Reclaim Alabama

July 4, 1905 Christening of Lock 13

Most of the information for this presentation came from HARNESSING THE BLACK WARRIOR by Ken Willis, Matt Clinton's SCRAPBOOK and Ward Hubbs' TUSCALOOSA: 200 YEARS IN THE MAKING.

Before the locks and dams were built on the Warrior River, the total fall of the river from Locust Fork of the Warrior west of Birmingham to Tuscaloosa was 122 feet, divided among 12 rapids. From 1888 to 1896, the first three locks and dams built along the Warrior were constructed in Tuscaloosa providing a navigable low water depth of six and one-half feet for a distance of 10 miles upriver from Tuscaloosa by producing a 33 foot lift from the front of Lock 1 (present-day Corps of Engineers), to the backwater of Lock 3 (present-day Manderson Landing @ the University of Alabama). These three locks provided their navigational services from 1896 until the opening of Oliver Lock & Dam in 1940.

LOCKS 1, 2 and 3 IN THE PRESENT-DAY

TIME LINE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST THREE WARRIOR RIVER LOCKS

1871: The Alabama Coal and Navigation Company was chartered and proposed to buy coal lands, to build a railroad through the coal field and to construct three locks and dams above the Tuscaloosa wharf. By 1876, the company had collapsed. (from the July 29, 1875 BIRMINGHAM AGE)

June, 1874: Horace Harding was appointed United States Assistant Engineer on the Improvement of the Warrior River and remained in that position for the next twenty-two years, retiring in May, 1896. During his last eight years of government service, Harding designed and built the three locks and dams at Tuscaloosa.

August 1880: Dr. E.A. Smith submitted his 1879 survey of the Warrior River from Tuscaloosa to Sipsey Fork to the Army Corps of Engineers.

1885: A rivers and harbors convention was held in Tuscaloosa and adopted a resolution requesting the U.S. Congress to appropriate funds for improving navigation on the Warrior. Alabama Senator James L. Pugh, who got the first appropriation from Congress to improve Warrior River navigation, addressed this convention. (from the November 19, 1885 MONTGOMERY DAILY DISPATCH)

1887: A congressional appropriation for the construction of locks and dams on the Warrior at Tuscaloosa was given final approval. (from the January 13, 1887 CHOCTAW HERALD [Butler])

November 1887: Tuscaloosa Mayor W.C. Jemison and the Tuscaloosa city council deeded the property for Lock 1 (present-day Corps of Engineers) to the United States. After that, Tuscaloosa Castle Hill Real Estate & Manufacturing deeded the property for Lock #2 (present-day ANOTHER BROKEN EGG building) to the United States and the University of Alabama Board of Trustees also deeded the property for Lock 3 (present-day Manderson Landing) to the United States.

1888: Bids for construction on the Warrior were too high so it was decided the U.S. government would supervise the work with hired labor and material bought on contract. (from the November 15, 1888 TUSKALOOSA GAZETTE)

October 22, 1888: A five ton cornerstone was set in place on Lock 1. (from the October 2, 1889 Tuscaloosa Weekly Times)

March 1889: an act authorizing a stone quarry to be constructed on Bryce Hospital land (present-day intersection of Randall Way and Jack Warner Parkway).

from the June 12, 1889 Tuscaloosa Weekly Times

October,1891: Lock 1 was complete and work had begun on Lock 2. (from the October 7, 1891 TUSCALOOSA WEEKLY TIMES)

October, 1893: Locks 1 and 2 are completed and work begun on Lock 3.

August, 1894, the gates were hung on Lock 1 and guide cribs, 100 foot long timber boxes filled with stone, were placed above and below the locks to absorb shock and to guide the boats.