HOW IT GETS THROUGH, PART 3

 

The last part of how a barge flotilla gets through Lock and Dam 26 on the Mississippi. The group has been broken into two sets of two barges long. The lock has been closed behind the front set. In a moment, the front gates will open, bringing the water level down to that of the next section of the river. One of the tan tug boats on the left will come around and pull this group out. Then the second half will repeat the procedure.          

HOW IT GETS THROUGH, PART 2

 

In yesterday’s post, we saw how a push boat shoves the whole 3 by 6 barge flotilla into the lock. At this point, the front and back halves have been split and the push boat has (counterintuitively) pulled back the rear half. The lock’s huge gates begin to close on the front. If you can zoom in enough, you might see a tiny worker in a yellow coat on the right and compare it to the massive pistons pushing the gate in. When they are fully closed, the outer gates will open, dropping the water level of the barges.                     

HOW IT GETS THROUGH, PART 1

 

The front of the barge flotilla pushes into the lock. If you have a big enough monitor you may see two crew members on the front corners. Strikes me as a dangerous job. I may have missed something about how the process works. The upper river flotillas are 3 by 6 barges. (They are at least twice as big on the lower Mississippi without locks.) The whole set pushes part way in. Then the crew breaks apart the front three rows from the back. The push boat pulls the rear barges back out of the lock. What happens next comes tomorrow.                         

POWER SOURCE

 

The power it takes to push a barge flotilla on the Mississippi - especially upriver - is almost unimaginable. I once toured one of these boats and the engine was, well, ginormous. There is a tricky way these things have to get through the lock, which we will come to.             

A BARGE IN THE LOCK

 

Although we didn’t spot any eagles on our trip upriver on Saturday, we did get to see something interesting. An explanation: there is lots of barge traffic on the Mississippi, with 27 locks and dams between Minneapolis and St. Louis. Between us and the Gulf of Mexico, the slope is so gentle that none are needed.  The next to last, Number 26, is huge and has a wonderful museum. With a guide, you can go outside and walk around the structure. We were fortunate to see a flotilla entering the lock.                      

CITY DAILY DECEMBER THEME - SLOW

Few things in St. Louis say slow as persistently as a barge struggling upstream against the torrent of the Mississippi River. Sunset on a cloudy day make it look almost motionless.    

City Daily Photo members around the world creep in their petty pace at https://citydailyphoto.org/category/theme-days/ .                

A WORKING RIVER

My last office before I retired looked directly over the Mississippi River. When I was tired of pushing paper or clicking screens, I would watch the long barge flotillas drifting up and down. Navigation looked terribly difficult, with powerful push boats at the rear. Think of it as a very big car with rear wheel drive, but also the steering wheels in the back. What we see here is a riverboat and barge facility just south of the Arch.                

CITY DAILY PHOTO MARCH THEME DAY - SOLITUDE

Today City Daily Photo members explore the many ways to be off by yourself. When I took this photo I was standing alone on the Illinois side of Eads Bridge, looking over the Mississippi back to St. Louis. No lights were visible downtown or on the passing barge. It felt like every living soul but me had vanished, and it scared me.         

ALL HANDS ON DECK

This is the front of one of the 15 barge max size flotillas. It was heading downriver into the big side of Lock and Dam 27 as we left the small boat side. Our excursion vessel had to tie up along the side of the lock as the water rose. I'm sure this big one had to do the same in the opposite direction. Note the winches and the rope thicker than my wrist.

But, hey! Artica, STL's wacky outdoor alternative arts festival is this weekend and the weather looks good. I'm not exactly the house photographer. They call me the visual documentarian. There's gonna be a lot to document.       

BIG LOAD

One of several things I learned on Saturday's trip on the Mississippi: just how big can the barge flotillas be and how much they can carry. The overall size is limited by the size of the locks. Each barge is a standard size. The locks can hold three across and five long, plus the push boat. We were told that the whole assembly can hold the equivalent of 900 US truck trailers. It's mostly fungible stuff, usually coal or grain. As we were disembarking, we saw one go by with 18 of the enormous fan blades used in new-style wind generators.

The light was terribly dull so I decided that B&W was the lesser of two evils. There are some shots that came out well in eerie, muted color.               

HEAVY LIFTING

Things you don't see from the land beside the Mississippi. The first one is right at waterside. No idea what it lifts. That is a barge in the foreground of the second picture. I assume the huge green arm sucks or pumps things in and out of them. It's a working river, not very scenic away from the city center but still interesting.         

POWER BOAT

Those words usually bring up an image of a sleek watercraft hydroplaning across a lake at high speed. This is different. This is brute force. I can't imagine how many tons they haul up and down the Mississippi. The amount of horsepower, if that's the right unit, is enormous.

It looks like it could hold a fair size crew (it's a 24/7 operation) but I don't know how much of the length is given over to the engines. I watch these go past all day from my office window. I'll try to get a picture of a whole flotilla you can see the scale.

People generally call them towboats. Ellie thinks that's silly since they are obviously push boats.          

WOULD YOU EAT WHAT THEY CAUGHT?

Might be hard to read depending on the size of your screen but the side of the small boat says Gateway Blues Catfishing.  Apparently there is a business that will take you out on the Mississippi searching for the critters, which are served fried. The river is a lot cleaner than it was some decades ago but, still, catfish are bottom feeders and the river is busy and just imagine what's down there. So, no, I wouldn't eat it.

Note the enormous size of the barges in the background, some distance behind the fishing boat. When in transit, they are connected two across and up to eight or ten long, pushed by a very powerful boat. How the pilots steer them through the many bends on the Mississippi is beyond me.    

Year End, STL

The end of another trip around the sun in our river city. My family is all here in reasonable shape, although I had some significant health issues. Nothing, though, that I couldn't overcome with our gold-plated Medicare supplemental insurance. That's great, given that we have the worst, most expensive, inefficient and profit-centered healthcare in the industrialized world. I got to watch my granddaughter Ellie continue to grow into a a poised, intelligent young woman. I'll meet my first grandson in a few months. Mrs. C and I are approaching the 45th tick with no regrets at all. We feel secure, at least for the moment. (Wheel of fortune and all that.) I began to slip out of my practice, which turned out to be 44 years of tragicomedy.

And then I think about the recent past and near future, like the horror in the White House. Just by following the trail, I feel almost certain that the Russians are blackmailing him. But with the forces of (relative) light about to control the House, his own personal hell may be about to break lose. I'm sickened by the rigorous, willful destruction of the planet, alienation of our best allies and relentless kicks in the teeth to working people. Maybe, I hope, that will change.

And beyond? People who try to seriously predict the future are always wrong. There are far too many variables and those unknown unknowns. Nevertheless, I see no reason for optimism. There is a triad at work here: mass climate disruptions (sure hope some technical Lone Ranger rides over the hill to our rescue); the rapid strides in artificial intelligence such as Google's AlphaZero, which can analyze complex situations and teach itself how to overcome problems, something that may far surpass our own intellectual capacity; and genetic engineering with CRISPR - CAS3 modification of living things. What role will remain for us? I know this a downer but you really should read up on this stuff.

This blog's header advertises the occasional rant. I've been criticized once or twice for writing almost none. I guess this qualifies.  

. . . but ol' man river, he just keeps rolling along.

Bob's Colorless Life

I'm stuck on this black and white stuff. This tow boat, pushing a huge barge upriver, is bright white with brilliant red lettering. It's fun, though to craft images with only shape, line and tonality, giving up all the cues that color provides. For most of the history of photography this was all we had. I think too many shooters have forgotten it.