The Monongahela Hotel Rices Landing Pa.

 Back in 2009 I posted some shots of the sign and steps of the old Monongahela Hotel that was located in Rices Landing,Pa. I promised 'more on this soon'...but it took awhile longer than I thought. Sorry about that! Evan and I are trying to bring the old blog back to life, so we will be trying to post some more in the near future. 

  As you will soon see from  MANY upcomming posts, I recently recieved a large ammount of 35mm slides of the Rices Landing area and its events throughout the years. The shots range (mostly) from the 70s and 80s, even into the 90s. I discovered that peppered throughout this collection are some very old shots dating back as far as the 50s. Some are original shots and some are pictures of older photos. They are all amazing and a fantastic look into our local history. 

  I found these photos of the old hotel and figured it would be a good intro into both the revival of this blog and a taste of what is to come. Although Evan and I don't do as much physical exploration these days, a dive into the old photos proves just as interesting. I'll be doing a post on the origin of the treasure trove of photos soon but for now, as promised, more on the Monongahela Hotel.

  

As the sign says, the Monongahela Hotel was built in 1855 and was a three story structure located near the location of Lock 6 on the Monongahela river at Rices Landing. it was near the railroad underpass which takes the road under the former railway ( now rail trail). The road T's to either Millsboro road or Horseshoe Bend...infamous home of Stovepipe! The Hotel was in close proximity to the river, coal mines and the railroad, so I would imagine it saw its share of visitors. Its hard to imagine a town the size of Rices Landing once needed a hotel! I'd love to see some inside shots. Maybe we will find some one day.  

 The sign states the Hotel was built from bricks baked right in Rices Landing. Some of which can still be found in the weeds and dirt along the trail. Although the sign states the hotel was razed in 1957, I believe the shot below was dated 1959..I will double check as my vision isnt what it used to be. Either way, it was gone long before I was born.

 My sister Debbie told me she remembers walking past the Hotel as a child with my aunt, and remembered it as 'creepy'. That would have been in the days close to its destruction, as in the color photo, so her memory is probably pretty accurate. The Hotel was, in her day, a beatuiful building that I'm sad to not have seen. We are lucky to have these old shots to remind us what was once there, which has always been the spirit of this blog, If  I discover any more photos or information I will add it to this post. Stay tuned to the blog for a LOT more Rices Landing content! 

If my Dad were still around, he'd have told us not only about the Hotel, but the car in the foreground!  Listen to those old stories, gang. The people that tell them wont be around forever!

Looking North. Monongahela house on left

 My family and I will be moving back to Rices Lading soon. I can't wait to get back to my home town! A lot has changed in the 24 years I've been gone. 

I'm glad some of it is the same! Stay tuned for more!

Some great photos of the Crucible Ferry Nekoda!

Sent to us by Facebook follower Shaundra Bissett, these amazing old photos of the Crucible ferry " Nekoda" give a rare glimpse of the ferry in action. Many people have fond memories of the ferry and their family members who relied on it every day! Shaundra writes:

  "I came across your blog and videos the other day.  The crucible ferry was always an interest to me.  I am 47 and as a young girl my dad would take my brother and I down to the ferry and we would play.  This was around 1982 when it was lateral washed on shore.  I can remember it was tethered by huge thick cables.  Anyway I can remember my grandmother telling me my grandfather worked on the ferry, I don't know what year but I was able to find the two pictures I have.  They both have pictures of them with cars on them.  One has a picture of my grandfather standing on the ferry.  The young boy sitting on the waters edge is my uncle so I am guessing these pictures are around the 1950's.  I was so excited to see your blogs about the ferry.  I remember going down to the river after each of the major events to check on it.  Until it was gone."

And here is the current location from the above pictures.

Thank you, Shaundra! If anyone else has any more great old photos, please let us know! We'd love to feature them!

Check out THIS LINK for some additional pictures of the ferry in action, and sitting underwater.   We have tons of ferry related posts here, so don't forget to use the search box and type in ferry.

More Monongahela Lock 6 demo 1965. Rices Landing, PA

These vintage shots are from the collection of Tony Meza of Rices Landing.  These shots depict the demolition of Lock 6 from September through December of 1965.  Great before-during-after shots.  Interesting shots of the W.A. Young Machine shop, too!  Personally, I dig the old blue van!


More info can be found at the Lock 6  Museum, as seen in this post.

Vintage photos of Crucible Mine and the Crucible Ferry!!!

Just got these from my good bud,Ed Begovich (long time SWPARE supporter!)More treasures from the Begovich archive! These beatuiful shots of the Crucible Mine and ferryboat Nekoda were taken by his Grandpap Frank Begovich.I estimate these from the mid to late 1940's judging from the cars.Ed says he has more on the way,so keep checking back!!
One bummer,though.Ed's Dad actually witnessed the scrapping of the Nekoda (and may have pics to prove it)So.looks like I'll need to find a new mystery!! Oh,well...enjoy these awesome pics....more soon.Thanks,Ed...again!!

Fredericktown, PA riverboat J. L PERRY or W. P. SNYDER JR Circa 1948

     Today, I scanned a bunch of old pictures for an upcoming blog.  I'm still waiting for some more before I can do a proper post, but I found this one in the mix and thought it would fit in with the winter season and my recent winter rails to trails walk blog.

      The date on the back read 1948.  The picture was taken from the Fayette County side of the Monongahela river opposite Fredericktown, PA. Note the ice covering the river.  The waste piles of the Clyde mine can be seen in the background.
More coming soon, we promise.

Click here  or on  this other interesting one to see two brief histories of the steam boat above.

Chip just posted some more riverboat pictures here!

These two informative E mails came to me today about the boats history.

Evan,

   The W.H. Clingerman (launched under that name on February 21, 1918) was renamed the J.L. Perry in May, 1938.  In the spring of 1945 she was renamed the A-1.  That fall the Crucible Steel Company of America bought her and renamed her W.P. Snyder, Jr. after the president and CEO of the company.  She towed her coal barges to Crucible’s plant at Midland, PA and in 1954 she was laid up. (Due to competition from diesel tows, she saw less and less work.)

  She arrived in Marietta under her own steam on September 16, 1955, was shut down for the last time, and has been in permanent residence here at the Ohio River Museum, leaving occasionally for repairs.

  I hope this helps.  Thank you for your interest.  We are very proud to have the W.P. Snyder, Jr. in residence here.  She is now on the National Registry of Historic Places.  If you ever have the opportunity, please visit the Ohio River Museum.

  Thank you, Glenna

Glenna Hoff, Educator

Campus Martius/Ohio River Museum

...and...

Evan,

  There were actually 2 boats named the J.L. Perry.  The picture of the J.L Perry that you have, with the 1948 date on the back means that this boat probably was the Allegheny originally.  It was built at Ambridge,PA in 1927.  The Carnegie-Illinois Steel Co. people renamed her in June, 1945 and called her J.L. Perry.  She was dismantled in 1957.

   I am sorry for the confusion. 

        Thanks,   Glenna

Glenna Hoff, Educator

Campus Martius/Ohio River Museum

As always, click on the picture to enlarge.

A winter walk down the Rices Landing, PA rails to trails on the former Monongahela railroad line. Now with Crucible and original Dilworth mine and Gateway mine ruins visit.

Yesterday was a snowy, cold day and I really didn't feel like doing a whole lot, so I  bundled up and headed to Stan-Lee's in Crucible for a bowl of Chili.  The night before I discovered the beauty of BING maps and their far superior quality as opposed to the Google Earth maps I've been using for years.  As I studied the maps in between Michelob beers (in cans), I noticed a lot of things I have been missing as the Bing maps are actually aerial shots of all four angles of what you are looking at.  I noticed I had overlooked a few odd buildings down at the old Crucible mine site (the remainder where demo'd back in 2006 or so, as talked about in this rather rambling catch all blog entry.  It had just snowed a day and a half earlier so I knew it would make for some pretty shots.  I trekked on past the actual now flat "reclaimed" mine site, I walked behind the bulldozed giant piles of mine waste and there they were, the only two buildings remaining from the Crucible mine.  Now I had read a few weeks back that they left two buildings because of their sound condition and historical impact, but I was sort of let down w/ what was found.

Nothing to blow my skirt up

Tipple ruins

Remains of a mine building

The waste pile across the river has an almost exotic quality to it in winter.

Being cold out, but also incredibly clear, I decided to head to Rices Landing and walk on down the Rails to Trails that is built on the former Monongahela railroad.  Sometimes people ask me where we find all the points of interest that are the blog topics, and in this instance, I decide to blog about whats really easy to get to, easy to see, and we basically walk past all the time.

The steps are all that remain of the former Monongahela hotel in Rices Landing.

Under this overlook point, under all the mine waste lies a bank of old coke ovens.

I must have been the third or so person on the trail since the snow, and going was slow.  I walked on down towards the Greene Cove boat club, the trails end and stopped at the remains of the old, orginal Dilworth mine site.  I was told by an old timer at the barber shop that his father was one of the last men who worked here and that it was taken out of service in the  1920's.  In the summer, as we walk and bike thru here, its basically invisible in the overgrowth, so this was a great day to explore....Or was it the Emerald Mine?

A blog viewer corrected me as to this being the Gateway mine site.  The Dilworth (original site) was closer to the Rices Landing trail head.

That is, I believe where the coal came out and into the tipple.

Where coal from above shot used to go.  This tipple was demo'd a year and a half ago.

And this is what it used to look like.  As they were building the trail years ago, there were still steps attached and I climbed up into the tipple, Very cool and it didn't feel to dangerous. I of course had no camera w/ me then.

In case you wondered, this is what the above Gateway mine looked like

For a nice interactive birds eye map of the area, when the barge load out was still intact CLICK HERE.  Use the controls on top to zoom and rotate map.

Tipple destruction.

Old cast iron rail road marker along the trail

Another shot of the fenced in area where the shaft was located.

The original Dilworth mines deep shaft entrance.

Steps that led to the train station in Rices landing, they pass under the former tracks.

Old retaining wall.

For some more cool Rices Landing pictures, check out Chip's (the Rices Landing Kid) blog on some neat forgotten stuff!