An analysis of statistics for Lock and Dam 21 for the years 1992 through 2009 shows grain shipments have gradually declined, while tonnage of "miscellaneous" goods has risen.

Total tonnage on the river has declined from a peak of 37.9 million tons in 1992 to 25.6 million tons in 2009. The lowest point came in 2008 when only 21.9 million tons moved through Lock and Dam 21. That was a year of major flooding when barge shipments were greatly curtailed because of high water.

By comparison, 24.7 million tons passed through the Quincy lock chamber in 1993 -- also a major flood year. Subsequent to that, river tonnage exceeded 35 million tons in 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2002 but has not risen above the 30 million mark since 2003.

One reason for the drop in tonnage is a decline in the shipment of grain on the river.

Grain shipments through Lock and Dam 21 peaked in 1992 at 25.8 million tons. From 1995 to 2002, grain shipments ranged annually between 20 million and 24 millions tons but haven't reached the 20 million mark since. In the 2008 flood year, grain shipments fell to a 19-year low of 10.6 million tons. In 2009, the total was only 14.3 million.

Jerry Jenkins, general manager of Ursa Farmers Cooperative, who deals with grain shipments on a regular basis, said "the flow of grain has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades" along the Mississippi.

"Exports in general have changed," he said. "For one thing, we've got a lot more domestic use (for grain). Biodiesel refinery plants and ethanol plants have pulled a lot of the corn away from the river that traditionally went there."

What's not so apparent in the river lockage statistics, he noted, is the fact that much of the grain being diverted for domestic use is being converted into other products that are being shipped down the Mississippi River, such as distiller's grain.

"Instead of it being a raw commodity, in some cases it's now a byproduct or a finished commodity going down the river," he said.

Nonetheless, Jenkins said there's no question the U.S. export market for grain has declined in part because of competition from other countries.

"The U.S. export market is still one of the strongest, but we're not the king that we once were," he said. "We've gone over and shown other countries how to grow grain. And, quite honestly, the countries that we used to traditionally always export into now are competition for the U.S. because they're exporting excess commodity now that they know how to raise corn and beans."

Grain producers in this part of the country are hoping to regain some of their competitive edge through a long-planned proposal to expand the locks at five locations on the Mississippi River -- including Lock and Dam 21 -- and at two locations on the Illinois River.

Expanding the locks to 1,200 feet from their current 600 feet would help speed up barge traffic and make it less costly. This is because 15-barge tow configurations would no longer have to be split into two separate cuts to pass through a lock. These bigger tows, which are common on the river, would be able to pass through in one simple lockage.

Jenkins believes lock improvements are sorely needed.

"The river system is by far the most efficient form of transportation for bulk commodity, whether it's grain or anything else. So as energy continues to be challenged and we need to be more efficient, there is a transformation going on with the river system that's long overdue," he said.

"It's going to take many years for the whole process to get completed, but you have to start sometime. You're working with equipment that was build in the 1920s and 1940s, and the 'new' stuff was built in the '50s. It's like trying to drive a Model T Ford to St. Louis or trying to farm with horses. It's just pitiful, and it's amazing that it remains as productive as it is."

The river statistics also reflect a big drop in the number of recreational boats passing through Lock and Dam 21 over the years.

After hitting the low point of only 221 recreational lockages through Quincy in the flood year of 1993, the number of recreational boat lockages peaked at 1,900 in 1994. Then the number started gradually slumping to 1,638 in 1995, 1,518 in 1996, 1,319 in 1997, 1,113 in 1998 and 1,098 in 1999. The number has not hit the 1,000 mark since.

In 2009, only 527 recreational boats went through Lock and Dam 21 -- up from 261 in the flood year of 2008.

Cody Alger, a Quincy-based ranger with the Corps of Engineers, said economics -- and the price of gas -- may have something to do with the decline in recreational boat lockages.

"People can't afford to run the rivers all the time," he said. "They put in and go straight to Hogback Island and tie off because they can socialize and they can swim and have fun without running a lot of fuel."

Alger said boating continues to be a strong recreational outlet in the pool above Lock and Dam 21, where boaters have access to good water skiing areas, quiet backwaters and Hogback. So there's no real need to go downstream through the locks.

"They have everything they need right here in Pool 21," he said.

The large number of recreational boat lockages in the mid-1990s also was inflated by a series of major fishing tournaments that took place in the Quincy area over a period of years. In some of those tournaments -- featuring well over 100 boats -- dozens of anglers would go through Lock and Dam 21 to search for fishing hotspots in the pools below Quincy.

Source: The Quincy Herald-Whig