Over the next five years, the city's newspapers, civic leaders and the Territorial Legislature called for locks and dams to carry the booming steamboat trade to Minneapolis. Due to the collapse of this tunnel, St. Anthony Falls was in danger of eroding away. There was a time when the jewel of St. Louis, though, was the Eads Bridge. They did so by driving two tiers of piles nine feet apart and then filling between them with willow brush and placing sacks of sand on top to weigh the brush down. And thus, Merrick recalled, we grew into the very life of the river as we grew in years.19 When old enough, Merrick began working on a steamboat as a cabin boy and after one season became a cub engineer. Pike, Sources of the Mississippi, p. 24; Keating, Narrative of an Expedition, p. 297. . The company needed the grant, the state contended, because the company's income from water power would be limited by the inexhaustible resources in this respect above and on the falls and because the company's state charter required it to lock boats through free.73 Anticipating opposition from the millers at St. Anthony, the state claimed that the petitions principal purpose was to bring steamboats to Minneapolis and that hydropower was incidental.74 Meeker, himself, emphasized navigation. . Bison Bridge over Mississippi River could be boon for the heartland It was named for the president of the Illinois Central Railroad, James Theodore Harahan. The burdens they impose upon both consumer and producer are too grievous to be long endured.55 On March 26, 1873, responding to Windom, the Grange and the transportation crisis, the Senate directed Windoms committee to study the problem.56, On April 24, 1874, Windoms committee submitted its report to the Senate. Eads Bridge: Interesting Facts about the Oldest Bridge on the Minnesota Highway 371 Bridge Mississippi River Bridge (La Crosse, Wisconsin) N Natchez-Vidalia Bridge Nature Road Bridge New Chain of Rocks Bridge Norbert F. Beckey Bridge North Channel Bridge Northern Pacific Bridge Number 9 Northern Pacific-BNSF Minneapolis Rail Bridge Nymore Bridge O Old Sartell Bridge Old Vicksburg Bridge (29) The Paris Road Bridge (State Route 47), about 4.4 miles east of the junction with Inner Harbor Navigation 1491, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1913), p. 704. By connecting Main Streets in Memphis and West Memphis, the BRX ties together urban, rural, and natural areas and gives users recreation options unique to each setting. Key local projects included Locks and Dams 1 (Ford Dam) and 2 (Hastings), Lower and Upper St. Anthony Falls Locks and Dams, and the little known Meeker Island Lock and Dam, which was the rivers first and shortest-lived lock and dam (Figure 2). Many trees fell into the water to become snags. Crossing the Mississippi River at Minneapolis, it is . Printed in the Minnesota Monthlys July edition, the convention's preamble to its resolutions declared: "The Mississippi River traverses for thousands of miles the noblest agricultural regions of the earth, running from North to South, . As with the drive for railroad legislation, the push for waterway improvement was not just a farmers' movement. 2103-04; Annual Report, 1869, p. 237; Annual Report, 1901, p. 2309; Raymond H. Merritt, The Corps, the Environment, and the Upper Mississippi River Basin, (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984), p. 1; Merritt, Creativity, pp. Artist: Thompson Ritchie. Without enough current, this happened too slowly for navigation. 84-85, 91. Lock and Dam 1 would have to be placed above Minnehaha Creek and have a lift of 13.3 feet. Then, they would move to the next troublesome reach. The Mississippi and her tributaries are natural outlets for the west and northwest, Kelley insisted, but how little attention is given to their improvement. Railroads, he charged, control the river front in every town on the river; their boats can land freight without paying wharfage and people consider it all right. While railroads had received huge land grants, steamboats had not. . While intense local issues had resulted in two dams, an equally intense national debate would lead to a new project for one. The $34 million bridge was opened to vehicle traffic in July 2007, but was officially dedicated in October 2007; the bridge replaces the old bridge which built in 1930. 341, pp. This 15-mile (includes Old Chain of Rocks and McKinley Bridge) paved trail in the Mississippi River Greenway is flat, and offers limited shade. 318-19. . he concluded, calling on Congress to appropriate funding for every navigable stream in the West and to open the natural outlets free to all.47 To restore river traffic, Kelley insisted that the Mississippi needed grants like those given to railroads, and the Grange had to establish an agent in St. Louis to buy and sell Minnesota's products. Annual Report, 1875, p. 302. What was the first bridge across the Mississippi River? 11, (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1909), pp. A collision involving a train at the intersection of . The threat of a railroad monopoly, the commercial decline of the Mississippi River and rising dissatisfaction with his Republican party were of particular concern to Senator Windom (Figure 7). Enough said. To eliminate the problem, the Engineers closed the upper end of the east channel. . Connected with this matter is a secret history, upon which I proceed as discreetly as may be to cast a little light. Kane, Rivalry, pp. Annual Report, 1891, p. 2154; Mackenzie, Annual Report, 1890, p. 2034, reported that the Corps had completed several examinations of the area over the last year, in company with the Minneapolis representatives of the river interests.. As water and ice eroded the sandstone out from underneath the limestone at the edge of the falls, the limestone broke off in large slabs, and the falls receded. Davenport, however, thrived and became an industrial hub and today it is one of Iowa's biggest river towns. At Dibbles Point, the shoreline had eroded 15 to 20 feet in one year due to a wing dam built at Prescott Island, near Prescott.67 To protect shores from naturally eroding or from being undercut by the constricted channel, the Corps protected hundreds of miles of shoreline with brush mats and rock. Annual Report, 1881, p. 2746. p. 213. He questioned the value of removing boulders, believing that the steep grade and rapid current required locks and dams. From his experiences, Merrick learned much about the natural river. The number of islands, of course, varied with the season and the year, as many islands were temporary. . Hillhouse reported that the Caffreys work had included 1,600 feet of wing dams. As the river fell, each wave formed a bar that acted like a small dam. Responding in part to Minneapolis business and political interests, he requested $235,665 to construct a lock and dam at Meeker Island, which lay between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Some easterners came to take the fashionable tour. Arriving in St. Louis or at other railheads on the river's east bank, these excursionists traveled upstream, sometimes to St. Anthony Falls, imbibing the river's beauty (see the above references). 58, p. 5. Hundreds of islands, some forming and others being cut away, divided the natural river, dispersing its waters into innumerable side channels and backwaters. Locations are listed with the left bank (moving downriver) listed first. In its petition, the state stressed that boats had frequently landed within two and one-half miles of downtown Minneapolis, up until 1857. So they actively participated in local, regional and national campaigns for navigation improvement. 0:03. The Caffrey may have done some work with closing dams earlier. United States army engineers responded in 1894 by announcing plans for two locks and dams . Bridge 37-20-40 Chambers Railroad over Coast Fork of the Willamette River, Lane County, OR, closed to traffic. 58, Survey of Upper Mississippi River, p. 25. Self-guided Tours from $27.00 per adult Amazing Let's Roam Jackson Scavenger Hunt: Pretty Mississippi! . 92-93; Kane, Rivalry, p. 312. Pike took 40 strokes in his bateau and Long only 16 in his skiff.12. 1, 62nd Cong., 3d sess., Doc. Harahan Bridge is a cantilever bridge completed in 1916. That got me to rooting around for some of the photos I've shot of it over the years. And the Midwest needed the South's cotton, rice, sugar, and molasses. As cited in U. S. Congress, House, Letter from the Secretary of War, Transmitting, with a Letter from the Chief of Engineers, Report of Estimate for Six-Foot Channel in the Mississippi River between the Missouri River and St. Paul, Minn., 59th Cong., 2nd sess., H. Doc. Warren had recommended that Congress fund a survey of the upper Mississippi River's headwaters and tributaries in his 1869 report. The National Weather Service said many of the crests across the region this season will rank in the top 10 . Kane, Rivalry, p. 322, suggests that the federal government recognized its obligation for improving navigation in 1873 by authorizing $25,000 for the project. The second railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi in Arkansas is Harahan Bridge, only 200 feet north of Frisco Bridge. Behind the bar lay a deep pool of water. In doing so, they would contribute to the drive for navigation improvement at the same time they were throttling shipping on the river. For those wanting a more immersive train ride, book your seat on the Hiwassee Loop, a 50-mile trip that takes you through the wilderness, crossing over other tracks and winding up the mountain.Its views of the Hiwassee River Gorge are exceptional in the fall, but it's still a great ride any time of year. As Anti-Monopoly parties threatened to undermine the Republican party's dominance in the state and nationally, Windom and other Republicans began working for railroad reform and began seeking ways to solve the farm crisis.54, As chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Transportation to the Seaboard, Windom was in an especially good position to help both farmers and his party. In 1873, Congress lost patience with the Mississippi River Improvement and Manufacturing Company and appropriated $25,000 for the Corps to begin the project.85 But Congress required the state to return the land grant before the Corps could start. Some steamboats might land only once, while others returned many times. The Mississippi River Bridge Planning Study is . This is a list of bridges and other crossings of the Illinois River from the Mississippi River upstream to the confluence of the Kankakee and Des Plaines Rivers . Ibid., p. 243; The Select Committee recommended a depth of 5 feet at low water for St. Paul to St. Louis. Crossings See also List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River List of crossings of the Ohio River List of crossings of the Arkansas River Congress, however, would soon authorize new projects for the upper Mississippi River that would make this impossible. Roughly two-thirds of the nearly 2,000 railroad crossings in South Dakota are marked only by signposts with "railroad crossing" crossbucks. This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. 68-74; Jane Carroll, Dams and Damages: The Ojibway, the United States, and the Mississippi Headwaters Reservoirs, Minnesota History, (Spring, 1990):4-5. Anfinson, Secret History, Minnesota History 54:6 (Summer 1995):254-67. 7-8. Extending navigation above St. Anthony Falls with the other two locks and dams would total $1,538,702.90. With Warren's arrival in St. Paul in August, the Corps established a permanent stake in how the upper Mississippi River would be managed and changed. 2, 62nd Cong., 3d sess., Doc. It did so twice that year. The desire to improve navigation on the upper river affected the river above the Twin Cities, as well. More than 170 bridges (foot and railroad) span the Mississippi River on its journey from source to mouth. There they took a steamboat upriver to Prescott, Wisconsin, some 30 miles below St. Paul, arriving in June 1854. When it opened in 1892, the Frisco was the third-longest bridge in the world and was the first to span the Mississippi south of St. Louis. Cadwallader C. Washburn and his brother William D., the Minneapolis Mill Company's owners and two of the city's most powerful and prominent millers, adamantly opposed locks and dams. Deep pools might run near one bank for a short reach and then jump to the other. Nevertheless, Farquhar optimistically asked for $300,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876.86 Disagreement over the grant and haggling over land for the project, including the purchase of Meeker Island, however, would delay the project for nearly 20 more years.87 St. Paul remained the head of navigation, and the Corps focused its efforts downstream. Military supplies and furs would dominate the much smaller steamboat trade above Galena. . In other words, Congress asked the Corps to determine how to establish a continuous, 4-foot channel for the upper river at low water. The Harahan Bridge is in total 4,973 feet (1,516 m) long while the main bridge is 2,550 feet (780 m) from the east anchorage on the Memphis Bluffs to Pier 5 on the Arkansas flood plains. 2, Appendix CC, Reports on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, p. 455. During the late summer or early fall, when the Mississippi usually became a shallow, slow-moving stream, the wing dams could not direct enough water down the channel to scour it. The Corps simply did not have the funding, equipment, personnel or authority to make significant and permanent changes. Cook completed his survey between 1866 and 1867 and, to Meeker's surprise, recommended that a lock and dam be constructed at Meeker Island, with a 13-foot lift.79 Cook's report and lobbying by Representative Donnelly and Senator Alexander Ramsey finally convinced Congress to give the State of Minnesota a 200,000-acre land grant to finance the dam, rather than having the Corps build it. Rail lines were generally shorter, more direct, and could reach deep into lands served by no navigable rivers. How many bridges across the Mississippi River? Annual Report, 1890, p. 2034; Annual Report, 1892, pp. it is destined to become the most popular region of the world, and its waters should forever be kept free and untrammelled and open to the use of every citizen within the entire navigable length, and all obstructions, whether natural or of human device, are like impediments to the prosperity of the people who till the soil of the great valley.". No. Allied with them were sawmill operators and boom company operators William W. Eastman, John Martin, Sumner W. Farnham, James A. Lovejoy, and Joel B. Bassett. Traveling eastbound from. As the state failed to return it, the Corps did not begin work. Warren asked private companies and local interests what work they had done to improve the river's navigability. Mississippi River Crossing - Bi-State Regional Commission They yearned to make their city the head of navigation. One measure of this was the number of times steamboats docked at the upper river's port cities. Despite the growing menace of the railroads, river traffic remained strong.38. Significant flooding is anticipated along the Mississippi River in the La Crosse and Winona areas through this weekend, with water levels likely to reach historic crests.