St. Paul used to laugh at Minneapolis. For decades, the river upstream of St. Paul was too shallow and treacherous for big steamboats, making the capital city the undisputed trade hub of the Upper Mississippi. Minneapolis wanted in on the cash. They lobbied hard, and in 1899, the federal government finally started building Lock and Dam No. 2 near Meeker Island. Workers poured thousands of tons of concrete into the riverbed. They hauled giant blocks of local limestone to build a lock chamber measuring 80 feet by 268 feet. When it opened in 1907, Minneapolis finally had its direct link to the Gulf of Mexico. Local businessmen cheered.
But the celebration did not last. Actually, the whole setup became useless almost immediately. Congress authorized a new, much taller dam downstream, which would generate hydroelectric power and create a deeper shipping channel. That project, Lock and Dam No. 1, went online in 1917. Its massive reservoir backed up the river, raising the water level and completely drowning the brand-new Lock and Dam No. 2. It operated for barely a decade. Now, the ruins sit submerged beneath the muddy Mississippi. Sometimes during dry autumns, the river drops enough to expose the gray, jagged tops of the old lock walls near the Franklin Avenue bridge. Just a sunken, expensive mistake.
