Local group receives funding
MONONGAHELA – The Mon-ongahela River Buffs, a non-profit organization of river enthusiasts, recently received a $965 grant from the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen’s Association J. Mack Gamble Fund (Marietta, Ohio) to defray the cost of microfilming the Buffs’ newsletter. Since organized in 1979, the River Buffs have been publishing the 16-page tabloid about the history of the Monongahela River and its vessels.
Dr. J.K. Folmar, editor of the “The Voice of the Mon” newsletter, has been indexing the newsletter on microfilm over the past several years to preserve the many facets of river’s history.
The project encompassed almost 1,200 pages and filled up almost one complete reel of microfilm.
According to Folmar, extra copies of the microfilm have been made and are going to be donated to the California Area Historical Society, Washington County Historical Society, Monongahela Area Library, Brownsville Free Public Library and the Inland Rivers Library of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The River Buffs, formed in 1979, in Greensboro, have an extensive collection of several thousand riverboat artifacts that include bells off paddle boats, steering wheels off towboats, old iron diver suits and hundreds of photos that tell the history of the river. The photos show the old locks and dams, bridges that are no longer there and, of course, boats that made treks up and down the river.
Another interesting fact about river travel, Folmar said, is that of the towboat whistles.
According to Folmar, the towboats were so much a fixture on the river that residents of the area could tell which boats were making their way up the Monongahela River because of each whistle’s distinct sound.
Four indexed copies of the newsletters remain for interested libraries and historical societies. For more information on obtaining a copy of the newsletters or about the River Buffs, call 724-938-7856.