Thursday, October 18, 2012

Rising Sun and the Markland Dam

Wednesday was a beautiful day in southern Indiana, with temps in the 70s and lots of sunshine!  Once everybody was finished with work and school, we decided to take a drive and see what we could find.

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Casey had a swim in the river earlier, so Nick decided to give her a good brushing before we left.

The campground is on the Ohio River, in the little town of Rising Sun, IN.  They have some cute restaurants and shops, and a nice riverside park with a very interesting fountain.

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The riverbank is built like an amphitheater, overlooking the water . . . our guess is that they must have ski shows in the summer. 

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Apparently, this was the site of a famous ski show in the 50s – Hoosier Boy.

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We admired the view from the river for awhile, and then headed back to the car to continue south.

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We heard there was a dam south of here a little ways, so we wanted to go check it out.

Markland Dam provides a place to cross the Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky.

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We crossed over to the Kentucky side to view the locks from the observation tower.   The dam and locks are administered by the Army Corps of Engineers, and it felt like we were entering a prison when we walked to the observation tower!

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The locks provide a place for barges carrying coal to get past the dam.  We just happened to arrive as a coal-filled barge was entering the larger lock.

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We watched from the viewing platform as the barge was pushed into place in the lock.  (This isn’t on the same scale as the Soo Locks, but still interesting!)

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Finally the barge was all the way in, and it was time for the big hydraulic wheels to close the doors behind it!

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This barge was travelling from the higher side of the lock to the lower side, so we started out being able to see the entire barge.

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As the water was pumped out of the lock into the river, the barge gradually dropped until we could no longer see it.

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The boys patiently waited for the barge to exit the lock at the other end.

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Finally, it was all the way through, and continuing down the river!

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Back at the campground, we started a fire and had brats and hot dogs (and marshmallows!) for dinner.  It was a beautiful evening!

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4 comments:

  1. WE stayed at the Rising Sun campground it was great,if you have't already take the boys to the Newport KY Aquarium it is well worth the admission with all kinds og large sea water fish, Sharks,Rays, whales you name it. I great place to spend an afternoon. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

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  2. LOOK LIKE A REALLY NICE CAMPGROUD. GLAD THE WEATHER IS STAYING NICE FOR YOU. TELL EVERYONE HI
    LOVE U
    D

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  3. I've never seen a boat going through the locks before, but I think that's an amazing feat of engineering and I hope to see it someday.

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  4. I don't think they use pumps in locks. If they need to raise a barge, open the upstream valves and the water normally flows into the lock. Need to lower, open the down stream valves and let the water run out. A perfect example of harnessing nature to man's will.

    JC

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