Corps of Engineers hosts open house at Lock and Dam 10

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is hosting an open house at Lock and Dam 10, in Guttenberg, Iowa, Saturday, Sept. 23, in conjunction with the 33rd annual GermanFest.

The lock, located at 5 Lock and Dam Lane, in Guttenberg, will be open to the public from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. GermanFest is held annually in Guttenberg to celebrate the community’s German heritage.

The open house allows the public to get a behind-th-scenes perspective of the lock and dam while meeting lock staff and learning about the importance of navigation to the region. Visitors will also learn about the importance of water safety and environmental stewardship while catching a front-row seat as vessels lock through.

The St. Paul District navigation program provides a safe, reliable, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation system on the Upper Mississippi River for the movement of commercial goods and for national security needs. To do this, the district maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and 13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. Keeping this system open is vital to the nation’s economy. Nearly 12 million tons of commodities passed through Lock and Dam 10 in 2022. This included nearly 8 million tons of farm products such as corn and soybeans. The industries making these shipments saved approximately $430 million by using the inland waterways instead of overland shipping methods.

-30-