The unofficial start of the Mississippi River navigation season has begun.

The Motor Vessel Neil N. Diehl went through Lock and Dam 2, in Hastings on Wednesday, with nine barges.

Reaching Hasting and having access to St. Paul marks the unofficial start to the navigation season as it is the last port on the Upper Mississippi River to open. This year ice in Lake Pepin caused a delay, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

On average the first tow reaches St. Paul in the third week in March. The Motor Vessel Joseph Patrick Eckstein was the first tow of the 2024 to reach St. Paul, arriving on March 17, 2024. The earliest date for a tow getting to St. Paul occurred on March 4 in the years of 1983, 1984 and 2000.

The river channel provides transportation for fertilizers farmers need to produce corn and soybeans. The St. Paul District maintains the 9-foot-deep navigation channel and operates 12 locks and dams that support boat traffic from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa.

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