History of the Snagboat Montgomery

History of the Snagboat Montgomery. . , What is a Snagboat?, Snagboats remove snags – underwater trees, stumps, or branches – that created obstructions to river navigation. A large grapple or clamshell on the snagboat’s beam pulled these obstacles from the river. Equipped with a scoop bucket, snagboats could deepen shallow areas by dredging up silt., Generally, snagboats operated in tandem with barges and tug boats. Usually, a barge was tethered to the snagboat. The river snag or other debris was dropped onto the barge. Once the barge was full, the tug boat would take it away and leave an empty barge in its place. Log books for the Montgomery from the 1970s, show daily operations included removing 120-170 snags per day., By the 1800s, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was responsible for most river improvement work including building locks, dams, and diversion canals. Flood control was added to their responsibilities in the 1870s. They also worked to keep the rivers clear and open for boat traffic., In 1829, Henry Shreve designed the first steam-powered snagboat. The Heliopolis featured two connected side-by-side hulls which held a derrick to lift snags. The double-hull design remained the standard until the early 20th century and the development of high-strength steel hulls., The Montgomery was built between 1925 and 1926 by the Charleston Dry Dock and Machine Company of Charleston, South Carolina, for the Montgomery District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The new boat was based in Montgomery, Alabama, and worked the Alabama-Coosa River system until 1933, when the Montgomery District became a part of the Mobile District. Her new home port of Tuscaloosa added the Black Warrior-Tombigbee rivers to her responsibilities., Snagboats, like the Montgomery, were work horses, maintaining the nation’s navigable waterways. By the mid-20th century, the Corps’ snagboats operated on an annual cycle. Snagging operations began in May and continued through the end of the year, the time of peak river traffic. From January to May of each year, the boat would go to dry dock for major repairs., In 1959, the Montgomery was transferred to Panama City, Florida, where she worked the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, and Flint rivers. Her home port changed to White City, Florida in 1979. When the Corps of Engineers retired the Montgomery on 8 November 1982, she was the last sternwheel work boat operating on a southern river and one of two remaining steam-powered snagboats in the United States.