The low water levels of 1908 inspired a proposal to preserve the Indian Head Rock by removing it from the river and displaying it in a popular riverfront park in Portsmouth.
The proposal was by Henry A. Lorberg (1856-1943), a well-known Portsmouth historian and benefactor of the time. "
Henry Lorberg is going to communicate with the light house department with a view to having the snag boat Woodruff pull up the Indian rock, the idea of Mr. Lorberg being to have the city place the historic bowlder [sic] in York park, in a position overlooking the river, with an iron railing around it and a history of the rock, as far as obtainable, engraved or painted on the face.
The wonder is the government hasn't pulled the rock out of its place long ago and crushed it with dynamite, as it is an undoubted menace to navigation of the river between five and fifteen feet.
The bottom of many a boat and barge was torn out by it in the old days when steamboats were plentiful...Portsmouth is the River City and to preserve the rock in the manner referred to would be highly appropriate."
This story credited the carving of the face on the rock to a Portsmouth resident in the 1830s. "
The man or boy, who did the carving is reputed to have been John Book, an older half-brother of W. T. Book, of East Eighth street.
Book was a very adventurous boy and grew to be one of the best known citizens of the county and state was a captain in the civil war and killed in battle.
He carved the face some time in the thirties."
 Clearly, Lorberg's proposal was not acted upon.

Lorberg wrote about the Indian Head Rock in one of his histories of the City of Portsmouth. "
Indian Rock on the Kentucky shore opposite Court Street, could be seen in 1875...Many young men carved their initials on it, and an Indian head was also cut in the stone.
The Rock could only be seen when the Ohio was extremely low--about once in a decade; but since the River Dams have been built, it is now entirely out of view, and has probably been seen for the last time by the present generation.
It served as a good diving point for boys who went swimming in the River.
Henry Bannon’s History of Scioto County gives a more detailed description of the rock."

Between 1875 and 1929, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a series of dams on the Ohio River to improve navigation.
Ohio River Lock and Dam No.
31, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) downstream of Portsmouth, was completed in 1917, permanently raising the river level.
As a result the Indian Head Rock was permanently submerged, except for a brief period in 1920, due to damage to Lock and Dam No.
31 (see below). (
With the completion of the Captain Anthony Meldahl Locks and Dam downstream in December 1964, Lock and Dam No.
31 was rendered obsolete and was demolished shortly thereafter.)
The low water levels of 1908 inspired a proposal to preserve the Indian Head Rock by removing it from the river and displaying it in a popular riverfront park in Portsmouth. The proposal was by Henry A. Lorberg (1856-1943), a well-known Portsmouth historian and benefactor of the time. "Henry Lorberg is going to communicate with the light house department with a view to having the snag boat Woodruff pull up the Indian rock, the idea of Mr. Lorberg being to have the city place the historic bowlder [sic] in York park, in a position overlooking the river, with an iron railing around it and a history of the rock, as far as obtainable, engraved or painted on the face. The wonder is the government hasn't pulled the rock out of its place long ago and crushed it with dynamite, as it is an undoubted menace to navigation of the river between five and fifteen feet. The bottom of many a boat and barge was torn out by it in the old days when steamboats were plentiful...Portsmouth is the River City and to preserve the rock in the manner referred to would be highly appropriate." This story credited the carving of the face on the rock to a Portsmouth resident in the 1830s. "The man or boy, who did the carving is reputed to have been John Book, an older half-brother of W. T. Book, of East Eighth street. Book was a very adventurous boy and grew to be one of the best known citizens of the county and state was a captain in the civil war and killed in battle. He carved the face some time in the thirties."  Clearly, Lorberg's proposal was not acted upon.
Lorberg wrote about the Indian Head Rock in one of his histories of the City of Portsmouth. "Indian Rock on the Kentucky shore opposite Court Street, could be seen in 1875...Many young men carved their initials on it, and an Indian head was also cut in the stone. The Rock could only be seen when the Ohio was extremely low--about once in a decade; but since the River Dams have been built, it is now entirely out of view, and has probably been seen for the last time by the present generation. It served as a good diving point for boys who went swimming in the River. Henry Bannon’s History of Scioto County gives a more detailed description of the rock."
Between 1875 and 1929, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a series of dams on the Ohio River to improve navigation. Ohio River Lock and Dam No. 31, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) downstream of Portsmouth, was completed in 1917, permanently raising the river level. As a result the Indian Head Rock was permanently submerged, except for a brief period in 1920, due to damage to Lock and Dam No. 31 (see below). (With the completion of the Captain Anthony Meldahl Locks and Dam downstream in December 1964, Lock and Dam No. 31 was rendered obsolete and was demolished shortly thereafter.)
Indian Head Rock