Here are pictures from today. It's hard to see from the pictures, but the tow is sunk in about 25 feet of water. It's not known, or at least released what the tow struck in the river. I don't know in what direction it was headed, but It is headed upstream where it lies. The river in this area is very deep (in the 30 ~ 40 foot range) so it is unlikely that something was lying on the bottom in the channel that could have been struck. Downstream about a half mile, is located one of two Lateral dams that I believe are the only such examples of hazards on the entire upper river. These are relics from the past that enabled steamboats to pass the LeClaire Radids. The other is downstream about 8 miles that enabled steamers to avoid the rapids between Moline IL and Bettendorf IA. at the time of construction (1850's)the Army Engineers lacked the technology to dam the entire Mississippi. So what they did (They in this case was led by Robert E Lee) divided the river into two paths with the use of the lateral dams. At the downstream ends they built dams and locks. When the current Lock and Dam system was built in the 20's and 30's they became obsolete. But they were never removed. I'm guessing the Tow ran over the LeClaire lateral dam. Tow Captains generally represent he utmost in professionalism. But I have seen instances when that wasn't the case. I'm sure well know when the Coast Guard gets done with their investigation. In my mind the lateral dams are not marked very well. But Tow Captains are trained to a very high standard of river knowledge, so it is hard to believe. I stopped to take pictures tonite and wouldn't you know it the site was being picketed by 'On Strike' Salvage divers. Iowa is a right to work state, needless to say they didn't earn any sympathy from me. It really capped my impression when one of the picketers left giving the finger to the emergency response workers on site.
Man, that's over 321 tons. 
