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Jim:

 I believe you are right that they store the parts for the gates so they are ready when they need them.  I have seen them put the gates only part way up, high enough to meet the projected water level plus a margin for safety.

I found a link with info on the Huntington wall that have some nice pictures from there http://www.huntingtonquarterly.com/articles/issue76/floodwall_history.php

I forgot to make a mention of the little buildings that were discussed in the original question.  They have shut off valves/gates and pumps at locations where normally there is storm water or small stream outlets to the river. Otherwise of course the water would flow back through those outlets as it went above the level of the outlets. If you didn't pump that water out, with the valves and walls closed it would be like filling a really big bathtub. I think that is what the little buildings you described are.  But someone more knowledgeable about Portsmouth might have more certain info.

Bob Huston

---- NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote: 
> I was always under the impression that the Portsmouth flood walls were built after the 1937 flood. I was also under the impression that there were actual gates which were moved from their storage locations to the openings in the wall when flooding was imminent. I don't have any documentation for either statement; but this is what I have always thought. For what it is worth.
> Jim Nichols   
> 
> 
>      On Monday, August 3, 2015 2:32 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>    
> 
>  Did they put them around Matewan W Va. after the Tug river flooded there 1970s or 80s at each end of town across the tracks ?  Ron Hash 
> 
> 
>      On Monday, August 3, 2015 11:56 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>    
> 
>  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
> 
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