And the Winner is!

What the heck is that picture all about??? You’ll just have to wait for our next post to find out!

I will tell you that Chattanooga is a WONDERFUL City to explore.

A while back we asked a River Trivia question, and asked for responses.

The question was: “How many locks are there from well above Minneapolis to Grafton, IL. “

Appears easy - doesn’t it? Just look at a river chart, and you will see that Lock #1, also called the Ford Lock, is in St. Paul at the Ford Motor Company, and Lock 25 is just above Grafton. So the answer is 25 - Right?? Wrong!

First off, there are the Upper and Lower Saint Anthony Locks at St. Anthony Falls in downtown Mpls. They are named, not numbered.

OK - so there are 27 - Right?? Wrong!

When they actually built the system, they discovered they needed an additional lock at Fountain City, Wisc, just below lock 5. So they added Lock 5A.

OK - that’s easy - there are 28 - right?? Sort of!

When they got a little further down, they discovered they did not need Lock 23, between Lock 22 at mile marker 301.2, and Lock 24 at mile marker 273.4, so they eliminated it. There is no Lock 23.

So there are really 27?? Nope.

Most all of the Lock & Dams were built with auxiliary chambers, which were smaller than the main chambers. However, only one auxiliary chamber was ever made operable and is being used. This is in Rock Island, IL. It is officially called Lock And Dam 15 and 15A - Auxiliary Lock. As this chamber is operable, it is counted as an additional lock.

SOOOOOO - there are 28 locks from above Mpls to Grafton.

We had 4 replies.

We think only one said 28!!

We lost Kelly's’ response, and can’t remember what it was.

SO - if you said 28 Kelly - YOU WIN TOO!

We do know that Jean P. said 28!

Congratulations JEANO!!!!

And - you’re OFFICIAL PRIZE IS:

BRAGGING RIGHTS!!!

We’ll be back with some interesting highlights in Chattanooga!

See you all later!

Captn. Ken