Little Chute Lock Maritime Trails Marker
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Little Chute Lock Maritime Trails Marker
 
Details
Attraction
Location
Body of Water: Fox River
Trail Name: Green Bay/Door County
Year Built: 2008
Nearest City: Little Chute
County: Outagamie
Zip Code: 54140
Latitude: N 44°16.52514'
Longitude: W -088°18.75582'
Attraction
Features
Open to public?: Yes
Mooring buoy?: No
Mooring buoy in place?: No
Snorkelable?: No
Dive guide?: No
Trails sign?: Yes
National Register?: No
Attraction
Description
Working on the Fox In 1854, one hundred and fifty men found jobs building canals, locks and dams in Little Chute. Many of the workers were Irish, and a sizable number of Dutchmen brought canal building experience with them from the Netherlands. By 1856, the work had made it possible for steamboats to travel the entire length of the Lower Fox, between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay. Once the locks were complete, navigation on the river created other jobs. Lock tenders opened and closed the valves of the seventeen locks by hand (the same way they are operated today). Boat builders crafted sturdy barges, which dock workers loaded with coal, sand, and other commodities. Captains piloted the vessels, and crewmen tended lines on the deck and engines below. Many of these jobs disappeared when commercial traffic dwindled by the early 1950s. When the last barges passed through the Fox River locks in 1959, a hundred-year era in shipping with steamboats, diesel tugs, and barges ended.
 
Contacts
Name Phone Alt Phone Email Website
The History Museum at the Castle 920.735.9370
 
Map
 
Nearby
Attractions (4)
Cedars Lock
Little Chute Guard Lock
Little Chute Lock
Little Chute Lock Maritime Trails Marker
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