Rollin' on the River

Last Friday I attended the 9th annual Showcase of the Kaskaskia Watershed Association (KWA), hosted by the Lower Kaskaskia Stakeholders (LKSI). Nearly 300 guests boarded a barge on the Kaskaskia River near Modoc, Ill. and set off on a three hour tour (cue Gilligan's Island theme song here).

One of the highlights for me was locking through the dam where the Kaskaskia meets the Mississippi. What an experience to witness the change in depth in just a matter of minutes! The Kaskaskia was about 19 feet higher than the Mississippi, so we were lowered on the way through and raised on the way back. The pumps that move the water are amazing!

This was the water level when we started.



You'll see by the water line on the wall that within a matter of minutes, we'd dropped considerably!

The rest of the tour was full of beautiful scenery, informative presentations, and even a few jumping fish. As we returned to the dock, a huge flag was unfurled over the dam as America the Beautiful played in memory of September 11, 2001.

Gateway FS, Inc. is very involved with the LKSI group because they use the Kaskaskia River to send and receive many barge shipments each year. Gateway employees were involved with publicity, registration, food, and technical support during the cruise.