It's do or die for rusting paddle-wheeler | The Columbus Dispatch

Steam-driven paddle wheel towboats once plied Midwestern rivers by the hundreds, pushing barges to feed the nation's appetite for coal and steel.

[Barbara Chadwick]

Being a history buff, it would be hard to see another part of the history of the United States and especially here in Ohio to disappear. I have been to Marietta and have seen the steam engine paddle boat, and found the whole experience to be well worth my time and effort to see the boat.

We need to preserve many of the things that were used in the early 1900
hundreds, so that the next generation of young people see what many of us have grown up using throughout the years, and hopefully for years to come.

[Common Senseman]

I hate to think that such an irreplacable piece of our history could be lost!

[Jim Dickinson]

My Dad worked in the Ohio River shipping business his whole career. When I was 6 years old he was able to get us on board the Snyder on her last steam powered trip, heading to Marietta. We rode from one lock to the next in the Wheeling area. I remember looking up at the giant wheel in the pilot house and being in the engine room and being able to steer for just a minute. The big thrill was seeing the huge cylinders and arms moving back and forth in the engine room, powering the paddle wheel. He told me that I was seeing history - the last time anyone would ever see an Ohio River steam tug boat under live steam. Although I was very young, it was an experience that I have never forgotten.