Old Boat Column

The last column detailed the early years of the steam sternwheel towboat W.P. Snyder Jr., built in 1918 on the bank of the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh by James Rees… Read More

This past week marked 70 years since the steam sternwheel towboat W.P. Snyder Jr. arrived at Marietta, Ohio, under its own power, blowing the whistle and billowing coal smoke… Read More

The Ohio River Company grew from very humble beginnings to become one of the most iconic river towing companies of the 20th century. The late Capt. Bill Judd has detailed… Read More

This is another column that was prompted by recent photos. These shots were of a towboat, resplendent in a coat of fresh summer paint, with closeups showing the vessel looking… Read More

This column is about a towboat that has long been a personal favorite of mine. It was not the largest, and it certainly was not the most attractive or… Read More

The sad news was dispensed through social media recently that one of the most iconic towing vessels built for the inland rivers in the middle of the 20th century was… Read More

The past two Old Boat Columns looked at one of the two boats that led the towboat parade for the Greenup Lock dedication in 1962: the 3,200 hp. Valvoline of… Read More

Last week this column began looking at the Sohio Cleveland, built in 1949 by St. Louis Ship for the Sohio Petroleum Corporation of St. Louis. The boat, which measured 150… Read More

The last column detailed the dedication of the Greenup Locks and Dam that featured a towboat parade. This week we will look at one of the boats that led that… Read More

The July 28, 1962, issue of The Waterways Journal, published 63 years ago today, carried a feature story on the July 22 dedication of the new Greenup Locks and… Read More