I wish I could have been there

I had some Internet connection problems yesterday and last night. But here is the blast that took down the center section of the Milton-Madison bridge yesterday.

And here it is from more than one angle.

M/V Yvonne Conway

I've been trying to learn a new camera at work, particularly in low-light situations.

Here's a shot of the M/V Yvonne Conway passing Huntington WV this weekend right before a late afternoon thunderstorm arrived.

On a disappointed note, I will be busy in the office this week and not able to attend the demolition of the bridge at Madison, Ind., and Milton, Ky. Bummer.

Returning to normal

Good news on the weather front, at least here in Huntington. According to the National Weather Service, this week should be clear and hot, meaning we will continue to dry out from what seems like a month of rain.

The Ohio River here has fallen about five feet since Friday morning, and it has another four feet to go before it settles down toward normal pool about Tuesday or Wednesday. Perhaps the water will turn blue again. It's been brown ever since I can remember.

It was odd Friday seeing people fish from the top of the river bank at the Guyandotte boat ramp instead of at their usual spot, but there was nowhere else to sit.

Dredging

A couple of weekends ago, I saw some Amherst Madison boats dredging the lower approaes to the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam. Here are some pictures of that activity, if you like large scoops of mud removed from the river bottom and placed in barges.

A lost treasure, found

I thought my copy of this book had been lost in a move, but two nights ago I found it, misplaced in a box of other stuff in my basement.

The best part was on the title page inside, of course.

This is a wonderful book about steamboats, diesel boats and sternwheelers on the Kanawha River. Jerry is a first-rate river historian, and the book is full of photos and text. My favorite parts were a chapter on the last trip of the last packet boat on the Kanawha -- which was a lot later than I would have guessed -- and photos from 1940 of a well-known sternwheel towboat being sunk by floodwaters.

I even did something I'd never done before. Just now I went to Amazon.com and wrote a review.

News and stuff, 7/6/13

I've been in downtown Louisville maybe twice in the past ten years. But from the sound of this, traffic might be a bit tense for the next three years while those two new bridges are being built.

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Apparently the Asian carp, which has invaded the Ohio River system, brought along a parasite that has spread to other fish species and even to one amphibian. The parasite is known as the Asian carp tapeworm. If you're into scientific papers on the spread of the Asian carp tapeworm and other parasites into the lower Wabash River, check out this one. The PDF is 64 pages.

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Campbell Transportation has christened two new towboats. Both were built in Pittsburgh, the first time that's happened in a long time, according to this article. Here's another article with a little more background.

The boats don't show up on Campbell's boat locator. From the looks of it, the locator shows only the larger, long-haul boats.

If you want to see what at least one of the boats looks like, try this link.

As of this writing (Saturday evening), the Renee Lynn is in the New Cumberland pool and the Alice Jean is up on the Mon.

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Finally, for now, a church in Evansville wanted to place some crosses on city-owned land along the Ohio River for its vacation Bible school kids to decorate, but the city turned them down. So several businesses have said the kids can place the crosses on their premises.

Pleasure boat vs. towboat

It looks like a Crounse towboat hit a stalled pleasure craft in the middle of the Ohio River in front of Evansville yesterday. I would tell you more, but this video doesn't want to load.

http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=629622

In saying "hit," it makes it sound like the towboat pilot was at fault. But I have no way of knowing that. It's the way language works.

Kanawha River Blog, 7/3/13

The Speedway doing some work at Charleston when a couple of recreation boats headed in opposite direction come by.

M/V Dan Elder, part 3

Here are some of the other boats we saw that day:

The Cincinnati, downbound with the Norfolk Southern bridge in the background. Before it was owned by Norfolk Southern, the bridge had been owned by Conrail, Penn Central, the New York Central and at least one other railroad. I think a waaaaaaaaaaaaay long time ago one of them might have been called the Ohio & Kanawha Railroad or the Kanawha & Ohio, but I'll have to look that up.

The Alan P. Hall, upbound.

Some kayakers.

The Darrell L upbound, with the Silver Memorial Bridge in the background.

And the Alan P. Hall again, this time downbound. I assume it had been at a terminal a few miles upriver near Addison, Ohio.