Miles Traveled 0
Total Miles Traveled 2424
Day 184
Today we took a tour of the St. Lucie Lock and Dam. The first lock was built at this site in 1925
and was 30 feet wide. The current lock
was built for navigation in 1941 and measures 50 feet wide by 250 feet
long. In 1944, the connecting spillway was
constructed for flood and regulated flow control for the St. Lucie Canal to
manage the water level in Lake Okeechobee. Approximately 10,000 vessels lock through
this lock annually; of these about 91% are recreational vessels. The normal water level maintained by the
spillway is 14.5 feet above sea level.
A view of the original lock that was filled in when the
new lock was built.
Although no longer in service, the water pressure created
behind the dam was used to turn a water turbine and generator used to produce 5
kilowatts of power. This provided power for
lock operations and the lockmasters home.
5 Kw generator
The governor used to control the speed of the water
turbine.
As power demand increased the turbine/generator was taken
out of service. To give you an idea of
the power available, our boat “Moni Jean” uses an 8 Kw generator.....and it's way smaller than this unit.
The spillway is used to control the water level behind
the dam, there are several gates that can be opened from 0 to 10 feet to
control the water flow.
Today, all of the gates were open about 1 ½ feet, as you
can see there is a tremendous amount of water passing through the gates.
The St. Lucie Lock control building.
This is a view of the marina from the dam; we are the second to last boat on the far end.
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