Aquatic Elevator

Going up!

The Oliver Lock & Dam, spanning the Black Warrior River between Tuscaloosa and Northport, Alabama, August 31, 2025.

What is the Oliver Lock & Dam if not an aquatic elevator lifting coal barges up from and lowering them down to the Black Warrior River’s streambed? In fact, on the day this photo was captured, the US Army Corps of Engineers told me that the elevation tailwater was 95.28 ft, which must mean something.

The Lock and Dam in a Library of Congress Photo

An undated photo in the Library of Congress collection shows the Lock & Dam soon after its completion.¹

Citizens of Northport may be surprised to see that the area just north of the lock—adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant—is an empty field. This is the area that, in 2025, was filled with trees and brush which had to be cleared to make way for the River Run Park.

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Photo (EXIF) Deets

• Camera Model - Fujifilm GFX100S

• Date Time Digitized: Aug 31, 2025 at 6:01:03 PM

• Exposure Time: 1/125

• FNumber: 10

• Focal Length: 70

• Focal Length In 35mm Film: 55

• Photographic Sensitivity (ISO): 100

• Original Dimensions: 11648x8736

• Lens Make: FUJIFILM

• Lens Model: GF35-70mmF4.5-5.6 WR

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© Copyright 2025 Jeremy Butler.

1. Historic American Engineering Record, Creator. William Baker Oliver Lock & Dam, Spans Warrior River between Tuscaloosa & Northport, Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, AL. Documentation Compiled After 1968. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, September 3, 2025 <www.loc.gov/item/al1223/>.