Improvements for logging and steamboats continued under Major Jones. He cleared a 5-foot channel on the St. Croix River below Stillwater and a 3-foot channel above Stillwater. Jones built the Sandy Lake reservoir with a lock for steamboats and designed reservoirs and canals for the Red River. To improve the entrance to the Mississippi River, the Minnesota River was closed with a brush dam, and flow was diverted to the Fort Snelling chute. Engineers under Jones’ direction constructed roads, planned tourist facilities, and preserved the natural beauty of Yellowstone Park – our first national park.