2014-10-07 Illinois & Michigan Canal

The Erie Canal is famous. The Illinois & Michigan Canal should be just as famous. The Erie Canal allowed shipments to get TO Chicago through the Great Lakes. The I&M Canal allow cargo to get FROM Chicago to the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico. THAT was a big deal in 1848 when it was completed.

With this 96 mile link the center of trade in the Midwest was shifted from St Louis to Chicago.

Passenger service through the 15 locks and five aqueducts was only viable for about 5 years though until the railroad was built pretty much right next to it.

Cargo carrying, mostly grain, wood, and rocks, lasted until about 1890. They upgraded from mules pulling barges to steam-driven boats around 1870 and the most amount of cargo moved was in 1882.

After 1900 commercial traffic stopped and recreation usage started and then the canal was closed around 1933.

We had explored the canal earlier in the week with a walk on our day off.

The canal today is mostly filled with green slimy water and vegetation. The bike/walking/running trail follows the old tow paths next to the canal.

There are many, many places to access the pathway and it seems to be well maintained.

Our adventure today was to go to the end of the canal, La Salle, and experience being in a canal boat towed by a mule along the canal - just like in the old days.

We drove along the roads closest to the canal and stopped at access points to walk along the path and to view old mule barns, old locks, toll houses, replica boats, and lock master houses.

Eventually we made it to La Salle, bought our tickets, and got down to the water in time to see a boat and mule coming back to the landing.

30 minutes later it was our turn to board and we were the only passengers on the boat!

The crew consisted of a pilot, a linesman, a mule handler, and a storyteller.

The boat was a replica of what the boats were like 150 years ago and had a small, unseen motor for assistance for safety sake.

The storyteller followed us around the boat as we took pictures and he told us the tale of the canal and the cities along the route.

On our way back home we located one of the locks on the Illinois River that took over for the I&M Canal and we watched as a huge 12 barge tow was moved through the lock until the visitor's center closed at 5pm.

2014-09-20 Padelford Cruise Mississippi River

We just love riverboat cruising in the towns we visit and we are especially fond of the Missisppi River. From New Orleans to Natchez to St  Louis to La Crosse to St Paul. If we can find 'em, we cruise on 'em.

The sky was blue and the temperature was perfect for our 4 hour cruise from Harriet Island in St Paul, MN upriver a few miles past Lock and Dam #1 and then returning.

Padelford Boats, there are 3 of them now, have been working on the Mississippi River for 45 years now. The Jonathan Padelford has a paddlewheel on the stern and can carry up to 200 passengers. The Anson Northrup that we were on is a sidewheeler and can feed 225 people on their lunch cruises. They also have an unpowered party barge that can be towed or coupled with the Anson Northrup and it seats 175 for meals or 300 people with just drinks in their hands.

We were assigned a table before boarding and when we got on we dropped off our backpack and started exploring and staking out a spot in the sunshine with a view of the water from the second deck.

The vessel is two floors high for passengers with the 3rd floor reserved for the pilothouse. Lunch would be on the second floor where tables and silverware bundles were setup, while the first floor had tables only along the wall and would be for inside site-seers only.

As we were getting ready to leave, 10's of kayakers were paddling our way from the marina just upriver of our dock. It was a steady stream of them as we blasted our horn for a good 7 seconds to let them know we were on our way away from the dock.

Most of the information we got while underway was from a recording from some retired news anchor guy that the locals knew. While not as much fun as a Jungle Cruise captain from Disneyland, it was helpful to get to know the river nonetheless.

Along the way we saw pleasure boaters, speed boaters, wave runners, fishermen, birds, rock climbers, and beach walkers. 75% of the shoreline was undeveloped with trees or rocks down to the water.

Lunch was called about 20 minutes before we got to the Lock and Dam - poor timing to be sure. While we waited our turn to get in the buffet line I took some pictures of our approach. We ate hurriedly so we could get out and experience the locking procedure.

Our biggest thrill WAS going through Lock and Dam #1 - the same one we had visited and photographed earlier in the week. This perspective was from INSIDE the lock and let's hope you don't get claustrophobia as the gates close behind you, the water pours in and you are lifted 35' to the upper lake created by the dam.

A few miles upriver we turned around and returned through the lock with a bunch of kayakers and a small pleasure boat.

As we headed downriver to our dock everything looked different - until I went to the other side of the boat and then I recognized everything!

Arriving at the dock we saw their sternwheeler paddlewheel boat, Jonathan Padelford, out on the water. Next to riding these boats we like taking pictures of them.

We reluctently left the boat and headed out for a leisurely drive along the east River Road along the Mississippi River back to our RV in Minneapolis. Crossing the Wabasha Bridge Karen spied ANOTHER paddlewheel boat on the shore downriver - IT WAS THE AMERICAN QUEEN!

Evidently we hadn't done our research well enough and we had missed that she would actually be in town while we were here.

We found our way down to the waterfront and I dropped off Karen so she could take some pictures of the stern while I went and parked the truck a 1/4 mile down the road in the parking lot.

What a great find! In past years Karen and I shadow these boats from city to city taking pictures of them along the river. Seeing and photographing these paddlewheelers between cities was like finally finding a collectible you had been searching for.

We probably spent an hour there watching the passengers arrive via their special bus and listening to the jazz band play songs as they boarded. It was so exciting it almost made us want to forget the $6,000 a week it would take for us to cruise her and just GO! Someday, we will go, again. We love river cruising too much not to go.

Our talk on the way home was about dreaming how and when we could go cruising on a paddlewheel boat in the future and then these smiles will really be worthwhile.