Prior to 1915

Steamboat Building in Elizabeth, PA

A Journal of daily activities at the Elizabeth Marine Ways 1898 to 1925 

Prior to 1915

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To view a larger image click on that particular image, for a brief description of the image place your cursor on the image.

Many of these pictures are from the collection of the Elizabeth Township Historical Society, I will identify these pictures with ETHS.

 

 

 Photo from newspaper of first boats pulled onto Elizabeth Marine Ways on October 18, 1896 from collection of John Dziama    Elizabeth Marine Ways cradles engine shed used to pull first boats, and many more, onto Ways from collection of EMW

The TOM REES NO.2 was the first boat pulled onto the Ways in 1896.

 

A dock built at the Elizabeth Marine Ways ETHS

Looking up river ETHS

Boat in progress ETHS

This photo shows the Elizabeth Marine Ways after one of the early 1900 floods. ETHS

 

Elizabeth Marine Ways Postcard    Colorized version of previous photo    

Early postcard showing Elizabeth Marine Ways

 

Exporter, before being refloated, with the Ironsides on the top cradle  Five Steamers on the Ways, Exporter in the water with the Twilight off to her right, 1901.  Five Steamers at Elizabeth Marine Ways July 1901  

These pictures are from the June 1978 edition of the S&D Reflector, the following are excerpts from that article:

MARINE WAYS, ELIZABETH, PA.  

The Ironsides occupies the top position on the cradles and after the EXPORTER was refloated, the Ways were filled with the boats shown, the photographer stood on the roof of the EXPORTER to take it, with the TWILIGHT off to the right.  

In the summer of 1901 the towboats HORNET #2, VALIANT, SAMUEL CLARKE, JOSEPH WALTON, and IRONSIDES. Plenty of work for wood butchers. The Hornet #2, already 32 years old, is to get new cylinder timbers. Twenty years after this picture was taken the Valiant was returned to the Elizabeth Ways, rebuilt, and renamed TRANSPORTER. The Samuel Clarke was 31 years old  in 1901, and finally went to the boneyard in 1915. The Ironsides, at the top of the Ways, was the oldest of the five in view. The average age of these five towboats when this picture was taken in 1901 was 29.4 years old, all had wood hulls, and all worth fixing.  The log rafts in the river surrounding the empty flats doubtlessly had their origin in the upper Allegheny, persuaded to the scene by the manual labor of sweeps, oars, and gougers, then towed by steamboat the 23 miles up from Pittsburgh to Elizabeth.  

Read JW's journal for June 1901.

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