Lock & Dam Question

Anybody know what the measurements on the side wall of the locks are for? They seem to be a measurement of the level of water, but according to what?

If, you mean the level scale ‘inside’ the chamber, then this would be the level of the water from the bottom of the chamber. Hope this helps. -John

I thought there was a reading of ft above sea level in there somewhere too. Prolly not.
BTW, river has dropped about a foot at toolsboro since it started back down. Rollers are still wide open and looks like a couple of work barges at the auxillary locks.

These numbers and marks are on the outside of the lock up from the Toolsboro landing. Another question is when looking in the paper the flood stage level is given and the level that day in comparison to flood stage,”is the flood stage measured from the top of the levee to the bottom of the channel?”

Not sure exactly how they measure flood stage. But I’m pretty sure they don’t use the top of the levee as a starting point because the height of the levee varies the full length of it. I have heard the terms (bank full) in the same sentence with (flood stage). An example is the Keithsburg pool, #18, flood stage is 13ft., and that will bring the water level to bank full, reaching just to the bottom of the levee in most places. Pool #9, Lansing, flood stage is 18ft. At flood stage they will have some major water problems deeper than bank full.
So, I don’t know how they come by the formula for determining these readings.

I suppose somebody from the corp might enlighten us. Anybody know how to contact their website?

http://www.usace.army.mil/

Thanks

Got a phone number off the web site. called it today and spoke to a guy from Rock Island. He didn’t know the answer for sure but said he would find out and get back to me. will let you know when I find out.