The Brown Collection is a great bunch of photos, with many including shots of the Ohio River at Wheeling...you might try those. I don't, however, think the river 'looked' much different before the locks went in, except in times of extremity....like, when the water was low due to lack of rain, OR when it was up, due to excess rain upstream. In general, the topography of the river is unchanged. http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/photos/brown/BROWN.HTM