Life aboard the W.P. Snyder Jr. centered on living and working for days or weeks at a time on a 342-ton boat navigating the Ohio River. Men and women who worked on the vessel experienced the changing seasons along the riverbank while piloting the boat around bends and hazards. In the engine room, work unfolded amid the low swooshing sound of the engines, the massive pitman pushing the paddlewheel, and the clanging of bells used to communicate with the pilothouse. Everyone who worked on the Snyder was housed in staterooms on the second, or boiler, deck, where one or two people shared a room, slept each night, and ate meals in the dining room while making the boat their home for a week or more.