Early December will normally signal some major changes on the Mississippi river. Throughout the spring, summer, and fall, river transports, cruise ships, and such will be a common sight…but winter puts a halt to all that. Even with a substantial lock and dam system, Mother Nature takes over and will often freeze much of the river up…which makes this late fall work on the barge lines pretty hectic. These river rats will work day and night anyway, usually in 6 hour shifts, and may be traveling for several weeks to a month as they move things like grain, coal, and other commodities up and down the mighty Miss.
Here a barge is staging up on the Muscatine riverfront for a smaller tug that will add more barges to his collection. Once he’s full at 15 barges…three across and five deep, he’ll head southward to St Louis and ports beyond. See you next spring Captain.