Yesterday, Sept. 25, I woke up feeling awful with this bug that's going around. It was not enough to knock me down, but it did make me question what I can and should do on a given day. I needed to get out of the house to determine how I would function that day, so I drove over to Lock and Dam 27. It had been a few weeks since I had been there, and I was due for a visit.
I wrote about that visit in a column on the Opinion page of this morning's edition of The Herald-Dispatch. If you can't get past the paywall and don't want to pay to read it, I'll summarize it for you here:
- The concrete is more than a hundred years old and is falling apart slowly.
- The state has set aside $5 million for improvements at the park there at the old dam site.
- I enjoy the site because it's like urban archaeology. I enjoy finding old pieces of the lock equipment that remain and wonder what function they served.
- When the park is improved, I hope it retains the same ambience it has today.
I'm no expert on concrete, but it looks like there were two kinds used in the construction of the locks. There was a very rough mixture that formed most of the lock walls, and there was a smoother layer on top of it. You can see what I mean in one of the pictures below.
Speaking of which ...
I also got a few shots of the park's flora and fauna.
After visiting the park, I decided I was strong enough to work, but I worked from home just to be safe.
I look forward to seeing the plans for the park once I can talk someone into letting me take a peek.
And today, I got an email from someone who grew up near Lock & Dam 27. He sent me a link to his web page, which has the only photo I can recall seeing of the powerhouse at the dam.
