Caledonia Argus

Barges perform ìwater balletî

Posted: 9/2/03

by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

The bow of the ìPatrick Gannawayî has a towboatís flattened look ó the look of a bullyís hand about to shove.

Operated by Aggregate Industries, a large, British-owned company which mines and quarries in the southeast metro, the ìPatrick Gannawayî is part of a water-borne transportation fleet gliding beneath Mississippi River bridges largely unnoticed.

Some argue those who look only landward are missing a show.

ìItís a great, big water ballet, is what it is,î said Mark Duncan, river pilot and Aggregate Industriesí plant manager, of the intricate commerce gliding on the river.

Built in 1977 and designed to fit the locks on the upper river, the ìPatrick Gannawayî may make several trips a day upriver into Minneapolis with loads of aggregate ó sand, gravel.

This means passing through three locks: Lock No. 1 at the Ford Dam and the Lower and Upper locks in downtown Minneapolis.

This is not a straight in-and-out game.

It requires unhooking the barge once in the lock and snuggling the towboat up next to them within the restrictive space of the lock chamber ó about 56-feet wide.

As an active person can jump across the chamber using the barge and towboat for steppingstones, the finesse required in the maneuvering might be imagined.

ìItís an art,î Duncan said of piloting.

The two barges the ìPatrick Gannawayî muscles with its 850 H.P. engine stretch out before her a distance greater than the length of a football field.

The front end of the barge will be well cleared from beneath a bridge before the towboat enters the shadow.

When loaded, the barges carry some 2400 tons of aggregate.

These are not trifling amounts.

According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, a single barge loaded with 1,500 tons carries the equivalent of 15 jumbo railroad hopper cars or 58 large semi trucks.

And one gallon of fuel can move one ton of freight 514 miles on the river, barge advocates claim.

This is far more efficient than shipping by rail or truck, itís argued.

One of the biggest things about barge transportation is that so much cargo is moved so seamlessly, Duncan argues.

ìWith nobody really noticing at all,î he said.

If thatís assertion is true, then Minnesotans overlook about 21 percent of total freight hauled in Minnesota, according to a 2000 MnDot study.

Railroads carry 47 percent of freight, with trucks carrying 32 percent.

In terms of total freight value ó and which might be guessed by the nature of commodity hauling ó truck in 1999 hauled 84 percent of the total value of cargo, or $252 billion.

Railroads carried 12 percent, with barge traffic accounting for three percent of total value or about $7.6 billion.

But in terms of sheer picturesqueness, itís hard to beat the river.

And as pilots such as Mark Twain have noticed, too, the river has its ways.

Although pilot now have radar tracing the shoreline and barges run with the certainty the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is intent on keeping the nine-foot channel open, variables of wind and current are always at play.

One tricky spot for pilots is coming out of the locks in Minneapolis with water boiling over the dams nearby and bridge supports ahead ó barges have broken loose here.

One sharp curve below Lock No. 1 bears the name Monkey Rudder Bend, a name given by old rivermen because of the number of boat rudders bent or broken in trying to navigate it.

As any other outside activity dependent on liquid water, barge traffic in Minnesota is delegated to about a seven month a year.

High water, fog, heavy rain or snow can also bring barges to a stop.

ìYou canít run over something if youíre not moving,î quipped one pilot.

What the benefits of working on barges?

Deckhands speak of being outdoors and moving along a pretty river, but there are other perks.

Retrieved from river: cribbage board with pegs (suitable as a gift), fortune-telling eight ball. Inspired by the writings of Thor Heyerdahl, fish have been caught by the tail from deck.

A barge can double for a stage: a deckhand keeps a bucket of tennis balls nearby so he can juggle for people peering down from the observation decks at locks.

Itís not all sunshine and overhead audiences.

ìEverybody wants my job in July and August,î said a deckhand.

ìHow about in November,î he said, grinning.

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