Mar 3, 2013 3 min read

Apparently the commissioners of Fayette and Washington counties, with the help of WPXI-TV, have decided that since the Fredericktown Ferry is operating in the red, it is a waste of taxpayer money and ought to be closed. The Observer-Reporter has jumped on the bandwagon with an editorial to that effect, which may put the last nail in the ferry’s coffin, all in the name of fiscal restraint.

There is not space enough to enumerate even a small fraction of the multitudinous examples of governmental non-restraint at all levels, including certainly the counties. In the short term, tax breaks given to businesses and industries to locate in a given area – which I am certainly not opposed to – “lose” taxpayer money in the hope of a larger return later, which normally happens, unless a situation like the parking garage fiasco in downtown Washington occurs. Should we waste taxpayer money on any project, large or small? Of course not, but it happens every day. The savings by closing the ferry would be small in light of other county expenditures.

The relatively depressed area near Fredericktown along the Monongahela River needs a little something to hang its hat on. The ferry is a small part of that. The natural gas “boom” has helped us – though new retail businesses have not proliferated – and we do have strong, local recreational boating businesses. But we have no Southpointe or Nemacolin Woodlands, and there are no casinos. The likelihood for these kinds of developments here is almost nil. The ferry, if it were continued could add in a small way to the area’s potential for growth, a “branding,” if you will, for this area of the two counties.

If not, Dennis Slagle of the Fredericktown Chamber of Commerce, with the support of the River Towns initiative, has suggested an interesting alternative. Remove a derelict structure near the ferry landing, and ground the boat permanently there as the focus of a museum. With time, consistent effort and some grant money, the site might even grow into something larger with its own building, adding to the appeal of the counties as tourist destinations. How about a Monongahela River ferry museum, celebrating the dozens of such craft operating in the valley years ago? Perhaps early riverboats could be added too, to broaden the focus, by seeking the cooperation of the Monongahela River Buffs Association.

The idea of such a museum might strike some as pointless dreaming, but the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum outside Washington started somewhere, and the Ohio River Museum in Marietta, Ohio, became an officially designated state historic site. Is there enough local and regional interest here to pursue such a goal? Only time will tell. But if the ferry is scrapped, the opportunity is gone forever.

W. S. Bower

Fredericktown