(Photo provided by Harry Fischer Collection at Marietta College Special Collections) Ferry PIONEER CITY.

The Ohio River ferry PIONEER CITY approaches the landing at Marietta in late 1800’s.

Yes, it’s properly called a landing, not a levee.

There was no bridge then. Without bridges, ferry boats were the connections across rivers.

When the Williamstown Bridge opened in 1903, the PIONEER CITY was out of work.

It’s also pictured in the foreground of the river ice photo.

(Photo by Harry Fischer, from Keith Norrington Collection) Frozen Muskingum River.

The boat was built (where else?) in Marietta at Knox Boat Yard in 1891.

It was sold in 1905 and became a different kind of ferry.

It towed a barge which transferred trains across the Little Kanawha River in Parkersburg where the East Street Bridge is now.

Both of these photos show area landmarks.

The ferry photo is from Marietta’s landing looking down river.

Some steamboats appear in upper right of the photo, moored on Harmar shore near where Knox Boat Yard was located.

The shanty on the left has an advertisement on its side: “Henry Rauch, Leading and Lowest Price Clothier.”

Horse drawn wagons await transport or receipt of freight.

The frozen river photo shows Marietta viewed from Harmar in 1905.

The idled PIONEER CITY is in the foreground and the steamboat KANAWHA is on the Marietta side.

The recently opened Williamstown Bridge spans the Ohio River.

The sprawling A. T. Nye & Son works that made stoves sits where the Corps of Engineers station is today.

Sidebar note: I find it curious that ice was thick enough on the Muskingum River to support all those people while the Ohio River a few hundred feet away was clear of ice.

The rivers were vital to commerce and everyday life. Marietta people, businesses, and investors were important players.