When my job was to float up and down the Columbia and Snake River, we would pass through a series of 8 locks and dams, which were created to “harness the river’s power”. And that they did. The effect of approaching one was frequently what I imagine it would be like to be eaten by a gigantic monster and the engineering marvel that the lock and dam pair are is second to none in my book. Many of the locks that we rode on the Columbia have water displacement levels in excess of one hundred feet.
