Morgantown Dominion
Post
27 July 2008
By Kathy Plum
Greg Reel has fond memories of growing up on the Monongahela River in the 1960s, enjoying long, languid days with the members of the Mon Valley Yacht Club.
"We grew up catching the dickens for being in the river too much," Reel, 52, said with a chuckle, remembering escapades with his brother and sister. "It was quite a lot of fun growing up on the river."
The Mon Valley Yacht Club was located on the Westover side of the river in the 1960s. Photo courtesy Greg Reel
The yacht club was located "really close to the old Mascioli Block Co. plant," on the Westover side of the river. Reel's father, the late Wilbur "Bus" Reel, kept a 25-foot Trojan cabin cruiser there. He and other members of the club were sometimes joined by members of the Ten Mile Yacht Club.
Someone would be designated to go to Chesapeake Bay to buy fresh seafood and bring it back to Morgantown, where crabs would be boiled over an open fire alongside the river.
"They had some good parties," Reel recalled. "Folks would have kind of a high-end potluck supper."
Families swam, fished and skied on the river. Reel remembers being on the water even when it snowed.
Sometime after his father's death in 1968, the club disbanded, but Reel's love for the water is lifelong. He is in his 34th year with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working at the locks and dams on the Monongahela River. He has watched use of the river surge and wane with time.
"I think it could be used a lot more," Reel said. "It's not like being on Cheat Lake. You can pick a spot on the river and drop your anchor and just have your privacy."
For recreational boaters, the Monongahela River is both alluring and daunting; it carries the possibility of recreation, but access points are few.
"One of the problems is access to this river because of the high banks. It took me 20 years to get a place on the river," said Donald C. Strimbeck, secretary and treasurer of the Upper Monongahela River Association, from the living room of his Granville home on the river.
UMRA's goal is to "promote the general development of the area encompassed by the drainage basin for the Upper Monongahela River, primarily in West Virginia. Primary concerns are economic development and quality-of-life issues related to the environment and recreational opportunities."
Morgantown's section of the river is primarily located in the Point Marion Pool. Pools are named for the locks and dams.
The Point Marion Pool stretches from the 90.8 milepoint on the river at Point Marion about 11 miles to the Morgantown lock and dam, at milepoint 102. The Morgantown Pool is upstream from the Morgantown lock to milepoint 108, at Hildebrand.
Recreational boating facilities on the river in Monongalia County are limited. Looking down from the Westover Bridge, the boat slips at Hazel Ruby McQuain Park are visible. The Upper Monongahela River Center has rental docks operated by Morgantown's BOPARC. Star City has docks at Edith B. Barill Park.
But boaters are about to get a major boost in river access, said Frank Jernejcic, District 1 fishing biologist for the state Division of Natural Resources.
The DNR will start construction this summer on a double boat ramp, courtesy pier and parking for 60 boats and trailers on property leased from the Monongalia County Development Authority, on Old Fort Martin Road.
Funding for the project comes from fees on the sale of fishing licenses and a federal excise tax on fishing equipment and gasoline. The federal money will match state funds on a 3-1 ratio. Construction is being done by the state and will probably exceed $100,000, Jernejcic estimated.
"You're limited. You've got to have a site on the river," he said.
This new access point will open the river to more recreational anglers and to more fishing tournaments, Jernejcic predicted. Last year, the Point Marion Pool was host to 12 fishing tournaments. By comparison, the Opekiska Pool hosted 28. Opekiska Pool is between mile post 115.4, in the Fairmont area, and mile post 128.7, at the head of the river in Fairmont.
"We anticipate there are a lot of folks who are going to use that," said Barry Pallay, vice president of UMRA, who also chairs the Mon River Recreation and Commerce Committee created under Vision 2020. Vision 2020 is the successor of the Vision 2000 planning effort, which was instrumental in creation of such recreational opportunities as the Caperton Trail.
"There is a sense of urgency for larger public access because most of the pools are very limited," Pallay said. "The DNR and the committee are always looking to partner with people who may have a site or land and would like to do something in the public interest."
Jernejcic said there is another potential access point in Monongalia County, near the mouth of Whiteday Creek, that is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. There are currently no plans in place to develop that.
Other things are happening on the Mon. The third Monongahela River Summit in April brought together businesses and boaters to discuss the river's future in recreation and commerce. They discussed crumbling infrastructure, current usage and future possibilities.
"Anything that effects the riverfront community or draws people to the river, we consider riverfront development," said Wally Venable, UMRA board member and chief technical officer.
They hope for development in a positive direction, Venable said.
One way UMRA hopes to spur recreational interest in the river is with a map of docks, camping sites, restaurants and other attractions along the river, Strimbeck said. Developed three years ago by UMRA and the Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce, the "water trail" map has been snapped up by boaters, and is no longer available. But Strimbeck said the map will be updated and reprinted by the end of the year.
Pallay said the water trail is a good example of helping recreational users of the river, while encouraging development that caters to the boating clientele.
"Our interest in the Mon River Commerce and Recreation Committee and with UMRA is to work with all the interested parties for winwin," Pallay said. "I think the parallel is the rail-trail, and now we are offering the water trail. I think the recreational opportunities are becoming more important to the community."
He and others talk about gaining better access at the Morgantown Lock and Dam for anglers. Jernejcic, an angler who favors the spot himself, said the tailwaters below the locks is one of the best spots on the river to rip 'em out.
The fishing pier below the power plant on Sixth Street, where water cascading back into the river oxygenates the water, is a good place to fish year round, Venable said.
One of the river's best kept secrets is its popularity among swimmers, the UMRA board members said.
"The biggest myth today is that the river is unsafe for swimming," Strimbeck said.
More swimming and more opportunities to use the river cause some to hesitate, the men said.
"With all improvements, you have the issue of liability, 'If I make it better somebody will kill himself,' " Venable said. "And that's not necessarily true. People are going to do it anyway."
The Monongahela River demands a commitment from those who use, admire and love it, Venable said.
"Everything you do on the river is a lifelong commitment," Venable said. "[Strimbeck] and I have joked we won't get out of this until they carry us out."