piclady's Photos : Mississippi & Ohio Rivers- powered by SmugMug

Kathy Heitman "THE PICTURE LADY"

Mississippi & Ohio Rivers Galleries

National Great Rivers Museum

Jack Tries A Barge Simulator : The simulator uses "Pilot House" computer software. It is based on software to train river pilots to guide a 1,000-ft. tow of barges through rivers, locks and under bridges.

Working this simulator is not easy. Jack could swim about the same time he could walk and spent most of his childhood on the water, be it a lake or the River. I drove each of our boats throughout the years very well, but when I tried this I failed miserably and quickly. One young boy who watched me was polite when he put his hand on my arm and informed me of my gender challenge, "Don't worry about crashing ma'am. It's 'cause you're a girl."

Jack Tries A Barge Simulator

Melvin Price Lock & Dam #26 : Located 2 miles downriver from the original Locks & Dam, the Melvin Price Locks & Dam #26 is run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It's great for learning firsthand about river commerce while watching the barges going through the lock. It is located off Hwy. 143, East Alton, Illinois (877) 462-6979. Hours are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily with daily tours at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The guides will take you up an elevator where you will exit outside above the lock, be able to walk all over above the facility and into an air-conditioned room to watch barges going back and forth through the lock.

Melvin Price Lock & Dam #26

Barges : Being born and raised just minutes from the shore of the neatest river in the world, the Mighty Mississippi, is something I am very proud of. I spent a good deal of my childhood, and a lot of time when I go back there, standing on the shoreline waving and blowing my proverbial horn at these giants of the rivers, waiting for a wave back or a long horn blowing by the Captain. I've known those who work for the barge companies and have heard the stories. In the late 1920's my maternal grandaddy fell overboard to his death off a barge in St. Louis. The River is a dangerous place with it's swift current and swirling eddys. Each time I go back to the Midwest I head straight for the River, put my feet in the Mississippi Mud, wait for the barges, wave, blow my proverbial horn and feel like a kid experiencing it for the first time. The River will always be a part of me.

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