Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
The carriage next to the powerhouse
The railway transports pleasure boats like pontoons or runabouts between Muskrat
Lake and Lake Sallie
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
Tracks across sidewalk and into Lake Sallie
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
Tracks into Muskrat Lake
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
Powerhouse, controls and carriage looking towards Lake Sallie
Note sign on powerhouse anti exotics moving between waterways. By the old lock
site, there is a sign saying movement of water life between bodies of water is a
good thing. How is something both good and bad?
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
The rocky spillway that was built to replace the WPA lock and its parallel flume
way in 2001
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
This dike separates Muskrat Lake to the left from a small pool to the right.
This pool was used as a winter drydock during the steamboat era. Inserting
planks into the vertical grooves (there are two pair) either side of the
concrete plank would isolate the pool from the lake. It could then be drained
through the flume way shown below.
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
A larger view of the dry dock pool looking in the opposite direction with the
dike on right.
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
A closer view of the inlet to the pool. The discharge to drain the pool into
Lake Sallie is where the people are walking.
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
One of three information signs at the lock site
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
The second of three signs at the lock site
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
The third of three signs at the lock site
Unlike the others, this one is propaganda, not just facts. The issues are:
1) The site at Dunton Locks did not have a low head, run of the river dam as
shown. Instead, there was a long earth dike and a wide lake above with a narrow
lock and separate narrow spillway structure, both of which could easily have
been protected against boater and other entry.
2) The function of providing fish migration past the site could have been
handled similarly to what was done without destroying the lock. Destruction of
the lock in 2001 results from blindness on the part of those involved. There was
a similar, guillotine gated lock on this site from 1889 to 2001. Restoration
would have preserved a historic artifact of an earlier era and demonstrated the
meaning of the park's name.
3) The question of fish and plant migration past the site is interesting. On the
adjacent building are signs warning against the migration of exotic species. The
present rocky spillway does nothing to stop them.
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
The WPA era lock, removed in 2001
Becker County Historical Society
Dunton Lock
Historical Views
Note that the first view shows a lock with miter gates and a sill at the far
end. Only the left hand gate has a balance beam, which is sharply sloping. The
walls appear to be wooden planks as in the original lock. The grooves for the
guillotine gate barely show. The wetting on the walls and the far gates show the
lift of six feet and a depth over the sill about four feet.
The second view looks the opposite way and though the miter gates are open and hard to make out, the guillotine gate at the lower end is vary apparent.
The third view looks the same way as the first, but back further so that the guillotine gate shows. The wooden approach guide walls that show at the edges of the first view are better shown in the third. The catwalk across the lower end of the lock in the third picture is not apparent in the second.
The fourth view shows the lock with a boat and a second boat tied up to the right.
Remains of the WPA era Kingsbury Lock at Bucks Mill, MN
with the dam in the background
7/18/10
Dunton Locks Marine Railway
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
The view across Muskrat Lake to the Dunton Locks marine railway and lock site
from US Route 59
The navigable culvert under US Route 59
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/18/10
The reduced height bridge at Shoreham on the Pigeon River
between Lakes Sallie & Melissa
near
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/19/10
The Pigeon River looking upstream from County Road 20 near
the site of Johnson Lock
near
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/19/10
The Pigeon River looking downstream from County Road 20
near the site of Johnson Lock
near
Detroit Lakes, MN
7/19/10