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The system was renamed the McAlpine Locks and Dam in 1960 in honor of William McAlpine, who was the only civilian to have ever served as district engineer for the Corps of Louisville. At present, the normal pool elevation is 420 feet (130 m) above sea level and the drainage area above the dam is 91,170 square miles (236,000 km 2 ).
The Louisville and Portland Canal was a 2-mile (3.2 km) canal bypassing the Falls of the Ohio River at Louisville, Kentucky.The Falls form the only barrier to navigation between the origin of the Ohio at Pittsburgh and the port of New Orleans near the Gulf of Mexico; circumventing them was long a goal for Pennsylvanian and Cincinnatian merchants. [1]
The program's purpose was to replace the system of outdated wicket dams and small locks. The new dams were non-navigable and made of concrete and steel. Each dam has two adjoining locks, one 600-foot by 110-foot chamber, and a 1,200-foot by 110-foot chamber to accommodate fifteen barges that can lock through in one maneuver. [2]
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The towers and machinery of the lift span were designed by Waddell and Son, Inc., and there is a plaque on the SW tower reading, "Waddell Vertical Lift Bridge, Waddell and Son, 1917". The draw span is across the upstream end of the Louisville and Portland Canal , which includes the McAlpine Locks and Dam .
The first locks on the river, the Louisville and Portland Canal completed in 1830, were built within a bypass canal constructed to provide year-round navigation of the river. The falls were later largely covered by the McAlpine Locks and Dam , built by the Army Corps of Engineers.
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The locks can be filled or emptied in around 8 minutes. The upper pool is normally at an elevation of 383.0 feet (116.7 m), mean sea level and the lower pool elevation is 358.0 feet (109.1 m), mean sea level. The lift (difference) between the two pool is 25 feet (7.6 m). 25 million US gallons (95,000 m 3) of water is required to operate the lock.