Happy New Year, everybody

 I'll get back to boats at the Big Sandy soon. Meanwhile, here's my last river photo of 2024, taken this evening as darkness took over the landsape.

That's the M/V Canton of Marathon Petroleum passing under the East End bridge between Huntington WV and Proctorville OH with empties headed for Catlettsburg KY.

Happy New Year, everybody.

Boats at the Big Sandy, part 2

Time for more pictures from a day of a dozen boats at the Big Sandy harbor. These were taken from West Virginia, looking over to Ohio.

The City of Chicago eases in to tie off its barges at Virginia Point.

I'd come down here to wait for the Lynne Cissna. Here it's in photo range.

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That's the Mt Airy over close to the Ohio side.

The Lester Parker comes into view.

The Mt Airy and the Lynne Cissna.

And now the Lynne Cissna and the The Caroline.

More to come.

Scrapped

I'll get back to photos from the Big Sandy area soon. My day job has kept me busy with end-of-year stuff.

But I did want to take note of this while it was fresh in my mind. Today the mailman delivered by year-end issue of the Waterways Journal. In the list of boats taken out of service this year it said the M/V Senator Stennis was scrapped. Here's a photo from August 2015 when I saw it shoved up against the bank at Huntington WV.

The Senator Stennis was one of those boats that I saw in the area every now and then. I guess its usefulness had run out.

The WJ also listed the American Queen as "Out of service, fate unknown."

Boats at the Big Sandy

 Here are some of the dozens of boat pictures I got today at Huntington, Kenova and Catlettsburg.

First, I went to Chesapeake, Ohio to see Crounse's Lynne Cissna. The river was calm and reflective when I got this shot. You might see a little fog on it.

The thing is, I wanted to get a closer shot of the boat in the remaining fog when it came past my position. For some reason, the camera's autofocus and exposure control both went out of whack when the boat got close. I couldn't get it to work. After the boat passed, I turned the camera off and on again, and it worked OK. Go figure.

So make up for it by going to the Big Sandy or going home with what little I had? Big Sandy.

As I parked at Virginia Point Park in Kenova at the Big Sandy's mouth, I heard a boat coming. It was the Dave B. Fate of Florida Marine coming out of the Big Sandy pushing an empty.

Here's another shot I spent a little more time with.

The MAP Runner heading up the Big Sandy.

The Dave B. Fate across the river as it dropped off the empty at the Marathon Petroleum fleet at South Point, Ohio.

Superior Marine's Stephen T coming up the river.

Left to right, the Nashville, the City of Chicago and the Dave B. Fate.

As the Nashville passed me, I got this image of two guys out near the tow knees.

And the Nashville with the Norfolk Southern bridge in the background.

To be continued.

M/V City of Chicago

Some days you go out on the river and you see very little. Some days you see a dozen boats. That's close to what happened to me today, although I got good looks at only 11 boats.

Here's one, Kirby's City of Chicago as it dropped its tow at Virginia Point in Kenova WV before it went down to the former Boggs Landing.

The light was interesting. When the sun was out, it was pretty bright. When the heavy clouds covered the sun, it got kind of dark. This was winter light, which is different from summer light when it comes to photography.

I'll process and post a few other pics from today soon, I hope.

And if you were on one of the boats around the Big Sandy from about noon to 2 p.m., that was me in the blue shirt and the black jacket.

M/V Charleston at dusk

 

Charleston (M/V version) after dark

 

I had a work thing in Lawrence County, Ohio, tonight. I got there a few minutes early, so I figured I'd go to Lock and Dam 27 and with luck I would see a boat. I did, but I didn't expect it to be this classic.

Swan goose

 A few years ago we had two or more swan geese at Harris Riverfront Park here in Huntington WV. Then we had none for a while. Now we have one again.

Swan geese are native to China and Mongolia, not the United States. I assume this was a domestic bird that got loose, or its parents did.

The future of century-old concrete

Earlier this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine visited old Lock and Dam 27 on the Ohio River in Lawrence County, Ohio, to talk about his plan for water-related recreation projects. That was in May. In the seven months since we've not heard a lot about whatever plans he has for this spot, which happens to be one of my favorites along the entire Ohio River.

My big question is what happens here at Dam 27. It's a nice, peaceful spot that could use a few improvements. It's one of the few riverside esplanades left from the old dams, and one of the few of those that is a public park.

Specifically, I wonder about the concrete that formed the lock walls and guidewall at the old dam. The locks opened to river traffic in 1923, making this concrete more than a century old. As it has worn away, you can see how it was made in layers. It's an interesting site for industrial archaeologists, if that's what you call people like me who like to expore old workplaces and imagine how people earned their livings there.

By modern standards, some sections aren't safe to walk on, although that doesn't stop fishermen or curious people. I do ask myself what parts of the old concrete will be kept visible and what parts will be covered up. I guess we will see soon.

From the archives: February 2024

 Another time when I'm going through some pictures from a while back and find one that's more interesting now than it was then.

The morning of Feb. 6, 2024, when a Crounse boat was tied up at Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

I thought a wide, narrow crop would bring out the size of the barges better than a tighter crop.