What's online?
The entire collection is scanned and online.
What’s in the entire collection?
The collection consists of a single volume detailing the affects floods and ice had on locks and dams on the Monongahela River built by the Monongahela Navigation Company. Most of the entries were written in January, except where noted in the collection, and record the damage to the locks and dams, as well as other obstacles to river navigation on the Monongahela River. The entries are divided by each lock and dam and are in chronological order. There are gaps in the years summarized because they were not included by the author of the volume. Many of the early records of the Monongahela Navigation Company were destroyed in two fires, and all that could be found were transferred to the U.S. Engineer's Office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1897.
About Monongahela Navigation Company
In 1817, the Monongahela Navigation Company was incorporated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to "make a lock navigation on the river Monongahela." After overcoming numerous financial and engineering difficulties, the company succeeded in building four locks and dams by 1844, opening the Monongahela from Pittsburgh to Brownsville for slackwater navigation.