This is the Corps' MV Mississippi V, the largest towboat on the river. Check the link for its specs. It held an open house last weekend at Lock and Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois, quite a piece of engineering by itself. When I took the picture at the top, I was standing just beyond where the two black walkways come together in the bottom picture. A crew member told me the boat could push 30 barges. Power.