The arc lamp in this photo is a very early open carbon type that was dominant in the 1880s and '90s, requiring very frequent maintenance. A single set of carbons lasted only a few hours before needing to be replaced. These were rendered obsolete by the late 1890s by enclosed double globe arc lamps, which could burn a single set of carbons for a week. The lamp shown here is a slightly modified version of an open lamp having two carbon rod sets instead of the usual one. When one set burned up the second set was energized.

This lamp may have remained in service later (1906) as it was likely switched on only when the locks were being operated at night to allow boats to pass. These early open lamps are extremely rare. Very few survive today.

Built in 1889 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Spent most of its career in the Louisville harbor switching barges. Sank in 1901 and was raised. Rebuilt in 1920 at Paducah, Kentucky, and renamed the A.W. Armstrong.

practicing on the walkway on the left.

standing up there on the left embankment!

Early 20th Century. The horrors and depradations of the Civil War finally beginning to recede into memory. America in the midst of the industrial revolution and poised on the brink of international dominance. How wonderfully sleek and bustling and modern this scene must have looked to a Kentuckian in 1906! That soaring steel bridge spanning the Ohio River in the background. The fine, solid stonework of the locks. The hissing, wheezing energy of the steamboat pushing a barge full of coal up (down?) river. Industry!!

Sic Transit gloria.

[Bever forunt! - Dave]

Puzzling abotu this O went to google maps and forunt:

So it is a curve in the river where it dropa a bit, possiy once was rapids, and the locks alow boats to get around the drops. I bever knew! Someone will probably post when they got rebuilt into the modern version...

Thanks!

My grandmother was born in Louisville in 1897; she would have been familiar with sights like this. So, Shorpy shows us what our ancestors saw. Love Shorpy!

... are spectacular here on Shorpy, but the steamboats, ah, the steamboats. How they beckon me.