Lock & Dam #10
Mississippi River Lock & Dam
Guttenberg, Iowa

Lock & Dam #10

• Structure: Lock & Dam #10.
• Location: River Mile 615.0.
• Dam Width: 6,750 Feet Overall, 763 Foot Main Structure.
• River Elevation (Pool): 611 Feet.
• River Elevation (Outflow): 603 Feet.
• Water Fall: 8 Feet.
• Annual Lock Traffic: 7,827 Vessels, 15,820,000 Tons (2005).
• Date Opened: November 1937.
Lock & Dam #10 is located right in Guttenberg, Iowa. The lock is undergoing mainteance from 2006 to 2008, so the vistors area is closed during that time period. The lock features a standard 600 foot long by 110 foot wide lock. The dam has four roller gates and 8 tainter gates in the main structure, plus aproximately 6,000 feet of earthen embankments that includes a 1,200 foot concrete spillway on the Wisconsin side of the river.

Guttenberg was once a major center for the button cutting industry, which was a major industry on the Mississippi River during the 1800s. Today, Guttenberg exists largely to support the tourism and recreation industry. Guttenberg is located in an area called the driftless region, which covers southwest Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, and parts of Illinois and Iowa along the great river. The driftless region was not covered by the most recent iceage, which means that the rough terrain and bluffs were not leveled by the glaciers. The result is a landscape that looks more like West Virginia than Iowa, and certainly explodes the myth that Iowa is the home of the flatlanders.


Lock & Dam #10
Lock & Dam #10
Lock & Dam #10
Lock & Dam #10
Lock & Dam #10

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Photo and text by John A. Weeks III, Copyright © 2005, all rights reserved.
For further information, contact: john@johnweeks.com