St. Louis to Caruthersville
High Water: 24 - 30SLG: Open Channel At 25 feet SLG the Chain becomes a smooth undulating field of fast-flowing water with minor turbulence. Maybe you will see some big boils and notice a slight undulation in the water as you slide over the ledge, but otherwise you can run
St. Louis to Caruthersville
below 16 SLG: Portage LBD At 4-10 feet SLG the Chain is a deadly ten to fifteen foot drop over rock, concrete wreckage and steel reinforcement. Keepers follow your capsize. If you ran it and capsized you would be recirculated in the rotating turbulence at the base of the waterfall,
St. Louis to Caruthersville
16 - 24SLG: Stay Middle Channel At 16 feet SLG advanced paddlers can easily negotiate the Chain of Rocks by staying in the broad central tongue of flow found to the right of the old intake structures and riding the rollers over the break. The biggest tongue of water seems
St. Louis to Caruthersville
190.3 Chain of Rocks You’ve heard about it, you’ve been reading stories about it, you’ve been warned about it, maybe you’re hearing it in your dreams. The awful roaring over the river. The man-eating waves. The canoe-crusher. The towboat toppler. Now you’re here. The
St. Louis to Caruthersville
190.3 RBD Water Treatment Plant City of St. Louis The residents of St. Louis, along 13 million other inhabitants along the Mississippi River, draw their water resources directly from the big river. The City of St. Louis Water Division maintains two water treatment plants that draw water from the
St. Louis to Caruthersville
190.4 Intake Towers Several hundred feet downstream of the Highway 66 “Chain of Rocks” Bridge two beautiful stone towers rise out of the middle of the river that appear to be small medieval castles at first glance. Both are intake towers for the nearby Water Treatment Plant City of
St. Louis to Caruthersville
190.4 Intake Tower #1 This is the more westerly of the two towers, and the one closer to the lip of the Chain of Rocks towards the Missouri shore. Built by William S. Eames in 1894, Tower #1 is Romanesque in style. Originally reached via a dike, the turbulent
St. Louis to Caruthersville
190.4 Intake Tower #2 Located in the middle of the river, Tower #2 sits a little upstream of Tower #1, approximately 100 yards above the edge of the Chain of Rocks. Built by Roth & Study, 1915. Intake Tower #2, like its predecessor, was built to draw in Mississippi
St. Louis to Caruthersville
190.5 Highway 66 “Chain of Rocks” Bridge Your best visual advantage of the Chain of Rocks waterfall is from the Highway 66 Bridge, which crosses the river at just above the Chain, and makes an abrupt 22 degree angle halfway across the river. Make time before you get on
St. Louis to Caruthersville
190.7 Interstate 270 Highway Bridge No land access either side of bridge. (Although in emergency situation you could make RBD landing and bushwhack up the Missouri bank to reach North Riverview Drive). Steady East-West highway traffic roars across the ugly I-270 bridge connecting Indianapolis and Kansas City as you
St. Louis to Caruthersville
194 RBD Canoe & Kayak Access (Columbia Bottoms State Conservation Area) Access to parking lot and gravel road via 100 yard long trail. This would be a good picnic place, or end place for a daytrip from either Maple Island Access on the Upper Mississippi or the Columbia Bottoms Boat
St. Louis to Caruthersville
194 - 184 RBD Chouteau/Gabaret Island Ten mile tall Chouteau Island separates the Chain of Rocks Canal from the flowing waters of the Mississippi, but is predominantly cleared and leveled for field crops. Some lines of trees border the river along its entire length with scattered forests, edged with