Sunday, May 22, 2016

Old postcards from Wheeling and elsewhere

The other day my brother Cliff Richie, the family genealogist, emailed me some photos.

He wrote, "I came across some old pictures and postcards that you might be interested in. One is a steam boat with Jones as a last name. The two post cards are very old. Notice on the Wheeling one, there are no autos, only horses. The one with the men standing on the wharf house could possibly be from one of the weir dams or some town wharf. Notice some have heavy gloves and work clothes on."

If anyone knows anything about the people, places or boats in these photos, we'd be glad to hear it. If there are any problems with copyrights, let me know and I will take the affected photos down ASAP.


 


Back to the others.




3 comments:

h.m.sanders said...

The Steamer Herbert E. Jones built 1940 Marietta Mfg. Originally Str Jason. The last steam towboat built for the inland waterways. The
boat was 167' x 37.5' x 8.4' with condensing engines 16 and 32" in diameter with a 10' stroke. Built for stock, it was acquired by Union Barge Lines and came out in May 1941. It was acquired in 1961 by Amhearst Barge Line and renamed Herbert E. Jones.Its final trip was August 1, 1959, and it was then converted into a restaurant
and nightclub called the Thunderbird at Blawnox, Pa, on the Allegheny River.

This data is from a PDF of a Waterways Journal article (ca1970 or so) about Marietta Mfg. You may view the WJ article at this url http://www.sdgs.usd.edu/pubs/Scans/WaterwaysJournal/2001-0924.pdf

Hope this helps some Mr. Ross>

h.m.sanders said...

I made an error in my original post...The final trip for this boat was August 1, 1969 instead of the posted date of 1959...my fingers do not always hit the correct keys.

Phil Pockras said...

Nice! And Mr. Sanders has answered a question I was about to ask: when the last steam towboat was around. I have memories of whistles heard from Elizabeth St. in Proctorville OH in the late 1950s, especially at night when sound carries better. I'd wondered in the past if these were false memories, but apparently not! Thanks, Mr. Sanders.