Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Project, Lock & Dam No. 7, Dresbach, Winona County, MN

Significance: The Upper Mississippi River Lock and Dam Project represents one of the largest and most ambitious of such undertakings. With root in the Progressive Era, the project was adopted by New Deal proponents to serve the needs of public employment during the Great Depression. Its successful completion turned the upper reaches of one of the world's largest rivers, the Mississippi River, into a intra-continental canal and settled the question of a fully navigable interior river system through the Midwest. Completion of the system helped allay economic inequities in commercial rail and water freight rates brought about as a result of the opening of the Panama Canal. Although significantly altering the environment of the upper Mississippi, the project also served as an impetus for the upgrading of municipal drinking water and sewage disposal systems, as well as providing new recreational opportunities, thus, in the end, proving generally beneficial to public welfare.

Survey number: HAER MN-24

Building/structure dates: 1933-1940 Initial Construction

locks hydraulic facilities dams navigation hydraulic engineering new deal dresbach upper mississippi upper mississippi river channel project lock dam winona winona county mississippi river minnesota clayton b fraser historic american engineering record william patrick o brien us army corps of engineers photo channel project ultra high resolution high resolution river system industrial history construction sites construction library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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