The Mississippi River is the primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it flows generally south for 2,340 miles (3,766 km) to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km²), of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the world's tenth-largest river by discharge flow, and the largest in North America.

Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is recognized with a statue in Rand Park. It is in the extreme southeast corner of Iowa, where the Des Moines River meets the Mississippi. It is at the junction of U.S. Routes 61, 136 and 218. Just across the rivers are the towns of Hamilton and Warsaw, Illinois, and Alexandria, Missouri. Keokuk, along with the city of Fort Madison, is a principal city of the Fort Madison-Keokuk micropolitan area, which includes all of Lee County, Iowa, Hancock County, Illinois and Clark County, Missouri.

Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located 40 miles (64 km) east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of Bonneville Lock and Dam are electrical power generation and river navigation. The dam was built and is managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. At the time of its construction in the 1930s it was the largest water impoundment project of its type in the nation, able to withstand flooding on an unprecedented scale. Electrical power generated at Bonneville is distributed by the Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville Dam is named for Army Capt. Benjamin Bonneville, an early explorer credited with charting much of the Oregon Trail. The Bonneville Dam Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1987.

The Callaway Plant is a nuclear power plant located in Callaway County, Missouri. The plant is Missouri's only nuclear power plant and is close to Fulton, Missouri. The 2,767 acres (1,120 ha) site began operations on December 19, 1984. It generates electricity from one 1,190-megawatt Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactor and a General Electric turbine-generator. The Ameren Corporation owns and operates the plant through its subsidiary Ameren Missouri. It is one of several Westinghouse reactors designs called the "Standard Nuclear Unit Power Plant System," or SNUPPS.

The National Register of Historic Places in the United States is a register including buildings, sites, structures, districts, and objects. The Register automatically includes all National Historic Landmarks as well as all historic areas administered by the U.S. National Park Service. Since its introduction in 1966, more than 97,000 separate listings have been added to the register.

The Keokuk-Hamilton bridge is a steel girder, 4-lane bridge from Keokuk, Iowa to Hamilton, Illinois. It carries U.S. Route 136 across the Mississippi River. It also has fully fenced off pedestrian walkway.

Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park is a historical site preserving an 1895 alternating current (AC) hydroelectric power station—one of the first in the United States.

The Keokuk Bridge, also known as the Keokuk Municipal Bridge, is a double-deck, single-track railway and highway bridge across the Mississippi River in the United States between Keokuk, Iowa, and Hamilton, Illinois, just downstream of Mississippi Lock and Dam number 19. It was designed by Ralph Modjeski and constructed 1915–1916 on the piers of its predecessor that was constructed in 1869–1871.

Ford Dam, officially known as Lock and Dam No. 1, is on the Upper Mississippi River and is located between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota just north of the confluence of the Mississippi with the Minnesota River at Mississippi River mile 847.9, in Minneapolis. The powerhouse portion was previously owned by the Ford Motor Company, which operated a hydroelectric power station to feed electricity to its Twin Cities Assembly Plant on the east side of the river. It was sold to Brookfield Power Co. in April 2008. The dual-lock facility and dam was built and is operated by the St. Paul district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Mississippi Valley Division.

Hales Bar Dam was a hydroelectric dam once located on the Tennessee River in Marion County, Tennessee, United States. The Chattanooga and Tennessee River Power Company began building the dam on October 17, 1905, and completed it on November 11, 1913, making Hales Bar one of the first major multipurpose dams and one of the first major dams to be built across a navigable channel in the United States. It began operation on November 13, 1913.

Lock and Dam No. 10 is a lock and dam located in Guttenberg, Iowa on the Upper Mississippi River around river mile 615.0. It was constructed and placed in operation November 1937. The site underwent major rehabilitation 1989—2006. The dam consists of a concrete dam 763 feet (232.6 m) long with four roller gates and eight tainter gates. The earth embankment is 4,223 feet (1,287.2 m) long with a concrete spillway 1,200 feet (365.8 m) long. The lock is 110 feet (33.5 m) wide by 600 feet (182.9 m) long. The lock and dam are owned and operated by the St. Paul District of the United States Army Corps of Engineers-Mississippi Valley Division.

General Zebulon Pike Lock and Dam No. 11 is a lock and dam located between Dubuque, Iowa, and rural Grant County, Wisconsin, on the Upper Mississippi River.

Lock and Dam No. 12 is a lock and dam located on the Upper Mississippi River at Bellevue, Iowa, United States. The movable portion of the dam starts at the locks adjacent to the Iowa shore and is 849 feet (258.8 m) long, consisting of seven tainter gates and three roller gates. It connects to a 200-foot (61.0 m) storage yard and continues toward the Illinois shore with a 2,750-foot (838.2 m) non-submersible dike, a 1,200-foot (365.8 m) submersible dike and a 3,130-foot (954.0 m) non-submersible dike. The non-submersible sections are separated from the submersible section with two 120-foot (36.6 m) transitional dikes. The main lock is 110 feet (33.5 m) wide by 600 feet (182.9 m) long. There is also an incomplete auxiliary lock. In 2004, the facility was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as Lock and Dam No. 12 Historic District, #04000172 covering 1,017 acres (4.1 km²), 1 building, 3 structures, and 4 objects.

Lock and Dam No. 14 is a lock and dam located near LeClaire, Iowa on the Upper Mississippi River above Davenport, Iowa and Moline, Illinois. The movable portion of the dam is 1,343 feet (409.3 m) long and consists of 13 tainter gates and 4 roller gates. Connected to it is a 1,127 feet (343.5 m) long non-submersible rock fill dike which extends to the Illinois side. The main lock is 110 feet (33.5 m) wide by 600 feet (182.9 m) long. The site on the National Register of Historic Places as the Lock and Dam No. 14 Historic District (#04000174) listed in 2004 consisting of 3,043 acres (12.3 km²), 1 building, 6 structures, and 2 objects. It was completed in two phases, the first as part of the six foot channel project from 1921 to 1924, which included a lock and canal bypassing a hazardous rapids. The second phase was part of the nine foot channel project from 1935 to 1939 and included the main dam and the current main lock.

Lock and Dam No. 16 is a lock and dam located near Muscatine, Iowa on the Upper Mississippi River around river mile 457.2. The movable portion of the dam is 1,315 feet (400.8 m) long and consists of 4 roller gates and 15 Tainter gates. The lock is 110 feet (33.5 m) wide by 600 feet (182.9 m) long with a maximum lift of 9 feet (2.7m) In 2004, the facility was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as Lock and Dam No. 16 Historic District, #04000176 covering 1,024 acres (4.1 km²), 1 building, 5 structures, and 2 objects.

Croton Dam is an earth-filled embankment dam and powerplant complex on the Muskegon River in Croton Township, Newaygo County, Michigan. It was built in 1907 under the direction of William D. Fargo by the Grand Rapids - Muskegon Power Company, a predecessor of Consumers Energy. The 40-foot-high (12 m) dam impounds 7.2 billion U.S. gallons (6 billion imp. gal/27 billion L) of water in its 1,209-acre (489 ha) reservoir and is capable of producing 8,850 kilowatts at peak outflow. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Mechanicville Hydroelectric Plant is a 18.3-acre (7.4 ha) national historic district located at Mechanicville in Saratoga County, New York. The listing included one contributing building and three contributing structures. The district dates to 1897 and includes notable Queen Anne architecture.

U.S. Highway 136 (US 136) is a short U.S. Highway in Keokuk, Iowa. The route was designated nationally in 1951 and has remained largely unchanged through Keokuk since then. The highway originally crossed the Mississippi on the Keokuk Rail Bridge, which was the second bridge built and operated by Andrew Carnegie's Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company in that location. While it was designed for wagons and early automobiles, crossing the rail bridge became difficult in larger modern vehicles, specifically semi trucks. As a result, a new automobile-only bridge was built directly to the south of the older span. The Keokuk–Hamilton Bridge opened in 1985 eight months early and under budget.

Seattle Municipal Light and Power Plant, also known as Cedar Falls Historic District, is a public hydroelectric plant near North Bend, Washington operated by Seattle City Light. The plant on the Cedar River was the first publicly-owned electrical generating plant for Seattle and one of the earliest in the country for a municipality of its size. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.