Kids visit Great Rivers Museum

Twelve-year-old Steve Austin last month got a chance to be a "virtual" river barge operator. He also saw how a real Mississippi River lock and dam works.

The Glencoe, Mo., kid was in a school group that visited the new National Great Rivers Museum in East Alton, Ill. It's right next to the giant Melvin Price Locks and Dam that spans the Mississippi.

The new museum's grand opening was October 15. It's filled with interactive displays. One lets kids experience what it's like to be a towboat operator trying to fit a bunch of big barges into the locks.

After the virtual reality experience, kids can go outside for a tour of the real locks and dam. If they're lucky, they can watch a real skipper fit full-sized barges in the locks.

Steve Austin

Steve said, "I like the museum's interactive parts. They explain a lot about the river."

About the real locks and dam, the seventh-grader said, "I thought it might be smaller but it turned out to be larger." The visit was Steve's first to the Melvin Price locks and dam.

The bigger of two locks can handle a towboat and up to 15 barges at one time. Once inside, the towboat and barges are lifted 20 feet or more so they can proceed up or down the Mississippi River.

In the upper reaches of the Mississippi River, the U.S. Corps of Engineers maintains a series of 29 locks and dams. Without the locks and dams, it would be impossible for big boats and barges to get up and down the river.

The locks and dams create "slack water" pools to keep the river deep enough for travel. There's a fall of nearly 500 feet in the Mississippi from St. Paul, Minn., and St. Louis.

Elaina (left) and Veronica Hoppe

Sisters Veronica and Elaina Hoppe of Eureka, Mo., have been on the Mississippi River before. But, this was their first visit to the museum and the locks and dam.

Eleven-year-old Elaina enjoyed the chance to go atop the locks and dam and look down. "It was bigger and higher than I had thought," the sixth-grader said.

Thirteen-year-old Veronica said she liked the chance to see different water levels. "I could see two bodies of water next to each other. One was up and the other down," she said.

Kayla Rico

The girls have been on rivers lots of times. Their family lives near the confluence of the Big and Meramec rivers at Eureka and have taken lots of float trips. They had been to the Mississippi to watch the eagles.

The Melvin Price Locks and Dam is a popular place for eagle watching in the winter. That's because the river current going through the dam keeps the water from freezing.

Their tour guide said, "The fish get dazed going through the dam. That makes them easy for the eagles to catch."

Eight-year-old Kayla Rico of O'Fallon, Mo., was one of the younger school kids taking the tour of the museum and locks and dam.

Her favorite part was going to the top of the locks and dam. She climbed on the railing and looked down into the river. The walkway on the locks is 80 feet above the river.

Kayla said she's a good swimmer but she's sure the Mississippi River current would be too much for her.

The new museum explains a lot about the history of the Mississippi River and the importance of river traffic. St. Louis is the second biggest port on the Mississippi, second only to New Orleans.

Before the railroads and paved highways came, river boats carried lots of passengers.

Now, the Mississippi is used to transport lots of grain, coal, fertilizer and other bulk goods. Seventy million tons of bulk commodities go through the Alton facility every year.

If you like rivers and history, the National Great Rivers Museum is a good place to go.

The museum is open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are guided tours of the locks and dam three times a day.

There's a good chance you'll be able to see how the locks work.

To learn more, check the Corps of Engineers website at www.mvs.usace.army.mil. Then click on Recreation tab, then River Project Region, then Museum.

Also, you can learn about other recreation opportunities near the locks and dam. On the website's Recreation layer, click on Recreation Sites for more than a dozen fun sites.

Or you can call (636) 899-2600 for information or for advance tour registration.