(4.92) HISTORY - EUREKA Florida LOCKed in Time: A Titanic Monument to a Mammoth Manmade Mistake

EUREKA

(Florida)

LOCKed in Time

A Titanic Monument to a Mammoth Man-Made Mistake

Photo 01

THIS IS NOT the bow of the Titanic!

IT IS the southernmost tip of the Eureka Lock structure protruding into the Ocklawaha River Swamp.

An Information, Opinion, & Photos Report

Compiled by Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca

With the assistance of A Cruising Down the River Captain Erika Ritter

Created: 22 February 2014

Last Revised: 29 May 2015

INTRODUCTION

In 1912, the 882-foot long steamship RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. Over 100 years later, the ghostly remains of the Titanic still rest on the ocean floor reportedly split into at least two pieces.

In 1971, all further completion and/or construction of the 2,200-foot long Eureka Lock structure was halted by an iceberg named President Richard M. Nixon. Nixon's order effectively ending any new work for the Cross Florida Barge Canal project is widely credited by most environmentalists as having saved some 25 river miles of the free and swift-flowing Silver River-Ocklawaha River system from impending destruction--and it also made possible the future restoration to flowing-stream again of another 21 river miles still impounded as a backwater behind Rodman Dam (a.k.a. Kirkpatrick Dam). Over 44 years later, now, the skeletal remains of Eureka Lock (along with the Eureka Spillway) are locked in a time warp of sorts sunken mostly intact into the bottom-lands of Florida's Ocklawaha River Valley.

The photographs of the Eureka Lock and Dam (and Spillway) presented in this investigative report, "EUREKA (Florida) LOCKed in Time: A Titanic Monument to a Mammoth Man-Made Mistake", will attempt to show how parts of this MONSTROSITY--built in the late 1960's for the Cross Florida Barge Canal (CFBC) project--still appear today, stuck as they are in the muck of the Ocklawaha River Swamp of Eureka, Florida. Maybe for time eternal?

Photos by

A Cruising Down the River Captain Erika Ritter

Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca

NOTE: Click-on individual photos to enlarge them!

Photo 02

Looking southwest under the currently-used high Eureka (CR-316) Bridge (completed in 1969 for the CFBC) at Ocklawaha River flood waters flowing downstream (north) towards a usually cutoff section of Dead (or Old [Ocklawaha]) River channel.

Photo 03

Looking west under the currently-used high Eureka (CR-316) Bridge at Ocklawaha River flood waters flowing downstream (north) towards a usually cutoff section of Dead (or Old [Ocklawaha]) River channel.

Photo 04

Looking west at the broken-down/burnt remains of the Dead River Bridge that once spanned the cut-off Dead (or Old [Ocklawaha]) River channel. This Dead River Bridge may have been originally built as early as 1926 (and possibly even earlier).

Photo 05

Looking southwest at the broken-down/burnt remains of the Dead River Bridge that once spanned the cut-off Dead (or Old [Ocklawaha]) River channel. This Dead River Bridge may have been originally built as early as 1926 (and possibly even earlier). The currently-used high Eureka (CR-316) Bridge is in the background.

Photo 06

Approaching from the south on the cut-off Dead River channel.

Photo 07

Approaching from the south on the cut-off Dead River channel.

Photo 08

REPRIMAND in Army Speak normally means worse punishment than that imposed for an ARTICLE 15 infraction.

But the penalties are usually less serious than those for a COURT MARTIAL offense.

Photo 09

One man's trash is another man's treasure?

Photo 10

One man's trash is another man's treasure?

Photo 11

The structure rises some 25 feet or so above natural ground elevation.

Photo 12

Approximately 40-foot wide access-road/earthen-levee separates the Titanic south-end of the Eureka Lock structure (and its water [if any]) from the remains of the cutoff Dead (or Old [Ocklawaha]) River channel (and its water [if any]).

Photo 13

The structure rises some 25 feet or so above natural ground elevation.

Photo 14

The structure rises some 25 feet or so above natural ground elevation.

Photo 15

South of the upstream (south) lock gates but looking north.

Photo 16

South of the upstream (south) lock gates but looking north.

Photo 17

South of the upstream (south) lock gates but looking north.

The top of the sill under these upstream (south) lock gates is at elevation 21 feet.

Photo 18

South of the upstream (south) lock gates but looking north.

The top of the sill under these upstream (south) lock gates is at elevation 21 feet.

Note the alligator near the bottom left corner of photo.

Photo 19

American alligator guards the area just south of the upstream (south) lock gates.

Photo 20

Looking south from the upstream (south) lock gates.

Note the alligator near the bottom right corner of photo.

Photo 21

Looking south from the upstream (south) lock gates.

Photo 22

Looking south from the upstream (south) lock gates.

Photo 23

Looking down (and north) from the upstream (south) lock gates.

Notice the ray of sunshine shining through the slightly-opened (but chained) lock gates.

Photo 24

Just north of the upstream (south) lock gates.

Photo 25

Looking north at the 600-foot long (by 84-foot wide) locking chamber from near the south lock gates.

The top of the sill under the downstream (north) lock gates (in the distance) is at elevation 6 feet

Photo 26

Getting nearer to the northern end of the 600-foot long (by 84-foot wide) locking chamber.

Photo 27

Just south of the downstream (north) lock gates.

The top of the sill under these downstream (north) lock gates is at elevation 6 feet.

Photo 28

Looking north from the downstream (north) lock gates.

The top of the sill under these downstream (north) lock gates is at elevation 6 feet

On the left in the distance is the northernmost tip of the 2,200-foot long Eureka Lock structure.