Wisconsin - Fox River - Appleton Lock 4
N 44° 15.609 W 088° 23.282
16T E 389202 N 4901704
This is the fourth of four locks in Appleton, WI
Waymark Code: WMB1A
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 04/22/2006
Views: 30
Dropping 169 feet during it's 39 mile journey from Lake Winnebago to Lake Michigan, the Fox River is tamed by 17 locks and 9 dams with a total of 72 gates. This is the fifth lock you will travel through to get from Lake Winnebago to Lake Michigan.
The original goal was to connect the Great Lakes (and the Atlantic Ocean) to the Mississippi River (and the Gulf of Mexico). The introduction of the railroad to Wisconsin brought the demise of the hard-to-navigate canal system and the lock at Portage was filled in and you can no longer navigate the entire system without getting out of your boat.
In the 1880's, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established standards for the Upper Fox River Navigational Chanel. A 6'(1.83m)depth for the locks and an average 9'(2.7m)depth for the canals would be maintained. The lock sizes were also all standadized at 36'(10.9m)wide and 145'(44.2m)long.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers abandoned all but two of the navigational aids in 1986 after much debate. They would slowly decay from 1986 until 2002 when they were transfered from Corps control to State control.
Currently the locks are owned by the Fox River Navagational System Authority and they are tasked with opening all of the other 15 locks within the next three years.
More information can be found at Foxlox
(
visit link)