Locks and Dams

Locks and Dams. 1873 - Present. , Where Banks Cave in , The name "Monongahela" comes from a Lenape (Delaware) word meaning "falling banks." The river flows north from present-day Fairmont, WV to Pittsburgh, PA, along a course of uncertain depths. Until the late 19th century, the river would occassionally dry up entirely around Morgantown., One for the Money , The steamboat Reindeer was the first to arrive in Morgantown in 1826. It was 33 years later that the Globe reached Fairmont to collect a $1000 prize as the first to reach the end of the river., All Under Control , Until 1873, the journey from Pittsburgh to Fairmont was a difficult one because of the river's varying depths. Consequently, over the first half of the 19th century, Pennsylvania signed contracts with companies to construct and operate six lock-and-dam structures. These extended navigable waters to the Monongalia County border., The Man Behind the Dams , In 1873, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), under Colonel William Merrill, began work on the lock-and-dam system from the PA border to Fairmont, WV. In the next sixteen years, Col. Merrill oversaw the construction of three more locks-and-dams to reach Morgantown. He rode into Fairmont on the Adam Jacobs to celebrate the river's being made navigable on November 8, 1889., By the Boatload , By 1891, boats traveling between Morgantown and Pittsburgh were carring 17,000 passengers and 24,000 tons of freight per year. Twelve years later, the entire river was made navigable with the addition of six more locks-and-dams to Fairmont. Starting in 1950, the USACE began reducing the number of lock-and-dam structures south of the PA border from nine to three., (Captions):, Steamboat Columbia, Pittsburgh to Morgantown, W. Va. (1905-1925) , West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries , Source: Richard M. and Norma Duez - West Virginia History OnView, Low Water Levels on the Monongahela River below the Bridge to Westover in Morgantown, W. Va. (1930) , West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries , Source: Unknown - West Viriginia History OnView, Swimming at Old Lock on Monongahela River, Morgantown, W. Va. (Date Unknown) , West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries , Source: Morgantown Post West Virginia History OnView, Steamboat Isaac M Mason at Morgantown Lock-and-Dam (1900-1910) , West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries , Source: Scott Gibson - Gibson Collection, Loading Coal Barges at Star City (1967) , West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries , Source: Consolidation Coal Company - West Virginia History OnView, Col. William E. Merrill (1837-1891) , Cincinnati and Pittsburgh District Engineer (1870-1891) , Source: Gilman, D.C.; Peck, H.T.; Colby, F. M. eds. , The New International Encyclopedia (1905)