"After Waterway Closure, Minneapolis Sees An End To River Shipping"

Efforts to keep the invasive Asian Carp from migrating upstream caused Congress to shut down Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock & Dam. That will end end 52 years of barge traffic on the northernmost stretch of the Mississippi River.

"It's late on a Tuesday morning and — as it's done every day for decades — the Patrick Gannaway towboat pushes its two barges up the Mississippi River right through downtown Minneapolis.

To get its 2,400 tons of sand, gravel, and limestone past the river's only waterfall, the barges take a five-story vertical ride inside the Upper St. Anthony Falls lock.

Deckhands squeeze everything into the narrow chamber and use a winch to take up the slack in the boat's steel cables."

Matt Sepic reports for NPR's Morning Edition June 22, 2015.