Ohio River channel maintenance dredging began on July 22 at Louisville and was completed on July 25. The contractor's floating plant consisted of the Dredge Bill Holman, the Robert T, a shop barge, a spill barge and the floating pipeline section. Motor vessels Lenard and Buddy assisted.
Both the upstream and downstream channel at McAlpine Locks were successfully dredged which maintains the required nine-foot navigable channel. Tows with barges need at least nine feet of depth to lock through to subsequent pools on the Ohio River.
The dredging was a 24/7 operation. During dredging, material is churned up from the river bottom and ran through a floating pipeline. It then reaches equipment that deposits the sand, silt and other material near and on the shoreline. In the foreground of the picture is the dredge operation. In the background is the material being discharged. The second picture illustrates the dredged material.