Mississippi
Here’s how the locks and dams on the Mississippi River work, and why they exist
Get on a boat on the upper Mississippi River, and you’ll eventually come upon a looming concrete structure stretching across the river’s main channel.
It’s called a lock and dam, and it’s a distinct feature of the upper river. The construction of locks and dams, a major feat of engineering that occurred largely during the Great Depression, has transformed how the Mississippi River runs.
What are these locks and dams for? How do they work, who controls them, and what changes have they made to the river ecosystem?
Here’s what you should know.
Why are there locks and dams on the Mississippi River? How do they work?
Prior to the installment of the locks and dams, the upper Mississippi River was free-flowing, regularly cutting new paths — and sometimes it was so shallow that people could wade across it. The locks and dams were put in place so that boats hauling freight up and down the upper river could have easier passage.
In 1930, Congress approved a project that would ultimately create the current system: The upper river is divided into sections called pools, where a fixed amount of river is held back by a dam. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers controls how much water is in a pool at a given time. Each pool must be at least nine feet deep to allow towboats hauling barges to move through.
The construction of the locks and dams provided work for thousands of people along the upper river during the Great Depression. River towns grew in population as temporary workers moved in. An oral history project from the 1980s notes that in Genoa, Wis., near Lock and Dam 8, “Business boomed, particularly taverns,” and “Anyone having a room in a home had no trouble renting it.”
Between the headwaters in northern Minnesota and St. Louis, the river falls about 420 feet in elevation. When a boat enters a lock, the lock acts like an elevator, bringing the boat up or down to the water level of the next pool. You can also picture it like a staircase of water that boats and barges climb and descend.
Do the locks and dams control flooding on the river?
The locks and dams don’t provide flood control. Downstream from Wisconsin, there are levees meant to constrain the river away from communities and high-production farmland.
How many locks and dams are there?
There are 29 locks and dams on the upper river.
The first lock and dam structure, at Upper St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, has been closed to barge traffic since 2015. The Army Corps is currently considering the removal of the next two structures, Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam and Lock and Dam 1, between Minneapolis and St. Paul, to return the river to its free-flowing past in the Twin Cities.
The southernmost lock and dam is near Granite City, Illinois, north of St. Louis.
Who operates them?
The Army Corps operates the locks and dams.
Why doesn’t the lower Mississippi have locks and dams?
The lower river, which stretches south from Cairo, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, does not have locks and dams. As major rivers like the Missouri and the Ohio join up with the Mississippi, the channel becomes deep and wide enough to naturally accommodate shipping.
Are the locks and dams in good condition?
When the locks and dams were constructed, mostly between 1930 and 1940, engineers estimated their life span to be about 50 years.
The Army Corps makes routine repairs to the structures, many of which still have original parts that are now around 90 years old. This winter, for example, they’ll drain the water out of Lock and Dam 2 near Hastings, Minnesota, to make repairs to its concrete. But the Corps reports that there’s an estimated billion-dollar maintenance backlog — and officials acknowledge that making fixes here and there may not be enough.
“At some point, we’re going to need some major rehabilitation of these structures,” Kristin Moe, navigation business line manager for the Army Corps’ St. Paul District, told the Journal Sentinel earlier this year.
Groups that represent the shipping industry contend that instead of making repairs to existing locks, the Army Corps should be constructing new ones that have a 1,200-foot chamber to more efficiently accommodate larger groups of barges than the current chambers, which are 600 feet long.
How have the locks and dams affected the river ecosystem?
Converting the free-flowing river into a series of pools has changed its natural habitats and processes. Because the dams caused more water to fill into the flood plain permanently, forest cover decreased and became fragmented, according to a 2022 study on the ecological status of the upper Mississippi.
Islands have shrunk or disappeared, attributed to wind and wave erosion across the pools, and backwater areas off the main channel have filled in with sediment, making them less hospitable to fish. Consistent high water levels have made it more difficult for some types of aquatic vegetation to survive.
In the decades since the locks and dams were constructed, the Army Corps has completed projects to try to address some of these consequences and revitalize habitat for fish and wildlife, including building new islands and dredging backwaters to restore their depth.
This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.
The rest of the night will be calm. We’ll cool down into the mid to upper 50s overnight tonight. A big cold front will arrive on Thanksgiving, bringing a few showers. Temperatures will drop dramatically after the front passes. It will be much cooler by Friday! Frost will be possible this weekend. Here’s the latest forecast.
Mississippi
Ole Miss football vs Mississippi State score prediction, scouting report in 2024 Egg Bowl
OXFORD — There’s always an added element of intensity in the Egg Bowl.
It will be important for Ole Miss football (8-3, 4-3) to find an extra gear against Mississippi State (2-9, 0-7 SEC) in Friday’s rivalry matchup (2:30 p.m., ABC). The Rebels are coming off a deflating loss at Florida that left Ole Miss’ College Football Playoff hopes hanging by a thread.
Mississippi State is slogging through a difficult year under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby. While first-year head coaches have fared surprisingly well in Egg Bowl games over the years, the Rebels will be heavy favorites at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Black Friday. The game is just the second Egg Bowl in eight years not to be played on Thanksgiving.
Let’s dive into the matchup:
Why Jaxson Dart, Rebels’ offense should be able to extend drives
Usually defenses that force opposing into offenses into third-down situations fare well. For Mississippi State, completing the job on third down has been difficult.
The Bulldogs have allowed SEC opponents to convert on 70 of 147 third downs. That is 47.6%, and the worst mark in the SEC. Ole Miss’ defense, by comparison, is No. 5 in the SEC at 32%.
More broadly, the Bulldogs’ defense has been getting gashed in SEC play. Mississippi State has allowed 40.7 points per SEC game. Even if star Ole Miss receiver Tre Harris is out because of an injury, the Rebels have a good opportunity to light up the scoreboard like they did in a 63-31 win at Arkansas.
Can Ole Miss rack up the sacks, keep Dart upright?
Stats indicate Friday’s game will be easier for Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart than Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr.
Mississippi State has allowed 35 sacks against SEC opponents. The inverse also bodes poorly for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State is last in the SEC in sacks. In 11 SEC games, the Bulldogs have just eight.
To make it harder on Van Buren Jr., Ole Miss’ defense leads the SEC in sacks. Look for him to get pressured early and often by a ferocious defensive line. There could − and maybe should − be two or three Rebels with multiple sacks in the Egg Bowl.
Rebels rushers Princely Umanmielen and Suntarine Perkins are prime candidates to feast. They each have 10.5 sacks, which ties them for No. 6 in the nation.
Will Ole Miss try to run up the score on the Bulldogs?
Aside from satisfying its fan base in a heated rivalry, Ole Miss has another reason to try to win big against Mississippi State. It’s the Rebels’ last chance to impress the College Football Playoff Committee.
Because of chaos in Week 13, the Rebels can still cling to an outside shot at making the College Football Playoff. While the Rebels will need other teams to lose Saturday, a dominating win Friday will only help their case.
On the flip side, even a narrow win against a Mississippi State team that hasn’t won a Power Four game this season would make it easier for the committee to exclude the Rebels.
Ole Miss football vs Mississippi State Egg Bowl score prediction
Ole Miss 42, Mississippi State 9: Each of the Rebels’ SEC games has resulted in one of two things: a close loss or blowout win. Expect the latter in the final regular season game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Ole Miss has the pass rush to create turnovers that will overwhelm an outmatched Bulldogs team.
Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi voters will decide winners for one seat on the state Supreme Court and one on the state Court of Appeals.
Runoff elections are Tuesday between candidates who advanced from the Nov. 5 general election. Polls are open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. central.
Voter turnout typically decreases between general elections and runoffs, and campaigns say turnout could be especially challenging two days before Thanksgiving.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens is seeking a third term and is challenged by state Sen. Jenifer Branning.
They are running in District 1, also known as the Central District, which stretches from the Delta region through the Jackson metro area and over to the Alabama border.
Branning received 42% in the first round of voting, and Kitchens received 36%. Three other candidates split the rest.
Mississippi judicial candidates run without party labels, but Democratic areas largely supported Kitchens on Nov. 5 and Republican ones supported Branning.
Mississippi Supreme Court Presiding Justice James W. Kitchens asks a question, July 6, 2023, before the court in Jackson, Miss. Credit: AP/Rogelio V. Solis
Branning is endorsed by the state Republican Party. She calls herself a “constitutional conservative” and says she opposes “liberal, activists judges” and “the radical left.”
Kitchens is the more senior of the Court’s two presiding justices, putting him next in line to serve as chief justice. He is endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Action Fund, which calls itself “a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond.”
In September, Kitchens sided with a man on death row for a murder conviction in which a key witness recanted her testimony. In 2018, Kitchens dissented in a pair of death row cases dealing with the use of the drug midazolam in state executions.
Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals runoff is in District 5 in the southeastern corner of the state, including the Gulf Coast.
Senate Elections Committee Chair Jenifer Branning, R-Philadelphia, explains a facet of an absentee-ballot bill during floor debate at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., June 15, 2020. Credit: AP/Rogelio V. Solis
Amy St. Pe’ and Jennifer Schloegel advanced to the runoff from a three-way contest, with St. Pe’ receiving 35% of the vote on Nov. 5 and Schloegel receiving 33%. The runoff winner will succeed Judge Joel Smith, who did not seek reelection.
St. Pe’ is a municipal judge in Gautier. Schloegel is a chancery court judge in Hancock, Harrison and Stone counties.
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