This page provides maps, photos and directions for visiting the Illinois Waterway Visitor Center and Park located just across the river from Straved Rock State Park near Ottawa Illinois on Dee Bennett Road

Located at R.R. #1, Ottawa, Ill., 61350: tel (815) 667-4054

Brought to you by the Outdoor Club which is sponsored by
Union Board on the IIT Campus

I hope my photos © give you a feeling for the area.
They can be purchased by contacting me. If you use these materials to plan a trip, let me know how it went.

This Waterway Park and its working lock provides a great place to observe and/or get information on just how the locks work as well as find materials on the history of river travel in the area over the last 100 years.

. There are several roads from Ottawa to the Visitor's Center and lock. You can visit several other parks along the way. Dee Bennett road west from Ottawa goes to rt. 178 and provides access to the lock and Waterway Park. If you drive past Ottawa on I-80 to Utica and exit south on rt. 178, you can enter the park from the west.

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. On the river you will see barge traffic most of the year. These barges must go through the many locks on the Illinois River inorder to get past the dams as they carry their cargo up and down the river. You can stand on the deck of the Visitor Center and watch this interesting process.

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. As the tug and barge enter the empty lock from the down river side, the lock doors close. The lock is then flooded and the tug and barge are raised to the up river height. The second lock door is then opened and the tug pushes the barge out of the lock and continues on up river.

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