Upper Mississippi River Dam – Winona MN

City:
Winona, MN

Site Type:
Infrastructure and Utilities, Water Supply

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)

Description

"The Upper Mississippi navigation project is one element of the system of inland waterway improvements to link the agricultural Middle West with the industrial East, and the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico.

Dam No. 5-A is typical of several under construction or completed which will maintain water levels during periods of low-stream flow at a minimum depth of 9 feet throughout the length of the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to the mouth of the Ohio River. The dam is approximately 580 feet in length and each gate is 80 feet long by 20 feet high. The maximum height from foundation to service bridge is 62 feet. The gates are steel and the electrically driven operating machinery is housed in the structures on top of the piers. The control-gate section occupies the entire width of the low-water channel and sections of fixed dam extend on either side of it to the bluffs. An overflow spillway section is provided to aid the passage of flood water. A lock section is provided at one of the river banks to accommodate navigation. The entire dam, with the exception of the steel Tainter gates, is constructed of reinforced concrete and was design by the Corps of Engineers of the War Department with the advice of a consulting architect.

The project was completed in August 1936 and the P.W.A. allotment for Dam Number 5-A was $2,406,000 which covered its entire cost."

Source notes

C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown. "Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration." (1939).

Location Info


Mississippi River
Winona, MN 55987

Location notes:
Dam Number 5-A.

Coordinates: 44.085119, -91.67369

Site Details

Total Cost
$2,406,000.00

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