Exploring Our Industrial Heritage – The Illinois River Valley (Part II)
Starved Rock Lock and Dam
As I hiked the trails of Starved Rock State Park, along the Illinois River, I noticed the beauty of the park intertwining with the industrial structures of the waterway. One such experience was observing the many squadrons of migrating American White Pelicans floating on the river below the Starved Rock Lock and Dam.
The Starved Rock Lock and Dam, also known as Lock and Dam No. 6, is an extremely impressive structure. The facility is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and completed construction in 1933. The dam is located at river mile mark 231, it is 1429 feet across and creates a pool of water containment 459 feet deep while the waterfall is 19 feet and spans the full width of the dam. The lock and dam was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Starved Rock Lock and Dam is just one element of the Illinois Waterway and the waterway was a project designed to provide a navigable channel from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. This area has significance in three areas according to the National Register of Historic Places, and these are: engineering, transportation and maritime history. Starved Rock is the southernmost facility in the original Illinois Waterway and it substantially increased the level of waterborne commercial traffic through the heart of the country. In a typical year, the lock handles over 5,000 barges and 22 million tons of cargo.
The dam also features a small hydro-electric plant called the Peru Hydro-Electric Plant. The city of Peru owns and manages the Starved Rock hydroelectric power station—the only such energy generating facility on the Illinois River. The city has owned and operated its own electric generation, transmission, and distribution system continuously since 1891. The plant utilizes up to 7,200 cubic feet per second of river water to generate up to 7,600 kilowatts of electrical power. A nine-mile line transfers power to Peru’s substation. Peru remains committed to its hydro-electric power source, which is why Peru has some of the state's lowest electric rates for residents and businesses. The plant was built with 4 generators. One generator failed shortly after the plant went on-line. As a result, today it is operated with only 2 generators active at one time.
While I've traveled throughout much of the United States and I’ve visited many places where industry and nature cohabitate, I have not seen any areas whereas the geology supports both industry and nature so wonderfully. This aspect of Starved Rock fit me perfectly because I am someone who loves to hike, fish and be out in nature but I also spent 40-years in the manufacturing field and so I can really appreciate how industry supports our daily lives. I simultaneously respect nature and industry because I know that we need both to exist in balance to thrive as a society.
Often we visit our beautiful parks or look at the nice architecture of our city buildings, or we notice quaint neighborhoods as we drive through and we realize how great our country truly is. Yet rarely do we look at our industrial centers and get the same sense of awe and appreciation. I think we need to change our perspective a little.
Think about it on your way home from work one day. You drive in a manufactured vehicle. You arrive at your house and open the manufactured door that is hinged on manufactured hinges, step onto the manufactured floor, turn on the manufactured light, change into more comfortable manufactured clothes….I mean the list is endless. But do you ever drive through an industrial park and consider all of the daily gifts that it's production provides us?
I think the Starved Rock area of Illinois is a wonderful place with a beautiful and historic state park on one side of the river and a historically wonderful industrial heritage on the other. The waterway itself is an awesome testimony of our industrial backbone. When progress and nature are kept in balance, life truly thrives.
Learn more about our industrial heritage and check out my other T4T articles, including, my article about Oklahoma City or my personal favorite about whiskey country
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