Leaving Muscle Shoals, Alabama to resume our trip down the Tennessee River. The next lock we have to transit is the "Tallest Lift-Lock East of the Rockies," known as the Wilson Lock, which has a 95 foot drop. This lock is so large, that when you see it from a distance, you figure you are almost there. It's only when the lock opens and a teeny tiny boat emerges that you realize you are still a mile away.
The story of the Wilson Lock and Dam is a story of superlatives. Today it's the tallest lift-lock east of the Rockies; at the time it was built (construction started in 1918 and was completed in 1927), it was the most ambitious public works project of the era and the tallest concrete lock-and-dam ever built in the United States.
The dam was also our government's first-ever federal hydroelectric project (it was conceived of before the TVA was established; in fact the construction of this lock and dam inspired President Roosevelt to CREATE the TVA). And it was also the first time the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a multi-purpose dam (besides generating power, the structure allowed big boats to get past the rapids at Muscle Shoals, aiding commercial navigation; it's also used for flood control.
Here's an interesting sidelight in history: Shortly after construction on the dam started, in 1921, automotive tycoon Henry Ford offered to buy it from the federal government, for $5 million. Ford imagined building automobile assembly plants and turning the town of Muscle Shoals, a sleepy cotton town, into a metropolis, and pledged to employ a million workers in new auto plants.
Since the initial cost of construction was more than $40 million, the numbers hardly added up and the government said "no" to Henry. The dam stayed in public hands.
These days there are taller locks--for example, the Ice Harbor Lock on the lower Snake River in Washington State raises and lowers vessels 103 feet. But Wilson Dam still generates more than 600,000 KW of power, making it one of the highest-capacity hydroelectric plants in the nation.
As large as the Wilson Lock is, it's not large enough for the towboats that pass us daily. The lock is 600 feet long, while a tow 3 barges wide and five barges long can exceed 1000 feet. To pass through the lock, tows this size have to be untied, locked through in two passes, and then reassembled, which is time consuming and costly. We were lucky and we did not have to wait for any tow traffic and we were the only ones in this monster of a lock! We had a great locking experience!
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| Overlooking Wilson Lock and Dam, before getting on the Loop. |
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| Approaching Wilson Lock by boat, Marriott restaurant in the tower to the right. |
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| In the lock, secured and waiting to drop 95 feet. |
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| Gates closed, starting the descent. |
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| Pushing away from the wall to avoid scratches. |
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| At the bottom successfully. |
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| Gates opening. We will untie and be on our way! |
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| Headed out and down the Tennessee River. |
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