Wharfboats "If you wanted to mail a letter, you took it to the Post Office. If you wanted to send a package by train, you took it to the Rail Road Freight Office. If you wanted to send a package by a steamboat, you took it to the Wharfboat, where it was assigned to the next boat leaving for your addressed destination." "... on the Ohio River, where owing to the rise and fall of the water, no stationary building upon the wharf would suffice for the purposes of steamboat, freight, and express offices, and where, therefore, a boat is made to answer such purposes." -Harper's Weekly, June 12, 1869 Wharfboat of Crockard & Booth Steamboat Agents, Wheeling WV, 1889-1903. Wheeling, WV flood, Feb, 1891. Steamboat Ben Hur alongside the C&B wharfboat. Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling WV. Sketch of Wharfboat on the Ohio River at Cincinnati, 1861
Good morning to all- Very interesting topic- thank you for starting it. I love boats- of all kinds. Here's a photo of one of my kayaks that I build. I've put several together through the years. I once drew up and built a 14 foot daysailer- and it worked! Good day to all- Ed
I had a kayak for a while, and I totally loved it ! Mine was just one of the cheaper ones, and it was what is called a sit-on-top one, so it was easy for me to get in and out of; but not as stable if a person was doing kayaking in moving water. I had a friend who also had a kayak, and we would load them into the back of my Mazda pickup, and we went to the small lakes and ponds near where we lived in north Idaho. Before that, when I lived in Western Washington, I had a pedal boat, which is designed for two people to sit in and both pedal to propel the boat around. I could sit in the center, and I took my fishing tackle along, and would troll along the shoreline and catch fresh Kokanee for my dinner. I really miss that time of my life, but I could probably not balance well enough to fish like that anymore anyway. Mine looked something similar to this one:
Yvonne, I always wanted one of those paddle boats, but didn't have a place to keep it secure and out of the rain, or a way to transport it. They even had a couple models in stock at Walmart here at one time.
I lived in a house not far from Mayfield Lake, and right down the road was the boat launch area. We had to haul the pedal boat down to the boat launch, but after that , I was able to dock it on the lake near my house. There was a trail that went across the road from where I lived, and down to the lake, and a big log floating half into the water, and I just chained my boat up to the log when I was done fishing with it, and walked home on the trail. So , I only had to trailer it in order to get it to the dock the first time.
There’s no doubt Ed, the craftsmanship is superb! I can’t tell from the picture but out of curiosity, what kind of wood did you use? It kinda looks like sassafras but again, I can’t really tell.
One of my early jobs was at Yar-Craft, which made fishing boats, canoes, and kayaks. I was the fiberglass chopper operator. At that time, Yar-Craft was a small company with a very relaxed atmosphere. Everyone who worked there had a key, and we could stay late or come in on weekends, when they weren't usually in operation, and make boats for ourselves. I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it if we made votes to sell, of course, but I doubt anyone even thought of doing that. In this, we were pretty much restricted to canoes and kayaks because we made the hulls and the decks of the fishing boats at our plant, and they were assembled elsewhere. It took more than one person because there were things that had to be done before the fiberglass and resin mixture dried that would have been difficult, if not impossible, for one person to do alone. But my brother and a cousin also worked there, so we came in one weekend and made a bunch of canoes and some kayaks for my dad's Boy Scout troop. We just had to pay for the materials, which was only $15 for a canoe. At one time, I was pretty good in a kayak. I loved rocking the kayak so that it tipped over and, with my head underwater, I could rock it so that it would come flip aright. Okay, that didn't always work but it often did. The company also had some motorized boats moored at the Menominee Marina that any employee could check out for free, so we could visit some of the nearby islands on Lake Michigan. The company didn't even charge us for the gas.
Good evening to all- Most of that wood is western red cedar with accents of a mix of tropical woods. I like working with cedar- easy to cut and smooths out very nicely. Easy to get at most Lowes and Home Depot yards, too. I finished painting the outside of my old plywood fishing skiff this spring- now the inside looks pretty crummy- got to do it next. good night to all- Ed
The turns on the Miss aren’t really that drastic to warrant the tug disengaging and then pushing the nose sections of the barges in a particular direction but the option is there if they need to. The hardest part of pushing that many barges is going through all the locks one finds especially on the upper regions of the river. They have to disengage the barges and tow them through in sections by way of electric wench whilst the other sections remain moored outside the locks.
Shaver barge at Dalles Lock on the Columbia River I see how the towboat shifts to the left side of the barges here.
Articulated Tug Barges "ATB's consist of a tank vessel (barge) and a large, powerful tug that is positioned in a notch in the stern of the barge, which enables the tug to propel and maneuver the barge." Defiance Tug with Ashtabula Barge near Rotary Park Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan