History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 27

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > West Virginia > Kanawha County > Charleston > History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens > Part 27

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The average time to raise one of these dams, by four or five men, is about nine hours, and it is lowered by the same force in about two hours. The office of the resident engineer is in the city of Charleston, and a telephone line from the falls of the Kanawha to lock No. II, passes through the said office and the same is

always in direct communication with each lock at all times, and also connected with each other. There are gauge reports received at the Charles- ton office daily from the falls and from Hinton and Radford on the upper New river, all of which is necessary for the same operation of the locks and dams and the regulation of the pools. The force keeps a small tow-boat to transport supplies, material and labor from one point to another, to tow dredges, crane boats, dump scows; to remove obstructions, snags, trees, wrecks, etc., left in the channel by high water, and a light draught steam launch is used by the engineers for trips of inspection and to carry light articles.

The original estimate of the cost of the work was $4,071,216, and the whole amount appro- priated to date is $4,208,200, through the years from March 3, 1873 to June 4, 1897. The cost of the work was really less than the estimates, although there were some modifications of plans made.

The Kanawha river at its mouth, is 510 feet above tide and at Loup creek, the head of the upper pool, 596 feet, giving a fall of 86 feet, in that distance in the natural river, or an ag- gregate lift of 86 feet by the several dams. The river was lowest ever known in 1838, then in 1881 it was measured and estimated to dis- charge, below Elk river, 1,183.5 cubic feet per second. In 1878 measurements were made while there were 3412 feet above low water mark and the discharge was 188,347 cubic feet per second, and Elk furnished of this 32,950 cubic feet. A 6-foot, open river, would dis- charge about 10,000 cubic feet per second and at a 7-foot stage, about 13,500 feet.

CHEAP TRANSPORTATION

The coal barges cost from $1,400 to $1,800 each and last about ten years. They generally are about 130 feet long, 25 feet wide and 71/2 feet deep, and a barge carries from 10,000 to 15,000 bushels or from 400 to 600 tons; 520 tons or 13,000 bushels per barge is a fair av- erage, equal to a train of 26 cars of 20 tons each.

A small tow of four barges, easily handled by a small tug, will have near or quite 50,000 bushels, or enough to fill 100 freight cars, and

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a good tow-boat handles from 4 to 14 barges, and from Point Pleasant down, a fleet of 30 barges or a train about 7 miles long. The tow-boat "Andrews" took out 28 barges or 420,000 bushels, which would fill 840 cars, which would require a track about 8 miles long.

The average rate on coal handled by the C. & O. R. R. in 1899, was 2.74 mills per ton mile, which is considered among the lowest rates of railroads in the U. S., but for water transportation, the rate is about one-half of that, to Louisville 1.21 mills per ton per mile, and to New Orleans about one-fourteenth of a cent per ton per mile, and as low as these rates are, there is coal shipped at still cheaper rates.

ADVANTAGES OF SLACK WATER.

This more than doubles the time during which coal can be shipped and greatly reduces the cost and risks of transportation. Before the locks and dams were built, there was on the average but 136 days per annum when coal could be shipped. Now there is 6 feet, or more, nearly all the year round in Kanawha. The average shipping time for coal in the Ohio from Point Pleasant down is 250 days, which will be greatly bettered and increased in the course of a few years by the completion of the locks and dams now under way in that river.

In this connection, reference should be made to the "flooding out" of coal barges from the mouth of the Kanawha by supplementing small risers in the Ohio with water drawn from the pools of the movable dams. This was inaugu- rated by Engineer A. M. Scott soon after the completion of the dams; in the fall of 1899, 4,000,000 bushels of Kanawha coal were shipped to market in that way. This plan afterwards met with opposition from the de- partment, or the engineering officer in charge, but under the present able and progressive management-that of Capt. Alstatter and his resident assistant, Mr. Thomas E. Jeffries, this novel and important feature of the movable dams is now successfully followed. The com- pletion of this work gives safer, cheaper. quicker and more continuous navigation and makes an era of improvement in the Kanawha valley, and cannot be overestimated.

In 1875 there were shipped from the Great Kanawha river 4,048,300 bushels or 161,932 tons, while in 1900 it was 31,017,000 bushels or 1,240,680 tons, and the increase seems to be steady.

Not only coal, but timber, staves, bark, wood, poles, lath, railroad ties, shingles, brick, salt, merchandise and produce, making in the year 1900 a tonnage of other things than coal, of 1,475,930 tons.

Owing to the fact that the Kanawha mov- able dams were the first built in America, and to the marked success of the Kanawha im- provement, both from an engineering and a commercial standpoint, much-volumes it may be said, has been written about it. Much of this information is found published in official government reports and in technical journals; for a more detailed account than can be given here of the construction and operation of this important work, and of the personnel of the engineering and inspection force identified with it, the lay reader is referred to the B. & F. His- tory of the Kanawha Valley (1891), and to the West Virginia Historical Magazine of April, 1901.

GENERAL WILLIAM PRICE CRAIGHILL By Addison M. Scott.

No history of the Great Kanawha river im- provement would be complete without promi- nent reference to the late General William P. Craighill, under whose supervision the slack- water system was begun and nearly completed. This distinguished engineer officer was born in Charleston, Jefferson county (then Virginia), in 1833. He graduated at West Point, second in his class, in 1853, served first as second lieutenant of engineers and was advanced suc- cessively to the different grades in his corps to the highest, being made brigadier general and chief of engineers in May, 1895.

He gave up charge of the Baltimore district of fortifications and river and harbor improve- ments, the latter including the works from the Susquehanna to Cape Fear, and as far west as the Great Kanawha river (a post he had filled since 1865) when appointed chief of en- gineers thirty years later. This district em- braced some important works both in the line of

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fortification and river and harbor improve- ments. The deep dredged channel in the Balti- more harbor constructed under him, bears his name. The closing of one of the mouths of the Cape Fear river by use, in part, of log and brush mattresses, afterwards extensively used along the coast, was a notable engineering suc- cess and a work of much importance.

In a memoir of General Craighill, published in "Transactions" (Dec. 1909) of the Ameri- can Society of Civil Engineers, a review of the various important works executed in the Balti- more district under him concludes as follows :

"Perhaps the most notable and successful of the works was the canalization of the Great Kanawha river, in which the Chanoine system of movable dams is used *

* the first Chanoine dam actually constructed and placed in service in the United States was in the Great Kanawha river under Colonel Craighill."

To recur to his early manhood; at the out- break of the Civil War Lieutenant Craighill, though decidedly a "Union man," thought seri- ously of resigning from the army and following the fortunes of his native state, rather than take up arms against the South; he was per- suaded, it is said, by General Winfield Scott, not to resign on condition that he be kept in the engineer corps. His record as an engineer of- ficer during the war-a highly creditable one, can be but briefly referred to here. On March 3, 1865, he was made brevet lieutenant colonel "for faithful and meritorious services during the war, and particularly for services rendered in defense of Cumberland Gap and the ulterior operations of General Morgan's forces." He also received the brevet of colonel "for gallant and ineritorious services during the rebellion," but this he declined.

After graduating in 1853, Lieutenant Craig- hill was on duty several years at important points on fortifications and improvements along the coast-at Savannah, Dry Tortugas, Charleston Harbor, etc. In 1856, he went to Washington as assistant to the chief of engi- neers, and both before and after the war served for considerable time as assistant professor of engineering at West Point.

His services after November, 1865, the date of his taking charge of the Baltimore district

of fortifications and river and harbor work have been briefly referred to. In addition to his regular duties he served on many boards formed for the consideration of projected im- provements, embracing many of the principal rivers and harbors throughout the United States. He made five trips to the Pacific coast on this duty.

From 1884 until 1895, Colonel Craighill, while retaining charge of the Baltimore dis- trict, was division engineer of the southeast di- vision which included several other districts of the river and harbor work. In this connection, the following additional extract from the me- moir before referred to is interesting, particu- larly as showing his general method of looking after his numerous works.

"The division engineer's visits were always welcome, and he took a keen interest in the work of the younger men, approving their methods whenever practicable; for he said ‘I have found that generally there are several ways of accomplishing a given result and that it is best to follow the plan of the man who is to do the work, provided that plan is sensible.' A truth not always appreciated by superiors. At another time he said to a young officer who was reporting to him for duty-'Mr. - , I propose to be the laziest man in this district and do not propose to do anything that can be done by my assistants.' It is needless to say that under such a man, the assistants always did their best." In this connection, it is natural to refer to another peculiarity or principle of the man (a somewhat rare one too, it must be said), still better calculated to make men under him do their best-that of giving them due credit for their work. His sense of justice was too great, and he was too big a man to do otherwise, and his assistants knew that their chief not only appreciated good work and faith- ful service, but would take pleasure in acknowl- edging it. He was a close observer and a good judge of men. If he trusted a man, he was inclined to trust him fully. On the other hand, it used to be said, and I think with much truth, that if a man once fell under his distrust he never escaped from it.

Though as an army officer he properly took no part in politics, he was active and promi-

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nent in many lines of civic duty. The Episco- pal church, of which he was a lifelong mem- ber, made him its deputy from the diocese of West Virginia to ten successive general con- ventions, and also a delegate to the Pan-Angel- ican conference in London, in 1908. He was a member of the Malta Lodge of Masons, Charlestown, West Virginia, from 1855, to his death. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the sole honorary member of the Historical Society of Maryland. In 1897, the Washing- ton and Lee University conferred on him the degree of LL. D.

The following offices were offered to him at various times and declined, viz: Commandant of Cadets at Virginia Military Institute ; charge of the water department of Baltimore ; superin- tendent of West Point Academy ; president of the University of West Virginia; superin- tendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and membership in the Isthmian Canal Commission.

He became a member of the American So- ciety of Civil Engineers in 1885, served on the board of direction two years, and was elected president in 1894. As president, he made an enviable record; something of an understand- ing of this and of his unusually fine social quali- ties will be gained from the following extract from the memoir before quoted from, found in the Transactions of the Society. "As a presid- ing officer, he was exceedingly efficient, com- bining in a rare degree seldom equalled, affa- bility, tolerance, tact, dignity, retentiveness of. memory and a swift comprehension of a contro- verted point. A decision never appeared to be made too quickly nor was there any uncertainty when rendered.

"It is believed that no officer of the society made, in so few years, so many friends among the younger members of the society ; for to the young engineer, his courteous and kindly at- tention were equally a delight to the recipient and to the observer.

"He was in all respects well rounded-a man of many parts. * *

* He undoubtedly possessed the attributes essential to success in any walk of life, wherein he would as surely have made his mark, as he did in that of the engineering profession which he adorned so conspicuously."

General Craighill was twice married, first in 1856, to Mary A. Morsell, daughter of Judge Morsell of Washington, D. C., and in 1874, several years after his first wife's death, to Rebecca C. Jones, daughter of Rev. Alex- ander Jones of Richmond, Virginia. He had three sons and three daughters. Two of his sons are civil engineers, one in military and the other in civil life. The one in the army, William E., graduated second in his class at West Point in 1885, and is now major of en- gineers. The other son, Dr. James M. Craig- hill, resides in Baltimore.

General Craighill died at his home and birthplace in Charlestown, West Virginia, June 18, 1909, and is buried there.

This brief and inadequate sketch leaves un- noticed many of the fine attainments and noble characteristics of an able, accomplished, up- right and warm hearted man-one who filled well his part in life and of whom his native state has just cause to be proud.

RAILROADS IN KANAWHA

Kanawha and Charleston have numerous railroads, which may be mentioned as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad, the Virginian Railroad, The Coal and Coke Railroad, the Kanawha and West Virginia Railroad and the Coal River Railroad. The branches of these various rail- roads, extending up the various streams to bring out the coal, timber and other products -short lines and feeders-are too numerous to mention.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The Legislature of Virginia, in 1836, chartered a railroad with a capital of $300,000, to build a road through the county of Louisa, from the Richmond. Fredericksburg & Potomac Rail- road. This was known as the Louisa Rail- road. It was completed from Hanover Junc- tion to Louisa Court House, thirty-six miles, and was operated for some time by the Rich- mond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Co. It was subsequently extended in short sections, first fourteen miles to Gordonsville, thence twenty-one miles to Charlottesville, thence thirty-nine miles to Staunton, thence forty miles to Millsboro, and thence twenty miles to Jackson's river. The war came on and it re-

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mained stationary until 1867, when it was com- pleted to Covington, a distance of ten miles. It was known as the Virginia Central, now the Chesapeake and Ohio.

It required an extraordinary effort to get rid of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Poto- mac Company in its control of the new road. The want of means, rival interests and other matters, made it difficult to construct the same, and it will be seen that it progressed but slowly. In 1848, it placed a contract for an independent route from Richmond to where the junction was with the R. F. & P. Co., twenty-seven miles. In 1850, the name was changed to Vir- ginia Central, and Virginia guaranteed its bonds for $100,000, the policy of the General Assembly being to carry the road to the Wa- ters of the Ohio River. The construction of the road from Staunton to Covington was one of great difficulty. While waiting for the com- pletion of the tunnel through the Blue Ridge, they hauled the rails across the ridge at Rock Fish Gap and laid the road from. Waynesboro to Staunton. They found this too expensive. Instead they built a track over the top of the mountain, with grades of 300 feet to the mile, and worked it until the tunnel was completed. It contemplated having a terminus at Big Sandy, also at Point Pleasant, and never ceased until it aimed to have a line from Norfolk to San Francisco, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. E. Fontaine was the first president and served up to 1868.

See Act incorporating Louisa Railroad (Va. Legislature), Feb. 18, 1836.

Act extending the Louisa R. R. to Blue Ridge, March 8, 1847.

Act for extension to the dock in Richmond, March 27, 1848.

Act incorporating Blue Ridge Road, March 5, 1849.

Extension from Staunton to Covington, Jan- uary 30, 1850.

Changing name to Virginia Central, Febru- ary 2, 1850.

Increasing capital stock of the Central R. R., December 15, 1852.

Incorporating the Covington and Ohio, Feb- ruary 26, 1866.

Same by West Va. Legislature, March I, I866.

Commissioners on the part of Virginia, ap- pointed by last act, were John B. Baldwin, George W. Bolling, T. S. Flournoy, R. H. Maury and W. J. Robertson. On the part of West Virginia: George W. Summers, James Burley, Barton Daspard, Joel McPherson and James O. Watson.

Act for completion of line from Chesapeake to the Ohio River, March 1, 1867.

Same in West Virginia, February 26, 1867. Act amending charter of West Va. Central, February 26, 1867.

Act amending charter of West Va. Central, March 3, 1868,

After the appointment of the commissioners above named, they went to New York to see what could be done and these consultations were continued from time to time. The first commissioners died and others were substituted until C. P. Huntington obtained the line of road, the franchise and benefits, and proceeded with the work. About 1872 the work was completed and the road was running through to the Ohio River in 1873. It continued mov- ing along westward to Cincinnati, and from Ashland through Kentucky to Louisville. There was a road made down the James River, along the canal from Lynchburg, and extended up to Clifton Forge, this becoming a part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.

During the time that Mr. Huntington was building the line to the Ohio, it passed through several gradations and sales, under several names, but kept along westward and toward its completion until it has become one of the main lines of the country. It has its extension to the Pacific, even from Newport News on the Atlantic. The subject has become too large to treat of in detail in one book.

HISTORY OF THE COAL RIVER RAILROAD.

The "Coal River Basin" is a territory lying southeast of the city of St. Albans about seven- teen miles, and comprises about 800,000 or I,000,000 acres of land, under which are de- posited some of the finest bituminous coal veins in the world; considering the width of the veins and the richness of the same, as well as their great variety, it may be said with safety that they are unequaled in richness in the United States.

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This great basin lies enclosed within the wa- ters of the "Big Coal River" and its principal branch, the Little Coal River, which when united flow into the Kanawha at St. Albans.

Obviously this rich coal basin many years ago attracted the attention of investors and coal operators. As early as 1852 large tracts of lands were purchased by Major Peyton and as- sociates on the waters of Big Coal River, and an extensive opening and operation was made by them on Drawdy Creek in a very rich vein of cannel coal. This operation was known as the "Peytona Cannel Coal Co." and in order to get their coal to market, the "Big Coal River" was navigated by a series of locks and dams, operated by an auxiliary company known as the "Coal River Navigation Company." This improvement extended from Peytona to the City of St. Albans, where the barges were floated out into the Great Kanawha River, and from thence to the Ohio River, and down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, where the product was marketed.

This enterprise was successfully prosecuted, but owing to the great expense of maintaining the locks and dams, which were constructed of timber, the costs of maintenence seriously re- duced the profits.

This continued up to the time of the Civil War, when the locks and dams fell into decay and were dismantled. After the close of the war, the Cannel Coal Company resumed oper- ations, repaired the navigation system, and con- ducted the business successfully until about 1876. In the meantime the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company had constructed its lines through St. Albans, and a branch line of that road was constructed to the first lock of the navigation system, and the coal was from thence trans-shipped from the barge to the car and distributed into Washington, Baltimore and New York. Finally, however, the navigation system became dilapidated and out of repair, and the mining company at Peytona became in- volved in serious litigation, and thus in about the year 1880, the workings of the company were suspended.

After that, various attempts were made to construct a railroad into this important coal field ; capitalists were tempted by the long dis-

tance by the river's course to make short cuts into the basin by constructing railroads up the creeks that flow from the Northern rim of the basin into the Kanawha. Short lines were constructed up Davis Creek, Lens Creek, Fields Creek, and Cabin Creek, but all of these efforts were unsucessful owing to the heavy grades and the impossibility, without great expense, of tun- neling the mountain range that forms the North- ern boundary of the "basin."

Various charters were taken out to construct the railroad up the Coal River route, but noth- ing was done with them until the appearance of a gentleman in St. Albans by the name of Col- onel Michael Patrick O'Hern, who was in- timately connected with this enterprise, and was a gentleman of such remarkable character that we desire to give a brief sketch of the man and his career.

COL. MICHAEL P. O'HERN

As indicated by his name, he was born in Ireland-in the city of Limerick-and at an early date emigrated to the United States; he learned the bookbinder's trade in New York, and became one of the largest blank book man- ufacturers in the United States, at that period. He rapidly rose in wealth and distinction, until about 1849 and 1850, when the gold excitement broke out in California. He then promoted a syndicate which purchased and equipped a large fleet of clipper packet ships, and established a freight and passenger line between New York and San Francisco. Apprehending the con- struction of the Panama railroad, he sold out his interest in this fleet for a very large sum of money, and at an enormous profit, and engaged in railway construction. He constructed various lines of railroad in the United States, among which was the "Belt Line," around the City of Baltimore.

Seeing the rapid demand for bituminous coal, in the sixties, he purchased and opened the celebrated Georges Creek field in Maryland, and at one time was one of the largest bitumin- ous coal operators in the United States. Un- fortunate investments and speculations carried him down in the panic of 1873. Some years after that his attention was attracted, together with another wealthy coal operator, Burr Wake-

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man, to the Coal River coal basin, and he spent the balance of his life in the endeavor to push a railroad into that great field. He also con- . ceived the real truth as a railroad constructor, that the only way to gain entry into the "Coal River Basin," was by constructing a railroad along the banks of Coal River; as he used to say frequently, "railroads will run where rivers run."

This gentleman organized the St. Albans & Coal River Railroad Co. in 1886, or 1887, se- cured rights of way by purchase through the narrows of Coal River, and spent the balance of his life in endeavoring to secure the capital to construct it. However, he became advanced in years, his sight was impared, and having little money of his own, he was unable to secure the confidence of capitalists in his ability to handle the enterprise, although no question was made as to his integrity, character, or honesty of pur- pose. He was a gentleman with the most pleas- ing and gentle manners, kind and generous, and in every way loveable to all those friends who knew him well. He died in 1897.

During the latter part of his life, his legal counsel was Judge J. B. C. Drew of Charles- ton, and after his death, his only daughter and heir, Miss Sally O'Hern, advised Judge Drew that she neither had the inclination or the means to prosecute the railway enterprise, but re- quested him to make arrangements whereby her father's indebtedness, and the indebtedness of the railroad company could be paid out of the property ; whereupon Judge Drew organized a syndicate of himself and associates, paid the judgment liens and other debts against Mr. O'Hern's estate, and reorganized the company under the statutes of West Virginia under the name of the St. Albans & Boone Railroad Com- pany. The syndicate purchased a terminal at St. Albans of about 500 acres, and various tracts of land in the Coal River Basin, and endeav- ored to secure capital for the construction of the railroad, but owing to the quiet opposition of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company, who desired to exploit this great coal basin at their own time, and by extending their own rail- road there, but little progress was made until some years later, when General C. C. Watts and associates conceived and actively prosecuted the enterprise.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 27

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066