In Marseilles, along the Illinois River, is the Marseilles Lock and Dam.
The dam is located at the southern edge of Marseilles, just upriver and visible from the Main Street concrete bridge over the river (the waymark is center on the bridge). To safely view the dam, take the next left to a parking lot where a war memorial is locate, then walk along the path along the river shore upriver to the dam, or walk back to the bridge and walk up the sidewalk to a point over the river.
The dam is actually several dams plus levies; however, the main barrier stretches across the main channel of the river which has rapids. The main portion has the following specs:
From the US Army Corps of Engineers Fact Sheet for the dam:
"The dam is a fixed, gated-concrete, gravity dam. The main dam is 598.5-feet long with eight submersible Tainter gates (60-feet wide, 16-feet high, 25-foot radius) and Ogee spillway at Ice Chute. The gates are remotely controlled by the lockmaster at the lock. The South Channel Headrace dam is 111-feet long with one Tainter gate. The North Channel Headrace dam is 206-feet long with two Tainter gates. It takes six hours for water to travel from Dresden Island Lock and Dam to Marseilles during flood or high flow conditions."
In addition to the main channel, there is a channel to the south that is the navigation channel. This channel handles the barge traffic. The best way to see this channel is to enter the Illini State Park and drive on the access road to the locks to the northwest. There is another pair of channels to the north of the dam. One of the channels flows by an old hydroelectric plant. Another is now a stub that once went through the old box factory.
The dam is one of the historic original five dams across the Illinois River to convert the wild river to a navigable waterway. Construction started in 1920, but is was not quite finished when it was turned over to the federal government to be finished in 1933. The cost was about $3 million, shared between the state and federal government. Over the years, maintenance and improvements were made. However, today, the locks are inadequately sized for the traffic that go through them. The Illinois River is part of the Mississippi River Navigation Waterway and connects Chicago to the Mississippi River.
The old hydroelectric power plant provided power to an interurban railway. It has been left idle for years. Several proposals have been forwarded to upgrade and restart the plant, but none have come to fruition.
Illini State Park has a boat ramp where you can put in a motor boat.
In April 2013, the Illinois River swelled and water levels were at historic highs. On the 18th a barge train let loose, causing barges to crash into the main dam. Since this damaged gates, water level control was lost. This caused water to top the levee and flood a good portion of Marseilles. As of the visit in September 2013, the dam was still being repaired and the neighborhood was still being cleaned out.
Sources:
US Army Corps of Engineers (Marseilles Lock and Dam):
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visit link)
CBS Chicago (Flooding Displaces Hundreds of Marseilles Residents):
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visit link)