The John Day Dam outside of Portland, Oregon is a huge producer of electricity and a key portal for goods on their way from the Pacific Northwest to Asia and beyond. But if the goods cant get through here, traffic on the entire Columbia River comes to a screeching halt. So with a gate on the dams lock broken, billions of dollars in commerce is on the line and weve got to do something about it. There are nine locks along the Columbia River, and watercraft cant make it through the dams without them. These water elevators can be operated with the touch of a button, providing a simple way for crafts to navigate the differing water levels on either side of a dam. But for eight months, the John Day has been getting by with a temporary fix a caisson that can be moved in and out of place to allow watercraft through. Its a labor-intensive solution, one that takes three times as long as a working lock. Were about to change all that. The gate on the John Days lock is finally ready to go in, and were going to follow the process from start to finish.
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