Ohio River

ST. MARYS, W.Va. -- Smack in the middle of the Ohio River, two federal agencies are proving that it's possible to save a refuge with refuse.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is teaming up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent parts of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge from washing away. To cut costs, corps planners are using materials that ordinarily have been burned or trucked to some faraway landfill."We're pretty proud of the approach we're taking," says Mike Spoor, an engineer and hydrologist for the corps.

CINCINNATI -- As the Ravens trooped wearily off the field at Paul Brown Stadium after Sunday's stunning 17-7 loss to the Bengals, the Cincinnati fans let them have it. "You're not a playoff team!" one guy yelled in a voice that could be heard across the Ohio River. Sure, you might wonder about the football acumen of a beered-up fat guy in a tiger costume. But after watching the Ravens sleepwalk through their second depressing loss to the Bengals this season, you also have to wonder whether the guy is right.

PARKERSBURG, W.Va - What a curious spot for a scandal - an elaborate late-18th-century mansion on a wilderness island in the Ohio River, home to European aristocrats known for their fancy soirees. But here in this high-society homestead carved out of the western frontier by Irish-born businessman Harman Blennerhassett and his wife, Margaret, a plot took shape in 1806 that led to what many historians consider the greatest criminal trial in American history. Aaron Burr, who had just stepped down from the vice presidency under Thomas Jefferson (and who is perhaps best known for fatally shooting Alexander Hamilton in a duel)

It's debatable whether President Bush will consent to meet face-to-face with Gold Star Mother Cindy Sheehan, who began a vigil outside of his Crawford, Texas, ranch in early August. Sheehan's son, Army Spec. Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq last year, and she has become the focal point of an anti-war movement that has grown increasingly frustrated by the loss of American lives and the president's determination to "stay the course" in that war-torn country. Sheehan wants a few minutes of the president's time to talk about the war that took her son and is becoming, according to recent polls, increasingly unpopular with the American public.

The number 234 Yards Emmitt Smith needs to break Walter Payton's career rush ing mark of 16,726. The quote "If we win, I will dive into the Ohio River." Bengals coach Dick LeBeau about today's home game against the Steelers.

Robert Wesley Lewis, a one-time deckhand and captain of an Ohio River ferry who later became an operator of heavy equipment, died of cancer Wednesday at his Highland home. He was 90. Mr. Lewis was born and raised in Great Bend, Ohio, a town that overlooks the Ohio River. As a young man, he worked as a deckhand on river steamers and dredges, and was captain of the ferry connecting Great Bend and Ravenswood, W.Va. After leaving the river, he operated heavy equipment on highway projects for Dravo Co., where he worked until his retirement in 1982.

MOUND CITY, Ill. - Barges lined up near here, like so many cargo planes awaiting takeoff, face a tough stretch of "runway" in the Ohio River, low in water and clotted with sand bars. Barge waiting time can be counted not in hours, but in days and thousands of dollars as towboats' huge engines run against the current going nowhere, as customers await coal, scrap iron, steel, chemicals, stone and oil and scramble to make do. The price of drought can be counted many ways in sections of the Midwest suffering the worst dry spell since the late 1980s.

THE B&O was the nation's first real railroad. Its undertaking was probably the greatest business decision ever made in Baltimore. The downtown emblem of that daring innovation, Camden Station, sits abandoned and unused, as it has since its exterior was restored 10 years ago to serve as the frontispiece for Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The best way to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the B&O Railroad would be to return Camden Station to its traditional use. It's the oldest major metropolitan railroad station in the United States.

Chances are, no matter where you live in Maryland, you can look up at night and see the North Star from the same angle that a young Frederick Douglass gazed upon it from his birthplace, a slave cabin in Talbot County. Chances are also that you have no idea where that birthplace is. And why should you? It's not mentioned in most guidebooks. The historic marker calling attention to Douglass is not only antiquated ("Frederick Douglass, Negro Patriot"), it's in the wrong location, six miles away on a road between Easton and Denton.

Mark Twain never cared much for the blue Ohio.He was a true, mud-blooded Mississippi riverman, saying that Ohio River water was just too clear to be healthy, while muddy Mississippi River water was so nutritious that a man drinking it "could grow corn in his stomach if he wanted to."Well, Twain knew rivers and wrote truly. But the Ohio deserved better. Even without a rich cargo of mud, it's nourishing enough -- a jade-colored feast for the eyes with as much history as you care to digest.For years I've been too beguiled by the Missouri and upper Mississippi rivers to spend time on the Ohio.

MOUND CITY, Ill. - Barges lined up near here, like so many cargo planes awaiting takeoff, face a tough stretch of "runway" in the Ohio River, low in water and clotted with sand bars. Barge waiting time can be counted not in hours, but in days and thousands of dollars as towboats' huge engines run against the current going nowhere, as customers await coal, scrap iron, steel, chemicals, stone and oil and scramble to make do. The price of drought can be counted many ways in sections of the Midwest suffering the worst dry spell since the late 1980s.

Robert Wesley Lewis, a one-time deckhand and captain of an Ohio River ferry who later became an operator of heavy equipment, died of cancer Wednesday at his Highland home. He was 90. Mr. Lewis was born and raised in Great Bend, Ohio, a town that overlooks the Ohio River. As a young man, he worked as a deckhand on river steamers and dredges, and was captain of the ferry connecting Great Bend and Ravenswood, W.Va. After leaving the river, he operated heavy equipment on highway projects for Dravo Co., where he worked until his retirement in 1982.

PARKERSBURG, W.Va - What a curious spot for a scandal - an elaborate late-18th-century mansion on a wilderness island in the Ohio River, home to European aristocrats known for their fancy soirees. But here in this high-society homestead carved out of the western frontier by Irish-born businessman Harman Blennerhassett and his wife, Margaret, a plot took shape in 1806 that led to what many historians consider the greatest criminal trial in American history. Aaron Burr, who had just stepped down from the vice presidency under Thomas Jefferson (and who is perhaps best known for fatally shooting Alexander Hamilton in a duel)

Imagine John Denver on the radio: "Almost heaven," he sings, "Kanawha ..." Doesn't sound right, does it? How about, "Almost heaven, Allegheny?" Everyone knows the song is about West Virginia -- I've even heard it played at an outdoor market in Malaysia. But not until I visited Wheeling, W.Va., did I know that the name once chosen for the nation's 35th state was Kanawha, and that other nominees included Allegheny, Augusta and New Virginia. This is typical. Wheeling regularly provokes the reaction, "I didn't know that."

The number 234 Yards Emmitt Smith needs to break Walter Payton's career rush ing mark of 16,726. The quote "If we win, I will dive into the Ohio River." Bengals coach Dick LeBeau about today's home game against the Steelers.

THE B&O was the nation's first real railroad. Its undertaking was probably the greatest business decision ever made in Baltimore. The downtown emblem of that daring innovation, Camden Station, sits abandoned and unused, as it has since its exterior was restored 10 years ago to serve as the frontispiece for Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The best way to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the B&O Railroad would be to return Camden Station to its traditional use. It's the oldest major metropolitan railroad station in the United States.

CINCINNATI -- As the Ravens trooped wearily off the field at Paul Brown Stadium after Sunday's stunning 17-7 loss to the Bengals, the Cincinnati fans let them have it. "You're not a playoff team!" one guy yelled in a voice that could be heard across the Ohio River. Sure, you might wonder about the football acumen of a beered-up fat guy in a tiger costume. But after watching the Ravens sleepwalk through their second depressing loss to the Bengals this season, you also have to wonder whether the guy is right.

It's debatable whether President Bush will consent to meet face-to-face with Gold Star Mother Cindy Sheehan, who began a vigil outside of his Crawford, Texas, ranch in early August. Sheehan's son, Army Spec. Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq last year, and she has become the focal point of an anti-war movement that has grown increasingly frustrated by the loss of American lives and the president's determination to "stay the course" in that war-torn country. Sheehan wants a few minutes of the president's time to talk about the war that took her son and is becoming, according to recent polls, increasingly unpopular with the American public.

Chances are, no matter where you live in Maryland, you can look up at night and see the North Star from the same angle that a young Frederick Douglass gazed upon it from his birthplace, a slave cabin in Talbot County. Chances are also that you have no idea where that birthplace is. And why should you? It's not mentioned in most guidebooks. The historic marker calling attention to Douglass is not only antiquated ("Frederick Douglass, Negro Patriot"), it's in the wrong location, six miles away on a road between Easton and Denton.

The guy next to you at the bar bets you $10 that you can't tell him where the National Aviary is. Ha, you say, it has to be in Washington. Wrong. Then he asks you where the Stephen Foster Memorial Museum is. Tallahassee, you respond, because "Old Folks at Home" is the Florida state song. No, wait -- Louisville, because "My Old Kentucky Home" is that state's official song. Fork over another ten-spot. Then he says he'll give you an easy one: Where is the Andy Warhol Museum? Greenwich Village, you venture.