star yard

[NW Mailing List]

The walls are flood walls.  When the water gets high enough, they block the entrance with heavy wood planks, heavy wood or steel beams at an angle to reinforce them  and sandbags. I don't know for sure when they put them up in Portsmouth, but I don't remember them not being there.

They have been in Kenova and Huntington all of my life, over 65 years.  I recall my mother saying they they were built about 75 years ago after the devastation of the 1937 flood.  

Any time the water rises high enough, they will make preparations to use them.  Since they have different heights above river level depending on where they are located, they will be high some places and lower at others.  Same with the gates,  which would make it more difficult to get information on a specific gate.  I don't know where you would get information on when they have been used, local papers or perhaps the Army Corps of Engineers.  

Bob Huston


---- NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.orgote: 
> I was in Portsmouth yesterday and drove along the massive wall on the North
> side of the yard.  I assume this was for prevention of damage to the yard
> during flooding?  After a long while the wall changed over to the South
> side and there were grooves in the ends on both sides that appeared to be
> to accommodate a gate of some kind across the tracks.  Several other
> openings of this type were present in the South-side wall and from Google
> maps it looks like the wall itself ends at the wye.  Does anyone have
> information on when the wall(s) were constructed, how the "gates" were put
> in place, how often they have been used etc.?  I also noticed several small
> brick buildings, one was lettered "station 12".  These has electrical
> apparatus outside, so I would guess they had to do with power distribution,
> but does anyone have more information on their purpose/use?
> Thanks,
> Jim Cochran