Massive machine. The Goetz is 225 feet long with a five-foot draft. A 22-inch diameter pipe suctions muck from the river bottom and dumps it at shore. Horsepower: 4,000. The Goetz is not self-propelled but manueuvered by towboats.
Brownsville isle off limits until Labor Day
BROWNSVILLE, Min. – The Army Corps of Engineers has maneuvered its giant dredge Goetz into place for dredging the Mississippi River and closed the popular Crater Island party beach. Boaters were told to stay clear. The dredging is expected to continue through Labor Day with river-bottom sediment being piped to shore to keep the navigation channel at nine feet. The Corps’ advice to recreational boaters:
> Use caution and go slowly around dredge, especially when coming from the rear and passing.
> Because dredge equipment swings from side to side on cables, you may not see them until it’s too late.
> Don’t create a wake that will rock dredging boats, barges, pontoons or pipelines.
> Don’t expect the dredge to get out of your way. The crew can’t maneuver like you
Bottom line: Boat, canoe or kayak somewhere else.
A world away. Crater Island is a retreat hidden from shore in the Mississippi River pool backed up behind the Genoa dam 18 miles downriver from LaCrosse.