The purpose of the Upper
Monongahela River Association (UMRA) is to promote the
general development of the Upper Monongahela River,
primarily in West Virginia.
Click here for a more detailed statement of
our purpose.
Upper Monongahela
River 2018 Summer Lock Hours Announced
The Upper Monongahela River
Association (UMRA) announced the hours the
Hildebrand and Opekiska locks will open for the
2018 boating and fishing season. This is a special
opportunity to see two pools of the Monongahela
River that are inaccessible because they lack
public boat ramps. UMRA has again teamed with
local agencies to raise funds and negotiate with
the Corps of Engineers to open the locks at
Opekiska and Hildebrand for 14 days this summer.
The Morgantown lock is always open from 7 a.m.
until 3 p.m. daily. For only the following dates,
Opekiska and Hildebrand will open at 7 a.m. and
close at 4 p.m. On all three locks, the last
lockthrough will be 30 minutes prior to closing.
May 12, 26-27
June 2-3
July 7 and 28
Aug. 11 and 25
Sept. 8 and 22
Oct. 6-7
Call for additional information: 724-725-5259
Before planning to use the locks, recreational
boaters should check the Pittsburgh District NAV
Notices index page at
http://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/NavigationNotices.aspx
Up-to-the-Minute information may be obtained by
phone or marine radio from the Point Marion
Lockmaster.
UPPER
MONONGAHELA RIVER SERVICE RESTORATION
For the past three years UMRA, and other groups,
have been involved in discussions with the US Army
Corps of Engineers (USACE), our Congressional
representatives, and local governments on a way of
operating locks for recreational boats on the Upper
Mon and Upper Allegheny using "contributed funds,"
non-federal money from regional and local sources.
Our Pittsburgh District USACE has become the first
in the nation to negotiate agreements under the
provisions of WRRDA 2014, the Waterways Resources
& Reorganization Development Act of
2014.
Some "New" Local History
Don Strimbeck, our Secretary, was interviewed
as part of a US Department of Energy project to trace
the history of
the National Energy Technology Laboratory. The full
document NETL: A Century of Innovation can be
found on the webite http://www.netl.doe.gov
The entire book may be downloaded as a .PDF file. With
regard to Mon Valley history, the story starts with
"Chapter One: Pittsburgh — the Center for Coal." On the
Upper Mon, there is a section "The Beginnings of
Coal-Gasification Research at Morgantown" which can be
found on page 153.
After he received his large paperback copy of the book
Don remembered a newspaper supplement which was
published when the Morgantown facility was opened. The
UMRA Webmaster has scanned that to a .PDF file which may
be found on this website at http://www.UpperMon.org/history/METC_Dedication-Morgantown_Post-13_May_1955.pdf
.
Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling and its
Impact on the Monongahela
Few people would ever guess
that drilling for natural gas could significantly
affect the movement of river barges, but recent events
suggest otherwise. We are adding information regarding
this new challange on a special webpage
The latest official
notices regarding navigation in the Pittsburgh
District can be found at
www.lrp.usace.army.mil/or/or-f/navrpt.htm
We are
continuing our dialog with the Corps on ways in which
service might be improved, even with restricted
funding. Two topics under discussion are listed below.
Because the
Corps' activities are virtually all governed by
Congressional actions - particularly appropriations-
we regularly correspond with our representatives in
the House and Senate. Most of our correspondence is open for public
inspection here.
Canoes, kayaks, and other small craft can portage
around locks, but safety and security issues need to be
resolved.
Here
is our letter to Col. Hill proposing improved
portages.
Pittsburgh District Corps of
Engineers - March 2004
(The link above connects to a scanned copy
of the report on this site.)
The 2004 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act
provided $342,000 for the Corps of Engineers to examine
the practicality of remote control automation devices at
the Hildebrand, Morgantown, and Opekiska Locks.
This report is an interim document in response to the
Appropriations Act reporting requirement.
This interim report first addresses the merits of
automation of the upper Monongahela facilities, the
Morgantown, Hildebrand, and Opekiska Locks and Dams,
operated by the Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District.
It is followed up with a more detailed analysis of the
full practicality of automation. Efforts for this study
have concentrated at this time on the capacity to
successfully engineer conceptual plans/alternatives for
the automation of the Morgantown, Hildebrand, and Opekiska
Locks and Dams and the future requirements to implement
those plans and alternatives.
The report concludes that a tremendous need and
opportunity exists to automate the Upper Monongahela
River. A need exists for increased operating time for
recreational boaters. Remote operations are practical and
operable. The process of automation could provide
increased service during a period of decreasing operating
funds.
Other countries have found user operation of locks to be
part of the solution to staffing cost problems. See Boat
Crew Operation of River Thames Locks, Wallace Venable, April
2006 (325K .PDF file) for an English approach.


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