Every year the DOT regional office schedules a “take your kid to work” event that combines fun activities and learning. This year, the office combined an outing to the DePere lock with a demonstration on boat safety from a DNR warden. About 46 kids and 24 adults attended to learn the history and operation of the DePere lock—the busiest lock of all 17 locks on the Fox River. Lock tenders talked about how the locks were used for shipping, cargo, and vital to navigate the sharp drop in elevation of the Fox River. From Menasha to Green Bay, the river drops 168 feet in elevation—equal to the vertical height of Niagara Falls.
Lock tender Scott Thompson explained the size of boats that can fit into the lock chambers and told the kids that in the late 1800s and early 1900s the river was used to ship goods on giant barges and ships. The kids all got the chance to flood the lock chamber by opening the valves and taking a spin on the turnstile to open the giant lock doors. The word from the kids: “This is COOL!”
