The St. Louis District’s Dredge Potter began its 2025 dredging season recently, starting work north of St. Louis in the Mel Price and Pool 25 areas before heading to the Open River between St. Louis and Cairo this month.
Built in 1932, the 240-foot-long dustpan dredge is the oldest in the Corps fleet and one of only four dustpan dredges working on the Mississippi River.
Its main mission is to maintain a 300-foot-wide, 9-foot-deep navigation channel, ensuring more than 110 million tons of goods can move safely along the river between St. Louis and Cairo each year.
USACE said that the Potter’s 55-member crew works around the clock, removing up to 3,000 cubic yards of riverbed material per hour, about the size of an Olympic swimming pool filled with sand every hour.