9/7/2016

A late start for us at 7 a.m. We are waiting for lock 52 to radio us. It is 72-85, clear, winds one to three knots, calm on the Ohio river.

An hour and a half later the lock master called on the radio for us to enter the lock as soon as the tow exits.

On the left is a barge ready to enter lock 52. They gave us about 50 feet to pass between them and the lock wall.

These barges are so huge and very intimidating.

Left is the Ohio river, right is the Cumberland river. This is our turn 🙂

Important first as a passage for hunters and settlers, the Cumberland River also supported later riverboat trade, which traveled to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Villages, towns, and cities were located at landing points along its banks. Through the middle of the 19th century, settlers depended on rivers as the primary transportation routes for trading and travel.

In more recent history, a number of severe floods have struck various regions that the river flows through. In April 1977, Harlan, Kentucky, and many surrounding communities were inundated with floodwaters, destroying most of the homes and businesses within the flood plain of the river. This event led to the building of the Martins Fork Dam for flood control and the diversion of the Clover Fork around the city of Harlan. In addition, the river was diverted through a mountain cut in Loyall, Kentucky.

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the river for tuw-and-barge navigation.

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A beautiful waterway for us to enjoy.

Martins Fork Dam. Behind this enormous lock and dam is the man made reservoir called Lake Barkley.

Lake Barkley, a 58,000-acre reservoir in Livingston, Lyon and Trigg counties in Kentucky and extending into Stewart and Houston counties in Tennessee, was impounded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1966 upon the completion of Barkley Dam. Both the lake and the dam are named for Vice President Alban Barkley, a Kentucky native. The dam impounds the Cumberland River near Grand Rivers, Kentucky, approximately 38 miles upstream from where the Cumberland empties into the Ohio River. One mile above the dam is a canal connecting Lake Barkley with Kentucky Lake, forming one of the greatest freshwater recreational complexes in the country. The lakes run parallel courses for more than 50 miles, with the Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area located between them. Lake Barkley is 134 miles long with a shoreline measuring 1,004 miles.

We were instructed to tie off in the middle of this lock

We were lifted 52 feet in just ten minutes.

Just one mile from the lock we reached our destination for the night after traveling 55 miles. We plan to spend a week here.

This marina serves over 500 pleasure boats.

We were very surprised to see the Pinta and the Nina here.

They could not bring in the Santa Maria as she is to large for the depth of this marina. The Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria were used by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage across the Atlantic and were common trading vessels of that era.