Twentieth Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks

Flight 93

On September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in the rural farming community of Shanksville, PA after its planned route from Newark, NJ to San Francisco, CA was changed by four terrorists over eastern Ohio to Washington, D.C. With extreme courage, knowing that they would die due to their actions, the passengers and crew fought back, thwarting the hijacker attempt to fly the plane into a Washington landmark. The crash site is now a memorial to these 33 passengers and 7 crew members. One of the passengers, Jeremy Glick, lived in our town of West Milford. A  popular, local hiking trail has been named in his honor and memory.

As we visited this memorial on September 9, major preparations were in progress for a massive tribute on Saturday, September 11, marking the 20^th anniversary.

     
Artist tribute                                                                          Jeremy Glick

 

Eastern Legacy of the Lewis & Clark Expedition

At Point State Park in Pittsburgh, PA, a majestic fountain marks the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers join to form the 981 mile Ohio River. The Duquesne Incline, one of two remaining inclines in Pittsburgh, rises up to Mount Washington for a view of the Three Rivers confluence.

Meriwether Lewis ordered the expedition keel boat constructed in Pittsburgh and loaded it with supplies he had purchased in Harpers Ferry. With several crew members he starts down the Ohio River.

    
Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers                                                          Ohio River

   
Floral tribute to 9-11                                          Historic Fort Pitt

   
Duquesne Incline                                                  How the funicular works
 
In the fall of 1803 Lewis stops in Wheeling, WV to collect rifles and ammunition shipped overland from Pittsburgh. He also purchases the red pirogue used in the ascent of the Missouri River. 

Lewis and Clark on the Ohio River

Our first crossing of the Ohio River is a walk across the historic, now pedestrian, suspension bridge in Wheeling. This 1,010-foot-long bridge, built in 1849 was the longest clear-span bridge of its kind in the world at that time.

   
Crossing the Ohio River

The Northwest Territory

With the passing of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, a territorial government was established for all of the territory north and west of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. Once surveyed, this area was opened to settlers arriving by both land and river.
This territory eventually became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.

    
Surveying the new territory                               Sternwheelers on the Ohio River

        
Steam Calliope                                                                 Sun rise over our camp

 
In Marietta, OH we visited the Ohio River Museum and toured the W P Snyder Jr., a 1918 steel hull, steam towboat propelled by a 21 foot diameter paddlewheel. Communication between the pilot and engineer were by a system of several unique sounding bells and a speaking tube. As we walked on the decks of this boat we could easily imagine life on the Ohio River as a deck hand.

    
Captain of the towboat                                                   A towboat home

A towboat moving coal and gravel on the Ohio River

 

Continuing the Legacy of Lewis and Clark 

On October 15, 1803, Captain Clark joined Lewis in Louisville, KY. Over the next two weeks they selected additional members of their expedition before continuing to the Mississippi River.  

 
Lewis and Clark meet

   

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