W.P. Snyder, Jr. (Towboat)

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W.P. SNYDER, JR. (steamboat)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
W. P. Snyder, Jr. at permanent mooring in Marietta
Location: On Muskingum River at Sacra Via, Marietta, Ohio
Coordinates: 39°25′13″N 81°27′48″W / 39.42028°N 81.46333°W / 39.42028; -81.46333Coordinates: 39°25′13″N 81°27′48″W / 39.42028°N 81.46333°W / 39.42028; -81.46333
Built/Founded: 1918
Architect: Rees,James & Sons
Governing body: Private
Added to NRHP: November 10, 1970[1]
Designated NHL: June 29, 1989[2]
NRHP Reference#: 70000522

W.P. SNYDER, JR. (steamboat), also known as W.H. CLINGERMAN, W.P. Snyder,Jr. State Memorial, or J.L. PERRY, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

W. P. Snyder, Jr. is a sternwheel, steam driven, towboat that was originally built as the Carnegie Steel Company towboat W. H. Clingerman in 1918 by Rees & Sons Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1938, it was renamed J. L. Perry, and in 1945 A-1. In August 1945, it was sold to Crucible Fuel Company of Pittsburgh, and renamed the W. P. Snyder Jr. in September 1945.

She was a sister vessel of the W. H. Colvin Jr., and she towed coal on the Monongahela River until being laid up on September 23, 1953, at Crucible, Pennsylvania. In the summer of 1955, the boat was given to the Ohio Historical Society for exhibit at the Ohio River Museum in Marietta, Ohio. The W. P. Snyder Jr. was the last steamboat locking through Lock 1, on the Muskingum River, before that lock was removed. She arrived in Marietta, Ohio, with Capt. Fred Way Jr. as master on September 16, 1955.

As one of the first steel hull towboats constructed, it was fitted with the prominent anti-hogging struts and cables necessary on wooden hulled stern wheelers. At the time it was not known they would be unnecessary with the steel hull construction.

The Snyder has been permanently moored on the Muskingum River in Marietta, Ohio, at the Ohio River Museum. Visitors to the museum receive a guided tour of the Snyder.

It is "the only intact, steam-driven sternwheel towboat still on the nation's river system", but "is in danger of sinking".[3] On November 21, 2009, the Snyder was towed from Marietta on her way to South Point, Ohio to have her hull replaced.[4]

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