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The Ohio River today is more of a series of connected lakes than it is a free-flowing river. The presence of more than 20 locks and dams ensures you will have enough water to use the river regardless of whether you are the captain of your kayak or a 1,200-foot-long string of barges.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the locks and dam and they make sure the main channel of the river is at least 9 feet deep. The reality is that the water is much deeper at many locations. Between Marietta and Williamstown for instance the river averages around 17 feet. In the curve between Belpre and Parkersburg the Ohio River is around 30 feet deep.
A consistent depth was not something that came naturally to the river. For most of its history the river would practically run dry during periods of little rain. It was not until the establishment of the first round of dams in the early 1900s that the rivers were able to be used for most of the year. The dams were smaller than the current ones, so 51 dams had to be built. In our area you can still find parts of the structures in Beavertown, north of Newport. Along the Ohio River in Reno, between Marietta and Belpre at a small park, and at a public stream access location just downstream of the Chemours complex in Wood County. The dams were built in panels and raised from the bottom of the river when needed. Each dam could raise the river behind it around 9 feet, allowing the river to be used year-round. The high dams today eliminated a need for them and reduced the number of dams needed along the river.
Before the dams, traveling up and down the Ohio River was a difficult endeavor. Not only did travelers have to deal with rocks and snags that could quickly put people and goods in the water, but they also had to frequently deal with a general lack of water.
Prior to the dams, the river could at times be just inches deep. When the Lewis and Clark Expedition set out to explore the west, one of the first cities they stopped at was the young town of Marietta. Their journals along the Ohio provide a great record of what life on the untamed river was like more than two centuries ago. At first it was just Meriwether Lewis and a crew of around 10. William Clark and 30 others would join the group later.
The adventure of the century started in Pittsburgh on Aug. 30, 1803. Using a custom-built keelboat that could be propelled by oars, sails, poles and towlines, Meriwether Lewis and his crew made it just three miles before they were stopped by low water, forcing the crew to drag their 55-foot craft over the river bottom. After 9 hours they stopped for the night. A week later they reach Wheeling, Virginia. First settled by Europeans in 1770, the community had grown to around 50 houses. From here Lewis wrote to President Jefferson. The crew would have a day of rest the next day and didn't leave until the middle of the afternoon on Sept. 9.
The next day they reached the current day site of Moundsville. By Sept. 11, they had arrived in our area, stopping for the night near Grandview Island near the current day New Matamoras. Today Grandview Island is part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge and likely has changed little since 1803. The crew observed squirrels swimming across the river, most of them appearing to head south.
The next day they traveled 20 miles down the river. At one point the river was so shallow they had to take shovels to cut a channel. During the day they purchased corn and potatoes from a "yankey farmer" -- by nightfall they were nine miles above Marietta.
On the morning of Sept. 13 they started down the river at sunrise and arrived in Marietta at 7 p.m. From here Lewis wrote again to President Jefferson. He also dismissed two of his deck hands and hired several new ones, including an unnamed Marietta man. He visited with Griffin Greene, one of the directors of the Ohio Company.
A few of the crew members enjoyed their evening in Marietta a little too much. The group's departure was delayed until 11 a.m. because two of them had to be located after a night of partying.
They only made it to an area above Belpre after the inebriated crew members were unable to help drag the boat over the low water spots.
The next day they passed the "little Kanaway" and the "considerable settlement on this river" that was becoming Parkersburg. Near the Little Hocking they had to repeatedly drag their boat over low spots in the river, while Lewis' dog kept busy catching squirrels that were swimming across the river.
The trouble that the group had with the low water was not unusual for boats trying to use the river.
Moving goods and people downriver was mostly limited to periods when the river was running high. A brief period in the fall and another in the spring provided ample depths for boats.
The steamboat was perfected by Robert Fulton in 1807. The first steamboat to travel down the Ohio River was Fulton's boat the New Orleans that went from Pittsburgh to New Orleans in 1811. Until the steam age, upriver propulsion was limited to men walking the rooftops of boats with long poles that were used to push the craft upstream.
Most downstream flat boats were simply disassembled at their destination with the wood being used for other things. Sternwheelers would make it easier to travel up and down the river, but until dams fixed the depth it was still a difficult process.
Art Smith in online manager for The Times, he can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com