In the middle 1800s, transportation on the major rivers was dominated by the riverboats, and to a lessor extent, the raftsmen who carried goods one-way down the river. Saint Paul was the head of navigation on the great river in that era. Minneapolis had the falls, the best natural falls for creating mechanical power in North America, but it could not get the goods created by that power of the falls to market. An eight mile long section of rocks and rubble prevented the river boats from going any further north than Fort Snelling.

Even before the Civil War, local leaders dreamed of taming the river and bringing river navigation to Minneapolis. In 1857, a local judge named Bradley Meeker organized a group of businessmen to build a lock and dam on the Mississippi River. A financial panic, civil war, and reconstruction got in the way. Congress came on board in 1873, but local politics stalled the project another 20 years. Finally, the invention of electricity and hydropower only served to add to the debate. Both Saint Paul and Minneapolis wanted the hydropower from this section of the river.

A compromise was struck. Two lock and dam structures would be built. Lock & Dam #1 would be at the location of the current Lock & Dam #1 near the Ford Motor Plant. Lock & Dam #2 would be upriver, just above Lake Street, and be located totally within the City of Minneapolis, at a location near an island named after Bradley Meeker.

Construction began in 1899, and Lock & Dam #2 opened in 1907. Work then focused on Lock & Dam #1, which was about half done at that time. Both were low water dams with a water fall of about 14 feet.

The hydropower question was raised again in 1909. The two low water dams could not support hydropower generation. In addition, industry was pushing Congress for a 9-foot navigation channel. The two locks could not handle that depth of a channel. A decision was made to rebuild Lock & Dam #1 as a high water dam. The hydropower would be sold to investors, a deal that Henry Ford took advantage of.

The high water dam would have the side effect of flooding the newly opened Lock & Dam #2. To prevent the submerged dam from being a navigation hazard, the top 5 feet was blasted off in 1912. As a result, Lock & Dam #2 was in operation only 5 years. The structure was then promptly forgotten.

To avoid confusion with the current Lock & Dam #2 near Hastings, MN, the old Lock & Dam #2 is now generally called the Meeker Island Lock & Dam. Every so often, low water on the Mississippi River exposes part of the old lock structure. One such occasion was in August, 2007, following the I-35W bridge collapse, when the US Army Corps of Engineers drew down the Ford Dam pool by 2 feet to aid in the search and recovery operation. That action made it possible to photograph some of the remains of the Meeker Island structure.

The image above is a post card from the very early 1900s showing the Meeker Island Lock & Dam in operation, and the newly rebuilt Short Line Bridge in the background. The photo below is the downstream exit of the lock chamber. The two lock walls are 56 feet apart.

The photo above shows the end of the lock wall. The metal spindle is a rope tie anchor. The thinner section of the wall near the small gap is where the lock door would fold against the wall when the lock was opened. The photo below is looking upstream at the flooded lock chamber. The lock chamber is estimated to be 400 feet long.

The photo above is looking across the river at the white sand beach. The dam structure would be in the river below the beach. The photo below shows the upstream entrance to the lock.

The photo above is one more look at the upstream entrance to the lock. The photo below is the corner of a building foundation. This is the only building remains that I have been able to find on this side of the lock & dam structure. It is interesting that this was once called Lock & Dam #2, but was up river from Lock & Dam #1. Today, the locks and dams are numbered higher as you go south, which is just the opposite of how the Meeker Island structure is numbered.