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.
GEORGE COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) — A George County High School senior is dead after an SUV hit him while bicycling on Highway 26 Friday night.
Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) officials said at 8:15 p.m. the MHP responded to a fatal crash on Highway 26 in George County.
Those officials said a Ford SUV traveling west on Highway 26 collided with 18-year-old Tyree Bradley of McLain, Mississippi, who was bicycling.
Bradley was fatally injured and died at the scene, MHP officials said.
The crash remains under investigation by the MHP.
See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE.
Copyright 2026 WLOX. All rights reserved.
Some losses feel like they drag on longer than the box score suggests, and Mississippi State’s 3-1 opener at Texas A&M fits that category.
It wasn’t a blowout. It wasn’t a game where the Bulldogs looked outmatched.
It was just one of those nights where the early mistakes stuck around and the offense never quite found the swing that could shake them loose.
The frustrating part is how quickly the hole formed. Two solo homers and a wild pitch in the first two innings put Mississippi State behind 3-0, and that was basically the ballgame.
Against a top tier SEC team on the road, spotting three runs that early is a tough ask. The Bulldogs didn’t fold, but they also didn’t cash in when the door cracked open.
“I liked our fight. I think we’re really just working through some things offensively, and trying to stay together,” Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts said. “This team still believes, and we’re going to battle and fight every chance we get, and I think I saw a lot of that. I’m encouraged for what that means for us moving forward, but, you know, they’re a good hitting team, and we’ve got to be able to shut them down early. I don’t think Peja [Goold] had her best stuff, but she continued to battle out there and find ways to get outs.”
They had chances. Two runners stranded in the fifth. Two more in the sixth. Another in the seventh. Des Rivera finally got the Bulldogs on the board with an RBI single, but the big hit that usually shows up for this lineup never arrived.
It wasn’t a lack of traffic. It was a lack of finish.
If there was a bright spot, it came from the bullpen. Delainey Everett gave Mississippi State exactly what it needed after the rocky start.
“That was just a huge relief appearance by Delaney to keep us in it,” Ricketts said. “It’s really good to have her back and healthy these last few weeks because these are the moments where we really need her and rely on her. We know that she’s going to be a big part of the remainder of the season going forward as well.”
Three hitless innings, one baserunner, and a reminder that she’s quietly putting together a strong stretch.
There were individual positives too. Nadia Barbary keeps climbing the doubles list. Kiarra Sells keeps finding ways on base.
But the bigger picture is simple. Mississippi State is now 6-10 in the SEC, and the margin for error is shrinking. Nights like this one are the difference between climbing back into the race and staying stuck in the middle.
They get another shot this morning with the schedule bumped up for weather. The formula isn’t complicated.
Clean up the early innings, keep getting quality relief, and find one or two timely swings. The Bulldogs didn’t get them Friday. They’ll need them today.
Follow
Mississippi
Mississippi farmers struggle through years without profit as war with Iran deepens crisis
YAZOO COUNTY, Miss. — Mississippi Delta farmers are facing another expensive planting season as fertilizer and fuel costs continue to climb.
Farmers in Yazoo and Sharkey counties, Clay Adcock and Jeffrey Mitchell, said it has been years since their crops turned a real profit.
“I guess it would be since 2022,” Adcock said.
“Last 2.5 to three years since we had a very profitable year,” Mitchell said.
Rising input costs squeeze farmers
Adcock said he was paying $300 per ton of fertilizer before the war with Iran broke out. He is now paying double for the same amount. Mitchell saw similar spikes.
“Fertilizer was up 25% before the Iranian conflict already,” Mitchell said. “Then since that started Diesel fuel is up 40% in the last six months.”
Survey and research from the American Farm Bureau show they are not the only ones feeling the pinch.
“We’ve got trouble with the farming community,” Adcock said. “And you can see that with the bankruptcies that are there and no young farmers that can afford the capital to get started.”
Mitchell said today’s farmers face a shrinking industry of suppliers. 75% of all fertilizer in the U.S. comes from four companies: Yara USA, CF Industries, Nutrien and Koch Industries.
“With the world market on fertilizer, pretty much everyone has the same price,” Mitchell said. “It’s not like you can go to store B, get a better price.”
forces
Oil and natural gas cut off in the Strait of Hormuz forces energy companies worldwide to compete for less supply. The spike in costs passes on to fertilizer producers, who pass higher prices on to distributors, leaving family farms at the end of the line with the most expensive bills.
“They deliver it to us and we’re at their mercy,” Adcock said.
Adcock said he would like to see more regulation to even the playing field among fertilizer companies and prevent potential price gouging.
“There should be guiderails in place to keep fertilizer producers within a range and if they get out of that range it throws up red flags as they do in the SEC with stocks,” Adcock said. “Have some consistency in our business.”
Mitchell said the costs will circle back to consumers at the store. The spike in diesel also increases the cost of transporting finished crops after harvest to stores.
“Everything will be higher once it gets to Kroger or Wal-Mart or wherever,” Mitchell said. “They’ll just pass it onto consumers.”
It is too early to tell what the final prices will look like once harvest season is over. Each farmer said one way consumers can help is to buy as much produce as possible directly from farmers at markets and buy American items.
Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.
Copyright 2026 WLBT. All rights reserved.
-
Minnesota1 minute agoBoldy, Eriksson Ek help Wild cruise past Stars in Game 1 of Western 1st Round | NHL.com
-
Mississippi7 minutes agoGeorge County High School senior killed in Highway 26 crash, MHP says
-
Missouri13 minutes ago
Missouri Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 winning numbers for April 18, 2026
-
Montana19 minutes ago
Montana Lottery Powerball, Lotto America results for April 18, 2026
-
Nebraska25 minutes agoGallery: Huskers Run-Rule No. 12 USC to Take Series
-
Nevada31 minutes agoIN RESPONSE: Cortez Masto lands bill would keep the proceeds in Nevada
-
New Hampshire37 minutes agoNew Hampshire grapples with nuclear waste storage – Valley News
-
New Jersey43 minutes agoNearby shooting interrupts 13-year-old’s birthday party in Paterson; 1 killed, 3 injured