Four boats on a rainy afternoon

Actually six passed Harris Riverfront Park in downtown Huntington today, but I wasn't there in time to get good ones of the Elizabeth Ann and the Laura S.

I did, however, get the Ginger Moller, Debi Sharp, Larry Drummond and the Chief Bill Brown.

Four out of six is OK, I guess.

Lock & Dam 27, 9/25/2024

Yesterday, Sept. 25, I woke up feeling awful with this bug that's going around. It was not enough to knock me down, but it did make me question what I can and should do on a given day. I needed to get out of the house to determine how I would function that day, so I drove over to Lock and Dam 27. It had been a few weeks since I had been there, and I was due for a visit.

I wrote about that visit in a column on the Opinion page of this morning's edition of The Herald-Dispatch. If you can't get past the paywall and don't want to pay to read it, I'll summarize it for you here:

• The concrete is more than a hundred years old and is falling apart slowly.
• The state has set aside $5 million for improvements at the park there at the old dam site.
• I enjoy the site because it's like urban archaeology. I enjoy finding old pieces of the lock equipment that remain and wonder what function they served.
• When the park is improved, I hope it retains the same ambience it has today.

I'm no expert on concrete, but it looks like there were two kinds used in the construction of the locks. There was a very rough mixture that formed most of the lock walls, and there was a smoother layer on top of it. You can see what I mean in one of the pictures below.

Speaking of which ...

I also got a few shots of the park's flora and fauna.

After visiting the park, I decided I was strong enough to work, but I worked from home just to be safe.

I look forward to seeing the plans for the park once I can talk someone into letting me take a peek.

And today, I got an email from someone who grew up near Lock & Dam 27. He sent me a link to his web page, which has the only photo I can recall seeing of the powerhouse at the dam.

M/V Lynne Cissna

Seen this evening passing through my area.

One more from Point Pleasant

 I was looking through my recent pictures to find something worthy of a black-and-white image. I didn't find one right away, but I did find this one from the Tribute to the River at Point Pleasant WV a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know if I'll make it up to Pomeroy this weekend for the sternwheeler festival there.

M/V Charleston from above

 I saw the M/V Charleston was headed my way, but until I saw it, I didn't know it was traveling lightboat.

First, from Huntington's Sixth Street bridge. It's in black and white. That seems to fit the boat better.

Then a little while later at Catlettsburg.

If you're wondering, the Marathon boats are the Findlay in the foreground and the Galveston Bay in the background. I got some decent shots of the Findlay and the Mt Airy today that I will try to remember and post on here soon.

The Charleston stopped at what used to be Merdie Boggs. It was still there when I left Catlettsburg. You know you're getting old when you remember what was there better than what's there now.

Nighttime on the river

 Heading out for some nighttime fishing ...

... or heading home after being out too long?

We will probably never know.

Tribute to the River, Part 7

I had hoped to dig a little more into the history of the sternwheel towboat Juanita before I wrote this, but as usual, life had other plans for me this week. I didn't want this to hang out there forever, so let's go with what I have.

I've liked seeing the Juanita since it worked the AEP harbor at Lakin, W.Va.

(Photo taken in 2010, I think)

In the 1980s I went up there as I worked on a story for The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, W.Va., about the three remaining working sternwheelers on this part of the Ohio at that time -- the Lady Lois of Catlettsburg, Ky., the Donald B of the Maysville, Ky., area and the Juanita. While at Lakin I met a man named Worthy Love, who worked on the Juanita and was more or less attached to it.

The Juanita has sinced passed into the ownership of Tom Cook of Dunbar, W.Va., on the Kanawha. When I worked in beautiful downtown Charleston, W.Va., for a while, sometimes I would take U.S. 60 and from to work instead of Interstate 64. I would see the Juanita tied up at Dunbar when I wasn't focused on traffic.

In March 2014, when I separated from one employer in Charleston (my decision), I stopped at a park in St. Albans to think about what was ahead for me. Seeing the Juanita go by made me feel bretter.

At the Tribute ot the River a few days ago, I walked past the Juanita when I asked its owner, Tom Cook, something. He invited me on board and gave me a short tour of the boat and a bit of its history. It seems the Juanita didn't have any construction plans. It was all figured out as they went along.

(A nameplate Tom Cook had made for the Juanita. It's mounted on the boat's exterior instead of inside the boat so more people can see it.)

(Tom Cook shows the sign on the lower deck of the Juanita. It's similar to the one the boat bore when it was owned by O.F. Shearer & Sons, although that sign was a bit larger and was painted on the side of the boat instead of mounted there, Cook said.)

(Engine room of the Juanita)

It was an interesting tour of both history and the present, and I'm glad Mr. Cook invited me aboard.

And that's about it regarding sternwheelers for now. Maybe I'll use the sternwheeler festival in Pomeroy, Ohio, at the end of this month as an excuse to get a few more pictures and to go back into Meigs County. From Racine up, trhere's some beautiful country along the river this time of year.

Tribute to the River, Part 6

 I thought I would try a few in black and white for a change.

The plan is to have Part 7 ready by tomorrow night, but it will take a little more research, so it may have to wait until Friday.

Tribute to the River, Part 5

Just two more nights. Please be patient. I hope you all will like Part 7 to wrap it up.

More photos from Friday evening. The last shot is my favorite of this bunch.

Tribute to the River, Part 4

 Here, without comment, are photos from Saturday's grand opening of the new Point Pleasant River Museum and Lakin Ray Cook Learning Center building.

The next entry will be more boat and landscape pictures.