Ford Dam, officially known as Lock and Dam No. 1, is on the Upper

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

and is located between

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

just north of the confluence of the Mississippi with the Minnesota River at Mississippi River mile 847.9, in Minneapolis. The powerhouse portion was previously owned by the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

, which operated a hydroelectric power station to feed electricity to its

Twin Cities Assembly Plant The Twin Cities Assembly Plant is a former Ford Motor Company manufacturing facility in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1912, Ford's first assembly and sales activities in Minnesota began in a former wareh ...

on the east side of the river. It was sold to Brookfield Power Co. in April 2008. The dual-

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

facility and dam was built and is operated by the St. Paul district of the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

Mississippi Valley Division The United States Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi Valley Division (MVD) is responsible for the Corps water resources programs within 370,000-square-miles of the Mississippi River Valley, as well as the watershed portions of the Red River ...

History

The first facility at the site went into operation in 1917 and superseded the role of the earlier Lock and Dam No. 2 (today known as the Meeker Island Lock and Dam). The facility was rebuilt in 1929, and an expansion from one lock to two locks was completed in 1932. Each lock is wide by long (17 × 122 meters), half the width of the next lock downstream, though this is the only dual-lock facility in the district. The lift is about . Major rehabilitation efforts were carried out between 1978 and 1983, including the replacement of many manual and

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...

components with computer controls. The eastern portion of the site consists of an overflow Ambursen dam, which is a

buttress dam A buttress dam or hollow dam is a dam with a solid, water-tight upstream side that is supported at intervals on the downstream side by a series of buttresses or supports. The dam wall may be straight or curved. Most buttress dams are made of reinfor ...

where the upstream part is a relatively thin flat slab usually made of reinforced concrete. The lift is . There is an inflatable flashboard system on top of the dam that can increase the lift by when so desired. The lock side of the facility has a large observation area that is open from April to November each year. A bridge allows visitors to walk over the two locks and right up next to the dam. The Corps built a base for a hydroelectric plant in the 1917 dam but Federal law required that the plant not be built by the government. Ford built the powerhouse, completed 1924, to power an assembly plant Ford also built on top of the bluff adjacent to the plant. The assembly plant closed in 2011 and the land is being redeveloped for residential and commercial uses. The powerhouse is long by wide and is built into the east end of the dam. It includes 4 turbines and generators with a total capacity of 17,920 kW using 7,000 cfs of water. It generates about 97,100 megawatthours (MWh) a year, supplies all the electricity to the assembly plant, plus free power to the lock and dam, and 22,000 MWh (22%) is sold to the local power grid. Now all the power goes to the grid (and lock and dam). When the facility opened, it assured a navigable channel up to the tail end of

Saint Anthony Falls Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony ( dak, italics=no, Owámniyomni, ) located at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural major waterfall on the Mississippi River. Throughout the mid-to-late 1 ...

upriver in

. Additional locks were added there in the 1960s, extending the head of navigation to a dam in Coon Rapids (without any lock), until their closure in 2015. Just upstream of the dam is the Ford Parkway Bridge. File:Lock and Dam number 1 with towboat.jpg, Towboat ''Patrick Gannaway'' taking a load of sand and gravel through Lock Number 1 File:Lock_and_dam_1.jpeg Ford Lock and Dam

Repair

In November 1958, extensive repairs to the dam began to correct serious leaking from one of the walls, which did not complete until the opening of river traffic in the spring of 1959. To prevent the underwashing of the entire structure, Ashbach Construction filled each wall crack and tunnel by Neoprin and concrete.

References

External links

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District: Lock and Dam 1
* {{Locks and dams of the Upper Mississippi River, before= Meeker Island Lock and Dam (former Lock and Dam No. 2, demolished), after=

Lock and Dam No. 2 Lock and Dam No. 2 is located along the Upper Mississippi River near Hastings, Minnesota and construction commenced in 1927. The eastern dam portion is wide and has 19 tainter gates. A hydroelectric station that produces about 4.4 megawatts ...

Transportation buildings and structures in Minneapolis Buildings and structures in Saint Paul, Minnesota Dams in Minnesota Historic American Engineering Record in Minnesota Mississippi Gorge Mississippi National River and Recreation Area Mississippi River locks United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Transport infrastructure completed in 1917 Buttress dams Dams on the Mississippi River Mississippi Valley Division 1917 establishments in Minnesota Locks of Minnesota Hydroelectric power plants in Minnesota

History

Repair

See also

References

Further reading

External links