The Towboat W.P. Snyder Jr.

Side A: The W.P. SNYDER Jr. is one of the few links between the age of steam-powered, stern-wheeled towboats and the diesel-powered, propeller-driven vessels that push barges on America’s rivers today. The James Rees and Sons Company in Pittsburgh built the boat for the Carnegie Steel Company, and she was launched in 1918 as the W.H. CLINGERMAN. During the boat’s working life, she primarily pushed barges loaded with coal on the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. After various changes in name, the Crucible Steel Company of America bought the boat in 1945 and named her the W.P. SNYDER Jr. after the company’s president. Crucible retired the SNYDER in 1954 and, as was the fate of her kind, she would have probably been scrapped. In 1955, however, the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen and the Ohio Historical Society concluded that one example of a steam towboat should be preserved. (continued on the other side) Side B: (continued from the other side) Mr. W.P. Snyder Jr. and the Crucible Company agreed and donated the boat to the Ohio Historical Society. The SNYDER arrived in Marietta on September 16, 1955. The SNYDER carried no passengers or cargo. It was a towboat built to push barges and accommodate crew. The normal complement was approximately 20 people, including a captain, pilot, mate, engineer and assistant engineers, deckhands, maids, and a cook. In addition to the engine room and pilothouse, the boat has eleven crew staterooms, four commodes, three showers, a bathtub, two pantries, a refrigerator, cookhouse, dining room, and laundry. The SNYDER is approximately 175 feet long (including her 21-foot paddlewheel) and 32 feet wide. Her draft is approximately 5 feet. Two engines, on either side of the engine room, pushed the boat and barges along at speeds of about 8 miles per hour.