Starved Rock Lock and Dam, also known as Lock and Dam No. 6, is a lock and dam facility managed by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

along the

Illinois River The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...

, near

Starved Rock Starved Rock State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Illinois, characterized by the many canyons within its . Located just southeast of the village of Utica, in Deer Park Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, along the south bank of th ...

. It is part of the

Illinois Waterway The Illinois Waterway system consists of of navigable water from the mouth of the Calumet River at Chicago to the mouth of the Illinois River at Grafton, Illinois. Based primarily on the Illinois River, it is a system of rivers, lakes, and cana ...

and was constructed between 1926 and 1933. The lock and dam was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Starved Rock Lock and Dam Historic District in 2004.

Location

Along the original

, Starved Rock Lock and Dam is the southernmost facility. The lock and dam are located along the

near the north central

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

village of Utica. The

lock and dam A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a chamber in a permanently fixed position i ...

is at

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its river mouth, mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometre, kilometers is the river kilometer. They are an ...

231 just upstream from Plum Island.Hay, Jerry M. ''Illinois Waterway Guidebook'',
Google Books link
, Inland Waterways Books, 2009, pp. 64–67, (). The facility is presently operated by the

History

The Starved Rock Lock and Dam was constructed between 1926 and 1933 as an element of the Illinois Waterway. The Waterway was a project designed to provide a navigable channel from the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

via the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

.Barta, Nancy Hill. ''Starved Rock State Park'',
Google Books link
,

Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American Publishing, publisher of neighborhood, local history, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs th ...

, 2007, pp. 7–8, (). The contract for construction of the lock and dam was originally awarded in 1923 but fell through when the contractor failed to show up for the contract signing. Following a period of time during which land litigation issues were cleared, a second contract was awarded in 1926. The lock and dam was about 95 percent complete when the state of Illinois fell upon financial difficulty and the project was turned over to the federal government for completion. Under the authority of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930 the federal government oversaw the completion of Starved Rock Lock and Dam in 1933. Construction of the facility cost US$4,462,737; of that amount, $3,577,419 was provided by the state and $885,318 was federal money.Upper Mississippi River – Illinois Waterway System Locks & Dams
", ''

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

'' – Mississippi Valley Division, September 2009, p. 71, accessed June 16, 2011.

Design

Starved Rock Lock and Dam features a straight-crested,

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is ...

long. The dam consists of a head gate of and a

controlled spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

of .Starved Rock Lock and Dam
", ''

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). It administers three programs established to document historic places in the United States: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American E ...

'', p. 2-3. The dam is wide at its base, wide at the crest of the head gate and wide at the crest of the

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

. The dam's height above the riverbed varies from . The lock at Starved Rock Lock and Dam is an Ohio River Standard navigational lock of . The lock has a drop/lift of about .Rhodes, Rick. ''Cruising Guide from Lake Michigan to Kentucky Lake: The Heartland Rivers Route'',
Google Books link
,

Pelican Publishing Pelican Publishing Company is a book publisher based in Elmwood, Louisiana, with a New Orleans postal address. - The address states "New Orleans, LA" but the physical location iin the Elmwood CDP Walter Mickle Smith Walter Mickle Smith, Sr. (October 26, 1867 - March 12, 1953) was a civil engineer who worked primarily on U.S. dams and waterway projects. He was a consulting engineer on the construction of the Panama Canal and Panama Canal Locks and later served ...

was hired as Chief Design Engineer for the Illinois Waterway Project by Mortimer Grant Barnes,

Illinois Governor The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

Frank O. Lowden Frank Orren Lowden (January 26, 1861 – March 20, 1943) was an American Republican Party politician who served as the 25th Governor of Illinois and as a United States Representative from Illinois. He was also a candidate for the Republican pre ...

's appointee to oversee the Waterway Project. Thus, Mickle designed the facilities at Starved Rock Lock and Dam.Starved Rock Lock and Dam
", ''

'', pp. 20–27 Legislation which codified the construction of the Waterway only stipulated the general design and location of the locks and dams along the Illinois River; the details were left to Barnes, Smith and other engineers. Barnes had 20 years' experience as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

and had worked as an assistant to the engineer in charge of the construction of the

Panama Canal locks The Panama Canal locks () are a Canal lock, lock system that lifts ships up to the main elevation of the Panama Canal and lowers them down again. The original canal had a total of six steps (three up, three down) for a ship's passage. The tota ...

when Lowden tapped him to head the project.Starved Rock Lock and Dam
", ''

'', p. 20-21. Smith worked with Barnes on the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

project; they had both resigned in 1907 to go to work for the New York Board of Water Supply. Together the two men also formed a general hydraulic and

construction engineering Construction engineering, also known as construction operations, is a professional subdiscipline of civil engineering that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and operations management of infrastructure such as roadways, tunnels, bri ...

firm.

Hydroelectric power plant

A hydroelectric power station generates a peak of 7,600 kW of electricity, and is operated by the city of Peru, Illinois. The power plant has experienced two fires since its construction.

Historic district

On March 10, 2004, the Starved Rock Lock and Dam was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as the Starved Rock Lock and Dam Historic District. It was listed as part of the Illinois Waterway Navigation System Facilities

Multiple Property Submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

.Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 4/30/07 Through 5/4/07
, ''

'' via National Park Service, May 11, 2007, accessed June 15, 2011. Starved Rock was deemed eligible for the listing when the rest of the Illinois Waterway was also determined eligible; the day Starved Rock Lock and Dam was listed the other 7 lock and dam sites on the Waterway were also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district has significance in three areas. According to the National Register of Historic Places' criteria, those are: engineering, transportation and maritime history.Starved Rock Lock and Dam Historic District
", Property Information Report, HAARGIS Database via ''

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of ...

'', accessed June 16, 2011. The

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

consists of five total buildings and structures. One building and two structures are

contributing members In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

to the historic district and two buildings are considered non-contributing members. Starved Rock Lock and Dam Historic District covers .

Notes

External links

* {{Crossings navbox , structure=Crossings , place=

, bridge=Starved Rock Lock and Dam , bridge signs= , upstream=

Ottawa Rail Bridge Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau ...

, upstream signs= , downstream= Utica Bridge , downstream signs= Illinois 178

, note= Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Historic American Engineering Record in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in LaSalle County, Illinois Illinois River Locks on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Transport infrastructure completed in 1933 United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois