Legionville's Ohio River Lock No. 4

Back on June 3, 2014, writer Bob Giles posted "Beautiful River" about his childhood adventures in and along the Ohio River, including playing on the remains of Lock No. 4, which once was on the east side of the river at Legionville, about a mile north of Ambridge.

Some time ago, a commenter on that post said he wondered what the lock had looked like back in the day. All I had at that time was a photo of the powerhouse, plus some photos of what was left of the lock at the time of a Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) survey in November 1992.*

I've finally found a photo of at least a portion of Lock No. 4, although, according to the information with the photo, it doesn't show the lock when it was still in business, but rather its demolition: "Demolition of the lock and dam has been commenced--this was the end of it." Still, it's the only photo of Lock No. 4 I've found so far. And I haven't found a single photo showing the lock's companion dam.

The photo shows the lock's powerhouse to the left and a lockmaster's house to the right, plus some of the lock below. In the background, on the hill above the train tracks, were buildings of the A. M. Byers wrought iron plant.

Demolition of Lock No. 4, Ohio River
Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Inland Rivers Photograph Collection
circa mid-1936

Lock and Dam No. 4, built between 1898 and 1908, were the fourth of 52 locks and dams the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers constructed on the Ohio between 1887 and 1917. The purpose of the lock and dam system was to allow year-round river transportation via larger boats. It's hard to believe, but before the dam system was built, the Ohio River was usually too shallow for anything but small boats in the summer and fall. After the dams were completed, the Ohio had a year-round navigable depth of 9 feet. That doesn't sound very deep, but it is obviously enough to allow all the ship traffic on the river.

After the still-existing Montgomery Lock and Dam was opened at Monaca in June 1936, Lock and Dam No. 4, by then obsolete, were no longer needed, so they were demolished by the Army Corp of Engineers. The dam and lock reportedly were damaged by the Great St. Patrick's Day Flood of 1936, but it's not clear to me how much of the demolition was related to the flood damage. Newspaper reports said that the demolition was expected to begin in the summer of 1936. I've been trying to find out more about the flood damage and eventual demolition, but so far, I haven't found those details.

Powerhouse, Lock No. 4
Ohio River
Legionville PA
circa early to mid- 1900s
courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library archives

After the demolition, some parts of the lock near the river's edge remained. They are documented in the HAER report.

The HAER report says that the Lock No. 4 site had two lockmaster's houses, and the report includes site plans showing one on each side of the powerhouse. The first photo above shows only the southern of the two.

The lockmaster's houses and the powerhouse were left standing after the dam and lock were demolished in 1936. But even though the buildings were recognized as being historically significant, they were abandoned and allowed to deteriorate. Over the years, parts of the empty buildings were destroyed and vandalized. In the spring of 1992, the three buildings were bulldozed by the then property owners, River Salvage Company.

Ohio River Blvd. (Rte. 65) was extended from Ambridge's 8th St. to Baden in 1960, just east of the train tracks in Legionville.* I've been trying to recall if I could see any of the three deteriorating buildings while driving though that area, but I'm drawing a blank. Does anyone remember the buildings and what they looked like before they were razed in 1992?

The HAER report provides information about the lock's construction, operation, and more details about the lock's history. The operation of the wicket lock system used at Lock No. 4 was pretty incredible and required a boat with a crew. If you are interested, you can find the report at the Library of Congress' site.

Here are six of the 11 photos from the HAER survey. You can see all 11 at the Library of Congress website. 

The quoted descriptions in the captions are from the HAER survey report.

"VIEW LOOKING EAST AT LOWER GATE RECESS AND LOWER GUIDE WALL FROM THE OHIO RIVER"
Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)
circa 1992

"VIEW LOOKING EAST AT STEPS AND LAND WALL (GEOGRAPHIC CENTER OF THE LOCK COMPLEX), FROM THE OHIO RIVER"
Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)
circa 1992

"VIEW LOOKING EAST AT UPPER GATE RECESS FROM THE OHIO RIVER."
"(NOTE: REMAINS OF TRACKS FROM ROLLING LOCK GATE, PARTIALLY SUBMERGED.)"

Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

circa 1992

"VIEW OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE LOCKTENDERS HOUSE (NORTHERN MOST), LOOKING NORTH"

Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

circa 1992

"VIEW OF SUBMERGED DRIFT CHUTE IN NORTHEAST CORNER OF UPPER GATE RECESS, LOOKING NORTHEAST"

Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

circa 1992

"VIEW OF THE REMAINS OF THE ESPLANADE LOOKING SOUTH"

Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

circa 1992

I've been told that some of the lock still remains along the river's edge, and barges dock there. It must be the area shown below to the west of some of the former Byers mill buildings.

Barges docked at Legionville, east side of Ohio River
Google satellite view
2017

I don't know how much of the remains of the lock and its three buildings described in the HAER report are still on site. And I'm not adventurous enough to explore the area. If anyone has walked through, or boated by, the former lock's location and can add more current information, please leave a comment.

More Lock No. 4 history:

Over the years, some notable accidents happened in or near Lock No. 4:

• October 13, 1907, a boiler explosion on a U.S. government pumping boat tied to the lock wall, killed five men and injured six. The initial reports said two more men were missing and presumed dead. The boat was blown to pieces.

• August 14, 1927, two men were killed when their biplane exploded in the air, then crashed into the river at the dam.

• August 13, 1940, an 11 year-old boy from Byersdale drowned while swimming at the old lock site.
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In the "Beautiful River" post Bob Giles speculated that in addition to Dam No. 4's lock on the Legionville side of the river, the dam also may have had a lock on the west side. That speculation is unsupported by the HAER report or any other information I've found about the dam.

He also wrote that the reason that the dam and lock were demolished was at the behest of J & L, the massive steel mill that stretched for miles along the west side of the Ohio at Aliquippa. So far, I haven't found any information confirming a connection between J & L and the demolition of the dam and lock.

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* The HAER  report incorrectly says that the construction of Route 65 through Legionville was in the 1940s. In 1945, Ohio River Blvd., once Rte. 88, was extended from the Allegheny Co. line at Leetsdale into Beaver Co., but only as far as 8th St. in Ambridge. The extension from 8th St. to Legionville and Baden wasn't completed until 1960.