LOCK AND DAM #1 transitions from commercial necessity
UNLOCKING
Occasionally, boats still require passage up and down the Cape
Fear River. Perhaps kayakers making a trip from Fayetteville to
Wilmington for recreational purposes, or the military running
training exercises.
Victor Pillow walks down the hill from the lockmaster’s house at
Lock and Dam #1 near Riegelwood to operate the complex mecha-nism
that opens and closes the 55,000-pound gates and raises or
lowers the water level, allowing boats to pass through.
Back in the days when commercial traffic flowed through these
gates, this was a full-time job. But today, it’s only a small part of
Pillow’s responsibilities.
“These locks and dams are under what we call caretaker status,”
says Pillow, a park ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
who has been at Lock and Dam #1 for two and a half years.
“People often refer to us as lockmasters. There’s still an old sign out
on the gate that says ‘Lockmaster’s Office.’”
There’s no longer a need for someone to be ready to open the
gates around the clock, so the 100-year-old white house is not his
residence. Instead, it doubles as an office and environmental educa-tion
center.
Lock and Dam #1 was completed in 1915. In conjunction
with the locks built in 1917 and 1935 outside Elizabethtown
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WBM september 2018