In the early days of European settlement in western Pennsylvania, rivers were crossed mainly by fording, which was possible only at certain places and seasons because water levels changed. As population grew, ferries were established at convenient transportation points, beginning with canoes carrying people and later flatboats wide enough for one vehicle, with room for ferrymen to work alongside and pole the craft across. The earliest recorded ferry across the Monongahela River was at Pittsburgh near the fort in the late 1750s. In the early nineteenth century, after the lock and dam system created steady water levels, ferries and bridges became the only ways to cross the river. A common ferry system used a rope stretched through pulleys on short upright posts across the river so ferry hands could pull the flatboat to the opposite bank, and several such ferries operated along the Monongahela, with some towns taking the names of ferry owners. In 1876, ferries in Greene County included Hughes Ferry at Rices Landing, Davidsons Ferry near Rices Landing, Flennikens Ferry near the mouth of Muddy Creek, Browns Ferry in Cumberland Township, McCann's Ferry near the mouth of Little Whiteley Creek, Hatfields Ferry in Monongahela Township, Ross Ferry at the mouth of Big Whiteley Creek, Grays Ferry in Monongahela Township, A. J. Neils Ferry near Greensboro, Greensboro Ferry at Greensboro, Dilliners Ferry north of Dunkard Creek, and Dilliners Upper Ferry near the mouth of Cheat River. The first bridge over the Monongahela River, the Monongahela Bridge at Smithfield Street, was a covered wooden bridge on stone pillars completed in 1818, and during the Civil War only four bridges spanned the river from Pittsburgh to Brownsville. Near Crucible, the Arensburg Ferry began operation in 1814 and was known by different names under different owners, including Mr. Davidson, Nathan McClellan, and Larry Arensburg. When the Crucible Coal Company began developing the mine in 1911, it bought the ferry from Arensburg and used it to haul heavy equipment across the river before railroad tracks were laid on the Greene County side, first by hand and later with a steam engine. The company kept the ferry until 1916, when Edmond Mitchell bought it and built a house on the hill above it. His niece Margaret came to live with her aunt and uncle in 1918, took over operating the ferry in 1952, and continued until it closed in 1975. By then it was a steel-hulled diesel cable ferry built by Hillman Barge. Afterward it sat unused near the shore until the 1985 flood broke it loose, sent it drifting about 100 yards downstream, and sank it; years later it was pulled out and sold for scrap.