Spring Break '99
 Steve was my tour guide through the Keokuk Power Plant, a hydroelectric plant dating back to 1910. |
 It took 3,000,000 man-days work to build the Keokuk dam and plant, which began operation in 1913. The history of the site as a power source began as far Back as 1836 when Robert E. Lee conducted a survey for the War Department and called attention to the power potential of this section of the Mississippi. An engineering marvel of its time, this is the largest privately owned and operated dam and hydroelectric generating plant on the Mississippi River. AmerenUE has spent $16 million in modernization and repairs to the plant. |
 As it passes through the power plant, the falling water spins turbines, or water wheels, which drive generators that produce electricity. Keokuk Plant is a run-of-river plant meaning that all water flowing downstream passes the plant on a daily basis. No water is stored. An average day of operation at Keokuk Plant saves the equivalent of nearly 1000 tons of coal.
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 1,287,000 cubic yards of earth and rock were excavated to construct this plant, which stands ten stories above the upper pool level of the dam. It has a generating capacity of 125 megawatts. The plant and dam are composed of 565,000 cubic yards of concrete. Building the dam created a lake of over 50 square miles. It has become a haven for boating and fishing and the site for several nationally recognized Bass tournaments. The dam is seven-eights of a mile-long and has 119 spillway gates from the lake, which holds 60,000,000,000 gallons of water.
AmerenUE also owns some 12,000 acres of flowage land and land covered by water. The company controls or has flowage rights on a total of 55,000 acres of land above the dam, including many islands, wetlands, and timberland. |
  The old method of controlling the flow of water into the turbines on the left, and the new method on the right |
 Fifteen turbines create the power for this station, one of the marvels of the Mississippi. |
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