WEBVTT

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(gentle piano music)

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- [Narrator] The History
of the Monongahela River

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Navigation System.

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The Monongahela Navigation Company.

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The Monongahela River
Navigation System began in 1838

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under the Monongahela
Navigation Company, MNC.

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Why was it developed?

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Who commissioned the
Monongahela Navigation Company?

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Where?

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and, Why?

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How has it served the purpose?

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On March 26th, 1828,
the canal commissioners

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appoint Edward F. Gay, an
ex-Erie Canal engineer,

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to survey for slack water.

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Navigation comprised of a
series of still-water pools

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created by a series of dams

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on the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers,

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forming the Ohio River.

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On December 3rd, 1828,
Edward F. Gay reports back

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recommending slack water for
steamboats on the Allegheny,

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between the mouth of the
Kiskiminetas and French Creek

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on the Ohio with a series
of four locks and dams

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to be built to provide a
slack water navigation system

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on the Monongahela River from
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

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to Morgantown, West Virginia,

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setting the stage for the development

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of navigation improvements
on the Monongahela River.

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However, the federal government
declined to provide funding

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for locks and dams on the
Monongahela leaving the task

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to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

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(gentle piano music)

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- So in 1836, the state of Pennsylvania

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chartered a private company
to build locks and dams

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on the Monongahela River.

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- And that was initially
done by private industry,

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Monongahela Navigation Company,

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that had private locks and dams

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on the river.

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(gentle music)

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- [Narrator] Navigation on the
unimproved stream was limited

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to the 57-mile stretch between
Brownsville, Pennsylvania,

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and the river's mouth at Pittsburgh.

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During periods of high water,

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the river was navigable as far upstream

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as Morgantown, West Virginia,

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and, on occasion, even to Fairmount.

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The principal traffic on the river prior

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to its improvements
consisted of rafts of lumber.

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(gentle piano music)

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The first construction contracts were let,

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and locks numbers one and
two on the lower river opened

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to traffic in 1841.

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The initial improvement
employed log crib cofferdams

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dewatered using horse-powered screw pumps,

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in the construction of timber crib dams

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and the stone mason relocks
measuring 50 by 190 feet.

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(gentle piano music)

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In an effort to speed the work,

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the Monongahela Navigation
Company attached steam engines

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to the pumps at lock and
dam numbers three and four.

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This innovation enabled the pumps

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to discharge 2100 gallons per minute,

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reducing the time required
to dewater the cofferdams.

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(gentle piano music)

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When completed to
Brownsville in late 1844,

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these four lock and dam
structures provided 60 miles

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of five-foot slack water navigation.

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Then, the Monongahela
Navigation Company eventually

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added a second lock chamber at
lock numbers one through four

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and gradually extended
the entire system upstream

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as revenue from tolls
provided working capital.

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(gentle piano music)

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The genesis of the development

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of putting a navigable channel

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through the Lower Mon system

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was to facilitate
industry-moving commodities

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through the river.

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(gentle piano music)

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It was one of the nation's earliest

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and most successful
river navigation systems.

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Its series of locks and
dams has provided Pittsburgh

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and West Virginia with the safe passage

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for commerce of their commodity exports

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from the coal, coke, iron,
and steel industries.

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(intense orchestral music)