Mississippi River Lock and Dam #1

The opening view is facing north towards the Ford Parkway bridge. This is Lock and Dam #1 just south of Minneapolis, Minnesota on the Mississippi River. There are 10 locks in a series from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. The Mississippi River begins in northern Minnesota and flows south to the Gulf of Mexico. Click here to learn more about the Mississippi Locks and Dams

The dam is 574 feet long with a hydro power station on the end that is owned and operated by the Ford Motor Co. The lock for boat and barge traffic is 56' wide by 400' long and is the only twin lock in the district. I saw a turbine taken out of service near the Ford plant that weighed 30,000 pounds and spun at 100 RPM's when it was in service.

The falling water over the dam is thunderous and is to be avoided. The rescue boat at the lock has two engines - good thinking! I was very fortunate to see some beautiful birds on this shoot. There are Peregrine Falcons nesting on the cliff and Great Blue Herons flying around looking for a meal. Bald Eagles can also be seen along the river, but I did not see one on this trip. I plan to go back on a bird watching expedition.

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USA-Canada / USA-Minnesota

Lat: 44° 54' 49" N
Long: 94° 13' 8" W

Elevation: 1271

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Nikon D1x shooting raw, (the format, not me). 10.5mm fisheye, shutter 1/1250 at f5.6 at ISO 125. Manfrotto 303SPH head on Manfrotto 3021BPRO tripod. Stitcher and Photoshop CS to process the images on a mac G4.