De Pere Lock and Dam

Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
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The Fox River once had numerous rapids formed by ledges of the Sinnipee Group dolomites. These later became locales for dams, but surprisingly, outcrops are still evident at a number of them. The dams also had locks, but commercial shipping on the Fox River has ceased and only recreational boaters use the locks.

The rapids here (Rapides des Peres or "rapids of the fathers" in French) gave their name to the city of De Pere, which straddles the river.

The map above, from a 1:100,000 USGS digital line graph (DLG) has the worst cartographic errors I've ever seen in a USGS digital map. The maps below are from a 1:24,000 DLG because details of the lock and dam are completely missing from the larger scale map. On the map above the details were added from the smaller scale maps. On all maps the area of interest is in yellow.

	Left: historical marker in Voyageur Park Below: views of the north end of the lock.
	Left: looking north along the channel east of the lock. Below: outcrops along the channel.
	Left and below: looking across the channel to the outcrops.
	Left and below: the outcrops are accessible from the upstream side of the lock.
	Left: north end of the lock looking upstream.
	Left: north end of the lock looking downstream.
	Left: between the locks.
	Left: the channel east of the present lock is actually an old lock, now dammed off.
	Left: The De Pere dam supplies to this paper mill. Below: views of the De Pere dam.
	Below: the pelicans aren't swimming; they are standing on rocks in the shallow water.
	Left: there are still rapids below the dam. Below: at the right time of year, you can more or less walk across the river on the carp (the dark shapes in the water).
	Left and below: views of the lock from the bridge.

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Created 11 April 2007, Last Update 19 April 2007

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