Here are some pictures of how some of those structures looked before they were removed. I went for an artsy effect rather than my normal journalistic one.
Back in the 1970s, there were several coal tipples built along the river in my area. And there were several that were proposed and even permitted but were never built. Moving coal from the mine to the river by truck was a big deal, but I don't know if any coal-to-river tipples are in operation anymore from say, Parkersburg, W.Va., to Portsmouth, Ohio. I don't know of any active mines close enough to the river to make such a business feasible anymore, actually.
6 comments:
there are 2 tipples in the r.c.byrd
pool one above the point.r.r.
bridge ohio side trucked in and one
in the area of the sporn plant on
the ohio side mined straight to the
tipple
I can't believe I forgot about the tipple above the Point Pleasant railroad bridge. I was looking at it the other day from the West Virginia side of the river. As for the one near the Sporn plant, I didn't know about it. Thanks.
Coal trucks are great for delivering coal to docks, and they're great for tearing up asphalt and scaring years off the lives of other drivers.
One of my brothers-in-law drove coal trucks for years. I don't think he misses it.
The loadout below Racine lock was built just in the past year or so, which is probably why you haven't noticed it.
There is also a truck to barge loadout a few miles above Parkersburg, WV that is active. A miniscule amount of coal is loaded there compared to the docks that load up in the Hannibal pool.
I've wanted to spend a day up in the Hannibal pool just to look around. Looking at boat movements and lock statistics, I've noticed the amount of coal loaded up there and have wondered if the docks up there are like the old ones down here.
The docks up there are all modern operations when compared to the old and abandoned coal docks above Huntington. Shoemaker and McElroy mines both have conveyor systems that load right to the barge, and North American Coal is a rail/truck to barge facility. With North American Coal and McElroy Mine located at opposite sides of the river just below Powhatan Point, the river can really get choked down when things get backed up as this pic shows: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=193551
Yeah, I gotta get up there next summer.
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