9 Foot Navigation Channel
- A 400 foot wide channel marked by buoys in the river
maintained to a 9 foot depth.
Barge - A container vessel
designed to be pushed or pulled up or down the river.
Chamber - the enclosed space
between the walls, gates, and floor of the lock.
Channel - the deeper part of
the river.
Cofferdam - a temporary
watertight enclosure.
Confluence - a coming together
or gathering at one point.
Dam - An artificial barrier
constructed in or across a waterway for the primary purpose of
impounding or diverting water.
Draft - The depth of water
needed to float a boat, measured from the waterline to lowest point
of the boat’s keel. The main channel of the Mississippi River
provides a nine-foot draft.
Dredging - To deepen a
waterway.
Ecosystem - a community of
organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit.
Gulf of Mexico - where the
Mississippi River ends.
Illinois River - River begins
at Lake Michigan, runs through Illinois and ends at the Mississippi
River in Grafton, IL.
Lake Itasca, Minnesota - where
the Mississippi River begins.
Levee - an embankment built
alongside a river to prevent high water from flooding bordering
land.
Lock - A chamber at the dams
for bringing boats to the level of the next pool.
Meander - The winding path or
course a river takes.
Melvin Price - Congressman
from Belleville, IL who was elected to 21 terms.
Micromodel - small scale
replica of river or streams.
Miter Gate - 80’ x 60’ gates,
hinged on one side and mitered at a 45 degree angle.
Mississippi River - principal
river of the United States, 2,350 miles long. Drains all or part of
31 states.
Missouri River - one of the
tributaries of the Mississippi. The Missouri river flows in 17 miles
North of St. Louis.
Navigation - the act of
steering or directing ships from place to place.
Navigation Chart - a guide for
boaters showing river information.
Tainter Gate - Supported on two
rockers, the tainter gate was convex on the upstream side. The rush of
water helped open and close the gates.
Tow Boat - A boat that pushes
rather than pulls its river load.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -
The federal agency, which is a branch of the Army, designated to
make the Mississippi River and other inland waterways navigable.
Watershed - An area drained by
a river system.
Valve - A device fitted to a
pipeline in which the closure member is either rotated or moved in
the waterway so as to control or stop the flow.
