Water Highways

Since the beginning of western expansion, the Ohio River has moved people and products into the nation's interior. After the Civil War, demand for coal increased, and coal became by far the major commodity moving along the Ohio River. Coal is extracted in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio and brought to the fifty coal-fired power plants along the river. Other goods include aggregates such as limestone and sand quarried and delivered to construction and cement companies; petroleum and petroleum products sent by river to many cities not connected to a pipeline; grain carried from the Ohio River Basin down the Mississippi to export markets around the world; and chemicals supported by the river's transportation and water supply for production at several hundred chemical plants located along the Ohio River. Today, millions of tons of cargo are loaded into barges and pushed by towboats, a cost-effective and more environmentally friendly way to move goods because they release fewer emissions than trains and trucks carrying the same amount of cargo.

Chilo, Ohio · United States