News

First Upper Mississippi River tow reaches St. Paul

Barge traffic is moving again on the Upper Mississippi River. 

Patrick Moes with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District tells Brownfield the Motor Vessel Neil N. Diehl locked through Lock and Dam 2, in Hastings, Minnesota, Wednesday evening, March 19th, with nine barges of cement. “We’re just really happy that we were able to safely get all of the winter maintenance done on time and definitely are looking forward to the 2025 navigation season, especially as it relates to producers being able to get those commodities to markets.”

Moes says ice on Lake Pepin is usually the final obstacle to river traffic in the spring, but the channel opened quickly this year. “I think with Mother Nature kind of giving us a little spring thaw, it really opened the ice up and there was no real concerns with getting through Pepin this year.”

Moes says the Neil N Diehl is about a day ahead of some other tows heading towards St. Paul. “We’re already looking at a couple of other tows a little bit further south towards Lansing (Iowa) and La Crosse (Wisconsin) that are making their way up, too, so it’s definitely a good sign, a great sign of spring.”

The Neil N. Diehl was also the first motor vessel to reach St. Paul two years ago.  The Motor Vessel Joseph Patrick Eckstein was the first tow of the 2024 navigation season to reach St. Paul, arriving March 17. The earliest date for a tow to reach St. Paul occurred March 4. It happened in 1983, 1984 and 2000.

The river system is a very economical way to move commodities.  The Corps of Engineers says a 15-barge tow is the equivalent to more than 1,000 semi-trailers or 200 rail cars. One barge can carry more than 50,000 bushels of wheat, or enough to make around 2.1 million loaves of bread. A barge filled with 50,000 bushels of corn can produce around 1.3 million boxes of cereal.

AUDIO: Patrick Moes with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discusses the start of the Upper Mississippi River navigation season, and safety tips for boaters with Brownfield’s Larry Lee