Barges, Bridges and Locks

Goodbye to Lake Michigan with its blue water and enjoyable port cities.  The next 35 miles will take us through territory that is largely industrial land with many bridges, tugs pushing barges, trains, factories some rusted and some operational, and brown water.  We learned the tug lingo, asking whether to pass 'on the one whistle or the two whistles', tow lingo for port-to-port or starboard-to-starboard.  It's always their call.

First, we turned from Lake Michigan into the Cal-Sag, at mile marker 333.4.  Lots to navigate through and it comes quickly.  First come three bascule bridges that must lift in order for us to pass through.  The bridge tender must be called by us to lift the bridge  - mile marker 332.7, 332.6 and 332.3.  At 331.6, 330.8 - two more lift bridges, then at 326.4 is the first lock.  As noted by the mile markers we've only gone a short distance. There are four bridges in this picture.

Last Thursday a tugboat sank in the river, leaving only three feet of hull exposed..  We were notified to stay to the left side of the channel because recovery operations are underway.

 One whistle or two?  We requested a one whistle pass, moving to the barge's port side - just like on the highway.

We came to the first lock, the Thomas S O'Brien lock.  It was constructed in 1960 to prevent the Calumet River from draining into Lake Michigan as well as to prevent rising water on Lake Michigan from raising the level of the river.  The Cal - Sag Channel connects with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and permits ship traffic to go south via this system, and to take all sanitary waste south. Put another way, Chicago's waste does not pollute Lake Michigan it flows south contributing to pollution on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers ending up in the Gulf of Mexico. Moral: drink bottled water in New Orleans.

No pictures of the lock.  Sometimes we are too busy to take pictures.  This was very different because we did not tie up to a wall, rather went into the lock and held in place since the water drop is only two feet.  

A huge plant - one of many.

Mile marker 303 begins what is called "Twelve Miles of Hell"- the stretch of Illinois Waterway just south of the Chicago Ship Channel and the Cal-Sag junction.  For these twelve miles, the passage is narrow and filled with commercial tugs and barges.  Also, upcoming is the "Electric Carp Barrier" and the Lockport Lock.

A narrow channel with tugs and barges on the left.  At one point this channel was completely blocked.  We just waited until the tug moved the barge into its slip.

Officially called "Electric Carp Barrier" is an electric fence for fish.  The water at mile marker 296.5 is electrified to keep Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.  Asian carp are the scourge of the waterway, an alien species that escaped from southern fish farms during the floods of the 1980's. These fish threaten the Great Lakes $7 billion recreational fishing industry.  

Lockport Lock at mile marker 291.  With a 39' drop, this is the biggest drop on the Illinois.  The lock chamber  is 600' long and 110' feet wide, which is very different from the much smaller locks on the Trent Severn in Canada.  It takes about 45 minutes to fill the chamber with 50 million gallons of water to flush through each locking.  An interesting side note - the lock house was built in 1933 and also served as the community's bomb shelter.

As we approached the lock we were instructed to tie up next to wall with a blue fence, no cleats to tie to, so we tied to the fence and El Nido rafted up to us.  We waited for two hours until it we were called to come in.  Another recreational boat joined us during our wait, so we three boats entered the lock together.

The barge that locked through ahead of us.

The tug is at the far right in the picture above and the barges are filled with sand.  Sometimes there are too many barges for the length of the lock chamber, so barges must be locked through in sections. The towboat pushes the forward set of barges into the lock.  The barges within the chamber are unlashed from the tow and the towboat backs away.  Once clear of the chamber, 600 feet of barges wait tied along the lock wall or riverbank held by ropes until the towboat and remaining barges lock through and re-lash the original configuration.  The entire process can take up to four hours.   

This picture is a panorama, looks distorted, but it is a 900' barge on its way to Lockport Lock. Thankfully, we did not have to wait on it. It passed within 40 feet of our boat.  Very slow and under control. 

What an exciting waterway.  We definitely had to stay on our toes and watch for what was coming next. We made it to Joliet, IL and tied to the free city wall, complete with electric and WiFi.  We plan to stay here for three nights, watching the tows and their barges pass by.

Bob and his dog, Duncan from El Nido, have traveled with us since Mackinaw City.  We have enjoyed their company and having a dog to share.  Sad to see them go on, but Bob is anxious to get to Kentucky and go home for several days.  Below is a picture I took of Bob and Duncan at Hammond Marina, IN.