{"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1909\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Subseries\u0026page=12","prev":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1909\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Subseries\u0026page=11","next":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1909\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Subseries\u0026page=13","last":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1909\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Subseries\u0026page=62"},"meta":{"pages":{"current_page":12,"next_page":13,"prev_page":11,"total_pages":62,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":110,"total_count":614,"first_page?":false,"last_page?":false}},"data":[{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c06_c03","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"C. Petty Cash","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c06_c03#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c06_c03","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c06_c03"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c06_c03","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c06","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c06","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c06"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c06"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Cashbooks"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Cashbooks"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Cashbooks","C. Petty Cash","11 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"C. Petty Cash","title_ssm":["C. Petty Cash"],"title_tesim":["C. Petty Cash"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1879-1925"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1879/1925"],"normalized_title_ssm":["C. Petty Cash"],"component_level_isim":[3],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["11 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":23,"date_range_isim":[1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#5/components#2","timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"text":["662","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.","English"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n            1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n         \u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n         \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c06_c03"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c03","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"C. Produced/shipped; includes a ledger\n                     for Furnace C, and one for Covington; sequence\n                     labeled \"Iron Ledger\" and numbered 1-3,\n                     1881-1907","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c03#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c03","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c03"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c03","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c12"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c12"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig","C. Produced/shipped; includes a ledger\n                     for Furnace C, and one for Covington; sequence\n                     labeled \"Iron Ledger\" and numbered 1-3,\n                     1881-1907","8 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"C. Produced/shipped; includes a ledger\n                     for Furnace C, and one for Covington; sequence\n                     labeled \"Iron Ledger\" and numbered 1-3,\n                     1881-1907","title_ssm":["C. Produced/shipped; includes a ledger\n                     for Furnace C, and one for Covington; sequence\n                     labeled \"Iron Ledger\" and numbered 1-3,\n                     1881-1907"],"title_tesim":["C. Produced/shipped; includes a ledger\n                     for Furnace C, and one for Covington; sequence\n                     labeled \"Iron Ledger\" and numbered 1-3,\n                     1881-1907"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1880-1916"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1880/1916"],"normalized_title_ssm":["C. Produced/shipped; includes a ledger\n                     for Furnace C, and one for Covington; sequence\n                     labeled \"Iron Ledger\" and numbered 1-3,\n                     1881-1907"],"component_level_isim":[3],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["8 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":53,"date_range_isim":[1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#11/components#2","timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"text":["662","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.","English"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n            1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n         \u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n         \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c03"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c03","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"C. Store #3","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c03#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c03","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c03"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c03","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c10","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c10","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c10"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c10"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Inventories"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Inventories"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Inventories","C. Store #3","2 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"C. Store #3","title_ssm":["C. Store #3"],"title_tesim":["C. Store #3"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1907, 1916"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1907/1916"],"normalized_title_ssm":["C. Store #3"],"component_level_isim":[3],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["2 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":37,"date_range_isim":[1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#9/components#2","timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"text":["662","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.","English"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n            1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n         \u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n         \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c03"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c04","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"D. Assistant General Manager; E. B.\n                     Wilkinson","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c04#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c04","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c04"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c04","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c17","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c17","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c17"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c17"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Letter Books"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Letter Books"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Letter Books","D. Assistant General Manager; E. B.\n                     Wilkinson","12 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"D. Assistant General Manager; E. B.\n                     Wilkinson","title_ssm":["D. Assistant General Manager; E. B.\n                     Wilkinson"],"title_tesim":["D. Assistant General Manager; E. B.\n                     Wilkinson"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1909-1911"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1909/1911"],"normalized_title_ssm":["D. Assistant General Manager; E. B.\n                     Wilkinson"],"component_level_isim":[3],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["12 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":90,"date_range_isim":[1909,1910,1911],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#16/components#3","timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"text":["662","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.","English"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n            1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n         \u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n         \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c04"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c04","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"D. Covington","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c04#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c04","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c04"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c04","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c28"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c28"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Time Books"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Time Books"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Time Books","D. Covington","6 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"D. Covington","title_ssm":["D. Covington"],"title_tesim":["D. Covington"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1901-1925"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1901/1925"],"normalized_title_ssm":["D. Covington"],"component_level_isim":[3],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["6 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":152,"date_range_isim":[1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#27/components#3","timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"text":["662","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.","English"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n            1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n         \u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n         \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c04"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c04","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"D. Dolly Ann Mines","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c04#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c04","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c04"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c04","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c21"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c21"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Payroll Books"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Payroll Books"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Payroll Books","D. Dolly Ann Mines","5 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"D. Dolly Ann Mines","title_ssm":["D. Dolly Ann Mines"],"title_tesim":["D. Dolly Ann Mines"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1885-1921"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1885/1921"],"normalized_title_ssm":["D. Dolly Ann Mines"],"component_level_isim":[3],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["5 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":113,"date_range_isim":[1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#20/components#3","timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"text":["662","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.","English"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n            1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n         \u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n         \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c04"}},{"id":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262_c17_c680","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"Dept. 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You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available 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folder]"],"_nest_path_":"/components#16/components#679","timestamp":"2026-04-30T22:42:25.725Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262","ead_ssi":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262","_root_":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262","_nest_parent_":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/UVA/repositories_3_resources_262.xml","aspace_url_ssi":"https://archives.lib.virginia.edu/ark:/59853/148519","title_filing_ssi":"Warner, John W., papers","title_ssm":["John W. Warner papers"],"title_tesim":["John W. Warner papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1956-2009","1967-2008"],"unitdate_bulk_ssim":["1967-2008"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1956-2009"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Series","Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["MSS 10191","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/3/resources/262"],"text":["MSS 10191","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/3/resources/262","John W. Warner papers","United States -- Politics and government -- 1989-1993","United States -- Politics and government -- 1993-2001.","United States -- Politics and government -- 1977-1981.","United States -- Politics and government -- 1981-1989.","Legislators -- United States","Correspondence","photographs","Please note, the -By series is stored offsite.  Please allow at least 72 hours for transportation to the reading room.","Items on digital or audio-visual carriers will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis before digital transfer occurs.  Allow at least two weeks for the evaluation phase.  Digitization may take between two and four weeks.","This collection has come to the Small Library in multiple accession over the years beginning in 1974. Accessions include: MSS #10191, MSS #10191-b, MSS #10191-c through -n, MSS #10191-e, MSS #10191-o, MSS #10191-p through -z, MSS #10191-ab through -az, MSS #10191-ba through -bp, MSS #-bq, Mss #10191-br, MSS #10191-bs, MSS #10191-bt, MSS #10191-bu, MSS #10191-bv, MSS #10191-bw, MSS #10191-bx, MSS #10191-by, MSS #10191-bz, MSS #10191-cb, 2022-0088, 2022-0103, 2023-0052","The series have been placed roughly in the order of their arrival to the repository.","John William Warner (born February 18, 1927) is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009. He did not seek reelection in 2008 and has rejoined the law firm of Hogan and Hartson, where he worked before joining the Department of Defense.","  He grew up in Washington D.C. and joined the Navy shortly after graduating from high school, leaving as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. He then did his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University and began post-graduate studies at University of Virginia Law School.","  With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Warner joined the Marine Corps, first in active duty and then as a reserve, finally earning the rank of Captain. He resumed his studies at George Washington University and received his law degree in 1953."," He has been married three times. His first marriage was to Catherine Conover Mellon in 1957; they divorced in 1973. He was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1976; they divorced in 1982. Since 2003, he has been married to Jeanne Vander Myde. He has three children, all from his first marriage."," In 1987, he was one of few Republicans to reject the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. He would later break with Virginia Republicans, refusing to support the campaigns of Mike Farris and Oliver North. In 1996, he was one of ten Republican Senators voting against the charge of perjury in the attempted impechment of President Bill Clinton."," His committee memberships included the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.","This collection includes general and constituent correspondence, office files, speeches, appointment books, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings documenting Senator Warner's life and career.","A note regarding consituent correspondence: only in rare instances did the Senator's office keep outgoing corespondence.  The vast majority of what makes up the constituent correspondence are the incoming letters from his constituents.  Original letters sent to the Senator were microfilmed and then destroyed.","Some material in this collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights; the University does not hold these rights and cannot grant (or withhold) copyright permissions. The donor has retained any copyrights in any portion of the collection created or authored by him. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available  here .","Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library","Warner, John W., 1927-","Koed, Betty K.","The collection is in English."],"unitid_tesim":["MSS 10191","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/3/resources/262"],"normalized_title_ssm":["John W. 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More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available  here ."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Legislators -- United States","Correspondence","photographs"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Legislators -- United States","Correspondence","photographs"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["756 Cubic Feet Approximately 730 cubic foot boxes, 42 document boxes, and oversize scrapbooks and folders."],"extent_tesim":["756 Cubic Feet Approximately 730 cubic foot boxes, 42 document boxes, and oversize scrapbooks and folders."],"genreform_ssim":["Correspondence","photographs"],"date_range_isim":[1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985,1986,1987,1988,1989,1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePlease note, the -By series is stored offsite.  Please allow at least 72 hours for transportation to the reading room.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eItems on digital or audio-visual carriers will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis before digital transfer occurs.  Allow at least two weeks for the evaluation phase.  Digitization may take between two and four weeks.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access","Physical Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Please note, the -By series is stored offsite.  Please allow at least 72 hours for transportation to the reading room.","Items on digital or audio-visual carriers will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis before digital transfer occurs.  Allow at least two weeks for the evaluation phase.  Digitization may take between two and four weeks."],"accruals_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection has come to the Small Library in multiple accession over the years beginning in 1974. Accessions include: MSS #10191, MSS #10191-b, MSS #10191-c through -n, MSS #10191-e, MSS #10191-o, MSS #10191-p through -z, MSS #10191-ab through -az, MSS #10191-ba through -bp, MSS #-bq, Mss #10191-br, MSS #10191-bs, MSS #10191-bt, MSS #10191-bu, MSS #10191-bv, MSS #10191-bw, MSS #10191-bx, MSS #10191-by, MSS #10191-bz, MSS #10191-cb, 2022-0088, 2022-0103, 2023-0052\u003c/p\u003e"],"accruals_heading_ssm":["Acquisition information"],"accruals_tesim":["This collection has come to the Small Library in multiple accession over the years beginning in 1974. 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He did not seek reelection in 2008 and has rejoined the law firm of Hogan and Hartson, where he worked before joining the Department of Defense.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e  He grew up in Washington D.C. and joined the Navy shortly after graduating from high school, leaving as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. He then did his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University and began post-graduate studies at University of Virginia Law School.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e  With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Warner joined the Marine Corps, first in active duty and then as a reserve, finally earning the rank of Captain. He resumed his studies at George Washington University and received his law degree in 1953.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e He has been married three times. His first marriage was to Catherine Conover Mellon in 1957; they divorced in 1973. He was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1976; they divorced in 1982. Since 2003, he has been married to Jeanne Vander Myde. He has three children, all from his first marriage.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e In 1987, he was one of few Republicans to reject the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. He would later break with Virginia Republicans, refusing to support the campaigns of Mike Farris and Oliver North. In 1996, he was one of ten Republican Senators voting against the charge of perjury in the attempted impechment of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e His committee memberships included the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Note"],"bioghist_tesim":["John William Warner (born February 18, 1927) is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009. He did not seek reelection in 2008 and has rejoined the law firm of Hogan and Hartson, where he worked before joining the Department of Defense.","  He grew up in Washington D.C. and joined the Navy shortly after graduating from high school, leaving as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. He then did his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University and began post-graduate studies at University of Virginia Law School.","  With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Warner joined the Marine Corps, first in active duty and then as a reserve, finally earning the rank of Captain. He resumed his studies at George Washington University and received his law degree in 1953."," He has been married three times. His first marriage was to Catherine Conover Mellon in 1957; they divorced in 1973. He was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1976; they divorced in 1982. Since 2003, he has been married to Jeanne Vander Myde. He has three children, all from his first marriage."," In 1987, he was one of few Republicans to reject the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. He would later break with Virginia Republicans, refusing to support the campaigns of Mike Farris and Oliver North. In 1996, he was one of ten Republican Senators voting against the charge of perjury in the attempted impechment of President Bill Clinton."," His committee memberships included the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eMSS 10191, John W. Warner papers, Series number, Box and Folder Numbers, Identification of specific item, Date (if known), Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["MSS 10191, John W. 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You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available \u003ca href=\"https://small.library.virginia.edu/services/publishing\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Some material in this collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights; the University does not hold these rights and cannot grant (or withhold) copyright permissions. The donor has retained any copyrights in any portion of the collection created or authored by him. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available  here ."],"names_ssim":["Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library","Warner, John W., 1927-","Koed, Betty K."],"corpname_ssim":["Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library"],"persname_ssim":["Warner, John W., 1927-","Koed, Betty K."],"language_ssim":["The collection is in English."],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":775,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T22:42:25.725Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_repositories_3_resources_262_c17_c680"}},{"id":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262#resource_collection_management_c17_c680","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"Dept. 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You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). 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folder]"],"_nest_path_":"/components#16/components#679","timestamp":"2026-04-30T22:46:11.382Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262#resource_collection_management","ead_ssi":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262#resource_collection_management","_root_":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262#resource_collection_management","_nest_parent_":"viu_repositories_3_resources_262#resource_collection_management","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/UVA/repositories_3_resources_262#resource_collection_management.xml","aspace_url_ssi":"https://archives.lib.virginia.edu/ark:/59853/148519","title_filing_ssi":"Warner, John W., papers","title_ssm":["John W. Warner papers"],"title_tesim":["John W. Warner papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1956-2009","1967-2008"],"unitdate_bulk_ssim":["1967-2008"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1956-2009"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Series","Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["MSS 10191","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/3/resources/262"],"text":["MSS 10191","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/3/resources/262","John W. Warner papers","United States -- Politics and government -- 1989-1993","United States -- Politics and government -- 1993-2001.","United States -- Politics and government -- 1977-1981.","United States -- Politics and government -- 1981-1989.","Legislators -- United States","Correspondence","photographs","Please note, the -By series is stored offsite.  Please allow at least 72 hours for transportation to the reading room.","Items on digital or audio-visual carriers will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis before digital transfer occurs.  Allow at least two weeks for the evaluation phase.  Digitization may take between two and four weeks.","This collection has come to the Small Library in multiple accession over the years beginning in 1974. Accessions include: MSS #10191, MSS #10191-b, MSS #10191-c through -n, MSS #10191-e, MSS #10191-o, MSS #10191-p through -z, MSS #10191-ab through -az, MSS #10191-ba through -bp, MSS #-bq, Mss #10191-br, MSS #10191-bs, MSS #10191-bt, MSS #10191-bu, MSS #10191-bv, MSS #10191-bw, MSS #10191-bx, MSS #10191-by, MSS #10191-bz, MSS #10191-cb, 2022-0088, 2022-0103, 2023-0052","The series have been placed roughly in the order of their arrival to the repository.","John William Warner (born February 18, 1927) is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009. He did not seek reelection in 2008 and has rejoined the law firm of Hogan and Hartson, where he worked before joining the Department of Defense.","  He grew up in Washington D.C. and joined the Navy shortly after graduating from high school, leaving as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. He then did his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University and began post-graduate studies at University of Virginia Law School.","  With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Warner joined the Marine Corps, first in active duty and then as a reserve, finally earning the rank of Captain. He resumed his studies at George Washington University and received his law degree in 1953."," He has been married three times. His first marriage was to Catherine Conover Mellon in 1957; they divorced in 1973. He was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1976; they divorced in 1982. Since 2003, he has been married to Jeanne Vander Myde. He has three children, all from his first marriage."," In 1987, he was one of few Republicans to reject the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. He would later break with Virginia Republicans, refusing to support the campaigns of Mike Farris and Oliver North. In 1996, he was one of ten Republican Senators voting against the charge of perjury in the attempted impechment of President Bill Clinton."," His committee memberships included the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.","This collection includes general and constituent correspondence, office files, speeches, appointment books, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings documenting Senator Warner's life and career.","A note regarding consituent correspondence: only in rare instances did the Senator's office keep outgoing corespondence.  The vast majority of what makes up the constituent correspondence are the incoming letters from his constituents.  Original letters sent to the Senator were microfilmed and then destroyed.","Some material in this collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights; the University does not hold these rights and cannot grant (or withhold) copyright permissions. The donor has retained any copyrights in any portion of the collection created or authored by him. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available  here .","Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library","Warner, John W., 1927-","Koed, Betty K.","The collection is in English."],"unitid_tesim":["MSS 10191","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/3/resources/262"],"normalized_title_ssm":["John W. 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The donor has retained any copyrights in any portion of the collection created or authored by him. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available  here ."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Legislators -- United States","Correspondence","photographs"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Legislators -- United States","Correspondence","photographs"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["756 Cubic Feet Approximately 730 cubic foot boxes, 42 document boxes, and oversize scrapbooks and folders."],"extent_tesim":["756 Cubic Feet Approximately 730 cubic foot boxes, 42 document boxes, and oversize scrapbooks and folders."],"genreform_ssim":["Correspondence","photographs"],"date_range_isim":[1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985,1986,1987,1988,1989,1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePlease note, the -By series is stored offsite.  Please allow at least 72 hours for transportation to the reading room.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eItems on digital or audio-visual carriers will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis before digital transfer occurs.  Allow at least two weeks for the evaluation phase.  Digitization may take between two and four weeks.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access","Physical Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Please note, the -By series is stored offsite.  Please allow at least 72 hours for transportation to the reading room.","Items on digital or audio-visual carriers will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis before digital transfer occurs.  Allow at least two weeks for the evaluation phase.  Digitization may take between two and four weeks."],"accruals_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection has come to the Small Library in multiple accession over the years beginning in 1974. Accessions include: MSS #10191, MSS #10191-b, MSS #10191-c through -n, MSS #10191-e, MSS #10191-o, MSS #10191-p through -z, MSS #10191-ab through -az, MSS #10191-ba through -bp, MSS #-bq, Mss #10191-br, MSS #10191-bs, MSS #10191-bt, MSS #10191-bu, MSS #10191-bv, MSS #10191-bw, MSS #10191-bx, MSS #10191-by, MSS #10191-bz, MSS #10191-cb, 2022-0088, 2022-0103, 2023-0052\u003c/p\u003e"],"accruals_heading_ssm":["Acquisition information"],"accruals_tesim":["This collection has come to the Small Library in multiple accession over the years beginning in 1974. Accessions include: MSS #10191, MSS #10191-b, MSS #10191-c through -n, MSS #10191-e, MSS #10191-o, MSS #10191-p through -z, MSS #10191-ab through -az, MSS #10191-ba through -bp, MSS #-bq, Mss #10191-br, MSS #10191-bs, MSS #10191-bt, MSS #10191-bu, MSS #10191-bv, MSS #10191-bw, MSS #10191-bx, MSS #10191-by, MSS #10191-bz, MSS #10191-cb, 2022-0088, 2022-0103, 2023-0052"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe series have been placed roughly in the order of their arrival to the repository.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement"],"arrangement_tesim":["The series have been placed roughly in the order of their arrival to the repository."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eJohn William Warner (born February 18, 1927) is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009. He did not seek reelection in 2008 and has rejoined the law firm of Hogan and Hartson, where he worked before joining the Department of Defense.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e  He grew up in Washington D.C. and joined the Navy shortly after graduating from high school, leaving as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. He then did his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University and began post-graduate studies at University of Virginia Law School.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e  With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Warner joined the Marine Corps, first in active duty and then as a reserve, finally earning the rank of Captain. He resumed his studies at George Washington University and received his law degree in 1953.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e He has been married three times. His first marriage was to Catherine Conover Mellon in 1957; they divorced in 1973. He was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1976; they divorced in 1982. Since 2003, he has been married to Jeanne Vander Myde. He has three children, all from his first marriage.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e In 1987, he was one of few Republicans to reject the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. He would later break with Virginia Republicans, refusing to support the campaigns of Mike Farris and Oliver North. In 1996, he was one of ten Republican Senators voting against the charge of perjury in the attempted impechment of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e His committee memberships included the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Note"],"bioghist_tesim":["John William Warner (born February 18, 1927) is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009. He did not seek reelection in 2008 and has rejoined the law firm of Hogan and Hartson, where he worked before joining the Department of Defense.","  He grew up in Washington D.C. and joined the Navy shortly after graduating from high school, leaving as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. He then did his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University and began post-graduate studies at University of Virginia Law School.","  With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Warner joined the Marine Corps, first in active duty and then as a reserve, finally earning the rank of Captain. He resumed his studies at George Washington University and received his law degree in 1953."," He has been married three times. His first marriage was to Catherine Conover Mellon in 1957; they divorced in 1973. He was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1976; they divorced in 1982. Since 2003, he has been married to Jeanne Vander Myde. He has three children, all from his first marriage."," In 1987, he was one of few Republicans to reject the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. He would later break with Virginia Republicans, refusing to support the campaigns of Mike Farris and Oliver North. In 1996, he was one of ten Republican Senators voting against the charge of perjury in the attempted impechment of President Bill Clinton."," His committee memberships included the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eMSS 10191, John W. Warner papers, Series number, Box and Folder Numbers, Identification of specific item, Date (if known), Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["MSS 10191, John W. Warner papers, Series number, Box and Folder Numbers, Identification of specific item, Date (if known), Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection includes general and constituent correspondence, office files, speeches, appointment books, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings documenting Senator Warner's life and career.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eA note regarding consituent correspondence: only in rare instances did the Senator's office keep outgoing corespondence.  The vast majority of what makes up the constituent correspondence are the incoming letters from his constituents.  Original letters sent to the Senator were microfilmed and then destroyed.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content note"],"scopecontent_tesim":["This collection includes general and constituent correspondence, office files, speeches, appointment books, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings documenting Senator Warner's life and career.","A note regarding consituent correspondence: only in rare instances did the Senator's office keep outgoing corespondence.  The vast majority of what makes up the constituent correspondence are the incoming letters from his constituents.  Original letters sent to the Senator were microfilmed and then destroyed."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome material in this collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights; the University does not hold these rights and cannot grant (or withhold) copyright permissions. The donor has retained any copyrights in any portion of the collection created or authored by him. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available \u003ca href=\"https://small.library.virginia.edu/services/publishing\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Some material in this collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights; the University does not hold these rights and cannot grant (or withhold) copyright permissions. The donor has retained any copyrights in any portion of the collection created or authored by him. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use, including fair use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). More information about permissions to publish Special Collections material is available  here ."],"names_ssim":["Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library","Warner, John W., 1927-","Koed, Betty K."],"corpname_ssim":["Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library"],"persname_ssim":["Warner, John W., 1927-","Koed, Betty K."],"language_ssim":["The collection is in English."],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":775,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T22:46:11.382Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_repositories_3_resources_262%23resource_collection_management_c17_c680"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c04","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"D. Furnace C Stock Receipts,\n                     1-5","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c04#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c04","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c04"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c04","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c26","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c26","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c26"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c26"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Shipments-Incoming"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Shipments-Incoming"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Shipments-Incoming","D. Furnace C Stock Receipts,\n                     1-5","6 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"D. Furnace C Stock Receipts,\n                     1-5","title_ssm":["D. Furnace C Stock Receipts,\n                     1-5"],"title_tesim":["D. Furnace C Stock Receipts,\n                     1-5"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1895-1914"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1895/1914"],"normalized_title_ssm":["D. Furnace C Stock Receipts,\n                     1-5"],"component_level_isim":[3],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["6 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":142,"date_range_isim":[1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#25/components#3","timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"text":["662","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927","95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.","English"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n          1873-1927"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n            1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n         volumes"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n         diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n         that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n         organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n         papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n         began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n         organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n         placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n         the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n         useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n         letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n         gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n         attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n         considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n         on the collection, the new student processors were\n         instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n         of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n         replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n         headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n         paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n         reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n         other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n         some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n         researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n         also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n         omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n         location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n         numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n         with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n         collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n         ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n         this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n         there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n         processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n         undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n         the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n         project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n         \u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n            \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n         \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n         iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n         self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n         mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n         production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n         Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n         mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n         1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n         produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n         Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n         Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n         limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n         Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n         Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n         Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n         every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n         bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n         church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n         the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n         cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n         they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n         statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n         Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n         $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n         Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n         of these stores carried large inventories which are\n         detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n         to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n         a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n         theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n         people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n         center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n         provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n         tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n         no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n         Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n         that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n         served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n         who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n         \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n         the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n         Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n         Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n         important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n         their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n         the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n         used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n         acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n         from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n         until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n         eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n         exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n         in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n         chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n         and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n         Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n         Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n         the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n         transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n         Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n         among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n         for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n         services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n         relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n         Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n         about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n         rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n         \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n         from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n         wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n         mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n         We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n         in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n         not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n         to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n         the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n         dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n         \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n         of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n         shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n         getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n         railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n         another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n         General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n         supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n         consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n         ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n         Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n         laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n         York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n         in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n          To Mr. George Wickes \n             Supt. of Mines \n             Kay Moor, Virginia \n             Dear George, \n             Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n            got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n            Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n            but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n            seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n            York transportations to this place have never been a\n            success. Signed, \n             Ed D. Wickes Supt. of Mines Low Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n         of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n         Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n         to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n         would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n         ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n         Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n         underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n         immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n         it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n         labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n         in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n         strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n         great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n         mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n         normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n         still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n         April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n         manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n         get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n         short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n         coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n         There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n         result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n         wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n         the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n         Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n         only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n         at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n         furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n         industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n         Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n         short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n         from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n         prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n         1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n         the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n         Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n         Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n         writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n         \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n         any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n         this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n         the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n         manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n         lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n         dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n         November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n         high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n         There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n         coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n         troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n         situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n         meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n         helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n         furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n         shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n         had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n         needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n         Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n         war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n         Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n         short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n         depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n         Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n         pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n         company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n         1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n         coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n         orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n         it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n         months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n         furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n         returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n         Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n         Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n         to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n         industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n         talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n         revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n         merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n         was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n         Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n         told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n         The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n         fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n         from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n         1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n         Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n         transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n         letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n         Iron Association, to the \n          Manufacturers Record dated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n         tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n         claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n         production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n         the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n         furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n         trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n         in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n         equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n         only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n         increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n         25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n         Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n         furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n         northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n         all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n         competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n         the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n         southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n         were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n         producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n         should be restored to a relationship with southern\n         furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n         states iron industries should not have been in the same\n         desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n         should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n         heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n         plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n         accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n         years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n         those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n         U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n         of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n         freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n         there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n         rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n         was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n         easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n         of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n         that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n         industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n         the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n         mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n         the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n         produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n         as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n         inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n         Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n         the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n         of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n         the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n         Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n         developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n         Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n         Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n         1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n         1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n         1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n         1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n         ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n         G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n         ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n         1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n         C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n         Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n         J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n         1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n         coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n         Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n         George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n         1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n         Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n         Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n         ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n         Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n         personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n         Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n         assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n         approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n         95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n         bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n         1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n         Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n         County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n         produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n         company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n         quarries, there is considerable information about the\n         production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n         records that deal with the company's employees have\n         survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n         like. Because these books sometimes include information\n         about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n         race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n         should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n         mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n         ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n         mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n         The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n         pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n         iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n         structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n         dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n         furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n         considerable information about railroads and their\n         relationship to their customers."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:17:12.165Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c04"}},{"id":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02_c07","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"Diaries and Notebooks","abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02_c07#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"\u003cp\u003eIncludes diaries and notebooks, which include religious meditations and observations, drafts of works and notes about her work, correspondence, and more: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Box 10. \u003cbr\u003e Diary, 1906, 1927\u003cbr\u003e Diary, 1907 (account of a trip to Europe)\u003cbr\u003e Diary, 1917, 1925-1927 (record of personal income, charities, household accounts, writing and manuscripts submitted for publication)\u003cbr\u003e Diary, Etc., 1927, 1928, 1929, 1942 (also portions of a play, Awake)\u003cbr\u003e Diary, 1929-1933\u003cbr\u003e Diary, Meditation, 1929\u003cbr\u003e Guidance record, 1929\u003cbr\u003e Diary, 1935-1938, 1944\u003cbr\u003e Diary, 1936-1940\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Box 11:\u003cbr\u003e Diary, A Tapestry of Thought, 1908-1912, 1915-1925 (portions published as \"Leaves from a Secrete Journal\")\u003cbr\u003e Diary, A Book of Pleasant Things, 1947-1948 (essays and reminiscences)\u003cbr\u003e Diary, 1910-1915 (manuscripts sent to publishers), 1927 (religious meditations)\u003cbr\u003e Notebook, 1908 (notes and plots)\u003cbr\u003e Notebook, undated (notes, plots, and accounts)\u003cbr\u003e Notebook, undated (Biblical and religious quotations)\u003cbr\u003e Notebook undated (notes on the blind)\u003cbr\u003e Note pads, 2 vols (notes, poetry and letters)\u003cbr\u003e Notes for lectures, 1927\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Box 17:\u003cbr\u003e Diary with notes on flowers\u003cbr\u003e \"Diary\" of verse and miscellaneous notes\u003cbr\u003e Booklet, \"A Happy New Year\" (originally from A\u0026amp;M 1169)\u003cbr\u003e Notebook, undated\u003cbr\u003e Notebook, undated\u003cbr\u003e Miscellaneous Notes\u003c/p\u003e","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02_c07#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02_c07","ref_ssm":["wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02_c07"],"id":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02_c07","ead_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354","_root_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354","_nest_parent_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02","parent_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02","parent_ssim":["wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354","wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02"],"parent_ids_ssim":["wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354","wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354_c02"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers","Writings"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers","Writings"],"text":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers","Writings","Diaries and Notebooks","Box 10","Box 11","Box 17","Includes diaries and notebooks, which include religious meditations and observations, drafts of works and notes about her work, correspondence, and more:  \n  Box 10.  \n   Diary, 1906, 1927 \n   Diary, 1907 (account of a trip to Europe) \n   Diary, 1917, 1925-1927 (record of personal income, charities, household accounts, writing and manuscripts submitted for publication) \n   Diary, Etc., 1927, 1928, 1929, 1942 (also portions of a play, Awake) \n   Diary, 1929-1933 \n   Diary, Meditation, 1929 \n   Guidance record, 1929 \n   Diary, 1935-1938, 1944 \n   Diary, 1936-1940 \n  Box 11: \n   Diary, A Tapestry of Thought, 1908-1912, 1915-1925 (portions published as \"Leaves from a Secrete Journal\") \n   Diary, A Book of Pleasant Things, 1947-1948 (essays and reminiscences) \n   Diary, 1910-1915 (manuscripts sent to publishers), 1927 (religious meditations) \n   Notebook, 1908 (notes and plots) \n   Notebook, undated (notes, plots, and accounts) \n   Notebook, undated (Biblical and religious quotations) \n   Notebook undated (notes on the blind) \n   Note pads, 2 vols (notes, poetry and letters) \n   Notes for lectures, 1927 \n  Box 17: \n   Diary with notes on flowers \n   \"Diary\" of verse and miscellaneous notes \n   Booklet, \"A Happy New Year\" (originally from A\u0026M 1169) \n   Notebook, undated \n   Notebook, undated \n   Miscellaneous Notes"],"title_filing_ssi":"Diaries and Notebooks","title_ssm":["Diaries and Notebooks"],"title_tesim":["Diaries and Notebooks"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1906–1948"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1906/1948"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Diaries and Notebooks"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center"],"collection_ssim":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":40,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["No special access restriction applies."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"date_range_isim":[1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948],"containers_ssim":["Box 10","Box 11","Box 17"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eIncludes diaries and notebooks, which include religious meditations and observations, drafts of works and notes about her work, correspondence, and more: \u003clb/\u003e\n\u003clb/\u003e\n  Box 10. \u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, 1906, 1927\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, 1907 (account of a trip to Europe)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, 1917, 1925-1927 (record of personal income, charities, household accounts, writing and manuscripts submitted for publication)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, Etc., 1927, 1928, 1929, 1942 (also portions of a play, Awake)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, 1929-1933\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, Meditation, 1929\u003clb/\u003e\n   Guidance record, 1929\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, 1935-1938, 1944\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, 1936-1940\u003clb/\u003e\n\u003clb/\u003e\n  Box 11:\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, A Tapestry of Thought, 1908-1912, 1915-1925 (portions published as \"Leaves from a Secrete Journal\")\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, A Book of Pleasant Things, 1947-1948 (essays and reminiscences)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary, 1910-1915 (manuscripts sent to publishers), 1927 (religious meditations)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Notebook, 1908 (notes and plots)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Notebook, undated (notes, plots, and accounts)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Notebook, undated (Biblical and religious quotations)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Notebook undated (notes on the blind)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Note pads, 2 vols (notes, poetry and letters)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Notes for lectures, 1927\u003clb/\u003e\n\u003clb/\u003e\n  Box 17:\u003clb/\u003e\n   Diary with notes on flowers\u003clb/\u003e\n   \"Diary\" of verse and miscellaneous notes\u003clb/\u003e\n   Booklet, \"A Happy New Year\" (originally from A\u0026amp;M 1169)\u003clb/\u003e\n   Notebook, undated\u003clb/\u003e\n   Notebook, undated\u003clb/\u003e\n   Miscellaneous Notes\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Includes diaries and notebooks, which include religious meditations and observations, drafts of works and notes about her work, correspondence, and more:  \n  Box 10.  \n   Diary, 1906, 1927 \n   Diary, 1907 (account of a trip to Europe) \n   Diary, 1917, 1925-1927 (record of personal income, charities, household accounts, writing and manuscripts submitted for publication) \n   Diary, Etc., 1927, 1928, 1929, 1942 (also portions of a play, Awake) \n   Diary, 1929-1933 \n   Diary, Meditation, 1929 \n   Guidance record, 1929 \n   Diary, 1935-1938, 1944 \n   Diary, 1936-1940 \n  Box 11: \n   Diary, A Tapestry of Thought, 1908-1912, 1915-1925 (portions published as \"Leaves from a Secrete Journal\") \n   Diary, A Book of Pleasant Things, 1947-1948 (essays and reminiscences) \n   Diary, 1910-1915 (manuscripts sent to publishers), 1927 (religious meditations) \n   Notebook, 1908 (notes and plots) \n   Notebook, undated (notes, plots, and accounts) \n   Notebook, undated (Biblical and religious quotations) \n   Notebook undated (notes on the blind) \n   Note pads, 2 vols (notes, poetry and letters) \n   Notes for lectures, 1927 \n  Box 17: \n   Diary with notes on flowers \n   \"Diary\" of verse and miscellaneous notes \n   Booklet, \"A Happy New Year\" (originally from A\u0026M 1169) \n   Notebook, undated \n   Notebook, undated \n   Miscellaneous Notes"],"_nest_path_":"/components#1/components#6","timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:12:46.420Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354","ead_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354","_root_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354","_nest_parent_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_4354","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WVU/repositories_2_resources_4354.xml","aspace_url_ssi":"https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/ark:/99999/197965","title_ssm":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers"],"title_tesim":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1893-1958"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1893-1958"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["A\u0026M 1110","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/4354"],"text":["A\u0026M 1110","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/4354","Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers","Authors -- Letters and papers","Diaries and journals.","Poets and poetry.","Religion. SEE ALSO Churches.","Women's history -- 1850-1899","Women's history -- 1900-1929","Women's history -- 1929-1950","Women's history -- 1951-present","No special access restriction applies.","Margaret Prescott Montague was born on November 28, 1878 at \"Oakhurst,\" the Montague homestead near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Of New England parentages, she inherited the cultural milieu of the Back Bay as well as that of the West Virginia highlands. Her early education was undertaken by her parents; in her middle teens she was attending Miss Gussie Daniel's school in Richmond, Virginia. It was Miss Gussie, according to Miss Montague, who \"discovered my small ability.\" ","Under the influence of the local colorists, Miss Montague turned to the mountain folk of West Virginia for her early novels:  The Poet, Miss Kate , and I  (1905),  The Sowing of Alderson Cree  (1907), and  In Calvert's Valley  (1908).  Linda  (1912), showed a trend away from the earlier folk literature, oscillating as the novel did between the Back Bay and the back woods. ","From 1909 on Miss Montague was subject to \"severe physical afflictions\" that left her partially blind and deaf for the rest of her career. Always an intensely religious person, she now sought to find self-realization and truth in Christian mysticism and a philosophy of ennoblement through suffering. These themes marked much of her work after 1915.  Closed Doors  (1915) was a study of handicapped children at the West Virginia School of the Deaf and Blind. In \"The Lucky Lady\" (1933) Miss Montague asserted that man was still master of his fate and also his handicaps. She recorded her mystical experiences in such articles as \"Twenty Minutes of Reality\" (1916) and \"Leaves from a Secret Journal'' (1926) written under the nome de plume of Jane Steger. ","From 1915 she turned more and more to the shorter forms of prose, the short story and essay. She wrote a series of wartime stories, and won the first O. Henry Memorial Prize in 1919 for \"England to America\" which has become an American classic. Her passionate interest in politics, absent in most of her writings, was the moving force of \"Uncle Sam of Freedom Ridge\" (1920), a plea for ratification of the League Covenant. The story was made into a film and became an issue in the presidential election of 1920. ","In  Deep Channel  (1923), her last full length novel, Miss Montague returned to the locale of her earlier novels, yet the book was a more skillful and sophisticated work, closely tied to the new literature of the 1920s and, in the words of Professor Stuart P. Sherman, \"animated by the passion for self-realization.\" In a lighter vein were the legendary exploits of Tony Beaver, the Paul Bunyan of West Virginia, which Miss Montague published as a collection of short stories in  Up Eel River  (1928). ","While the author continued writing short stories, essays, poetry, and completed a long unpublished novel in the 1930s, her didactic writings had been part of a world less harsh and irrational than that the United States of the depression decade. Her works now belong to a passing era. Nevertheless, she was active with her pen almost until the time of her death in Richmond, Virginia on September 26, 1955.","In September 2018, A\u0026M 1152 and 1169 were formally merged into this collection. The former custodian of this collection had donated A\u0026M 1152 and 1169 the year following the donation of A\u0026M 1110, likely with the intention of adding them to the first collection. Previous processors had already interfiled 1152 and 1169 into this collection and described the three collections as one. When reprocessing this collection, we tried to maintain the original intellectual arrangement as best we could. The note from the original paper finding aid is as follows: \nThe Montague papers were presented to the West Virginia Collection by the author's brother, the Reverend Cary Montague of Richmond, Virginia. Miss Ellen Lee Ball had custody of the papers from 1955 to 1958 and spent much time and effort in arranging and annotating the collection. Further processing and cataloging has been done by the staff of the West Virginia Collection.","582, 1110, 1348, 2218","Correspondence, manuscripts, notes and notebooks, diaries, press clippings, photographs, and printed material of a West Virginia essayist, short-story writer, poet and novelist, who won the first O. Henry Memorial Prize in 1919 for her short story, \"England to America.\" The papers include correspondence from editors, publishers, agents and critics; readers' correspondence; family letters; manuscripts of short stories and other works; outlines, plots, and drafts; and diaries and notebooks primarily concerned with religious meditation, Christian mysticism, and Miss Montague's concept of human ennoblement through suffering. Correspondents include Bernard Baruch, Russell Doubleday, Howard M. Gore, M.A. DeWolfe Howe, Vachel Lindsay, Christopher Morley, Philip Van Doren Stern, Joseph P. Tumulty, and Woodrow Wilson.","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the  Permissions and Copyright page  on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536  / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Montague, Margaret Prescott, 1878-1955","Baruch, Bernard M. (Bernard Mannes), 1870-1965","Doubleday, Russell, 1872-1949","Gore, Howard M.","Howe, M. A. De Wolfe (Mark Antony De Wolfe), 1864-1960","Lindsay, Vachel, 1879-1931","Morley, Christopher, 1890-1957","Stern, Philip Van Doren, 1900-1984","Tumulty, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick), 1879-1954","Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924","English"],"unitid_tesim":["A\u0026M 1110","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/4354"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers"],"collection_title_tesim":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers"],"collection_ssim":["Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers"],"repository_ssm":["West Virginia and Regional History Center"],"repository_ssim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center"],"creator_ssm":["Montague, Margaret Prescott, 1878-1955"],"creator_ssim":["Montague, Margaret Prescott, 1878-1955"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Montague, Margaret Prescott, 1878-1955"],"creators_ssim":["Montague, Margaret Prescott, 1878-1955"],"access_terms_ssm":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the  Permissions and Copyright page  on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Authors -- Letters and papers","Diaries and journals.","Poets and poetry.","Religion. SEE ALSO Churches.","Women's history -- 1850-1899","Women's history -- 1900-1929","Women's history -- 1929-1950","Women's history -- 1951-present"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Authors -- Letters and papers","Diaries and journals.","Poets and poetry.","Religion. SEE ALSO Churches.","Women's history -- 1850-1899","Women's history -- 1900-1929","Women's history -- 1929-1950","Women's history -- 1951-present"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["6.5 Linear Feet Summary: 6 ft. 5 3/4 in. (14 document cases, 5 in. each); (3 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in.)"],"extent_tesim":["6.5 Linear Feet Summary: 6 ft. 5 3/4 in. (14 document cases, 5 in. each); (3 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in.)"],"date_range_isim":[1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eNo special access restriction applies.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["No special access restriction applies."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eMargaret Prescott Montague was born on November 28, 1878 at \"Oakhurst,\" the Montague homestead near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Of New England parentages, she inherited the cultural milieu of the Back Bay as well as that of the West Virginia highlands. Her early education was undertaken by her parents; in her middle teens she was attending Miss Gussie Daniel's school in Richmond, Virginia. It was Miss Gussie, according to Miss Montague, who \"discovered my small ability.\" \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eUnder the influence of the local colorists, Miss Montague turned to the mountain folk of West Virginia for her early novels: \u003ctitle\u003eThe Poet, Miss Kate , and I\u003c/title\u003e (1905), \u003ctitle\u003eThe Sowing of Alderson Cree\u003c/title\u003e (1907), and \u003ctitle\u003eIn Calvert's Valley\u003c/title\u003e (1908). \u003ctitle\u003eLinda\u003c/title\u003e (1912), showed a trend away from the earlier folk literature, oscillating as the novel did between the Back Bay and the back woods. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eFrom 1909 on Miss Montague was subject to \"severe physical afflictions\" that left her partially blind and deaf for the rest of her career. Always an intensely religious person, she now sought to find self-realization and truth in Christian mysticism and a philosophy of ennoblement through suffering. These themes marked much of her work after 1915. \u003ctitle\u003eClosed Doors\u003c/title\u003e (1915) was a study of handicapped children at the West Virginia School of the Deaf and Blind. In \"The Lucky Lady\" (1933) Miss Montague asserted that man was still master of his fate and also his handicaps. She recorded her mystical experiences in such articles as \"Twenty Minutes of Reality\" (1916) and \"Leaves from a Secret Journal'' (1926) written under the nome de plume of Jane Steger. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eFrom 1915 she turned more and more to the shorter forms of prose, the short story and essay. She wrote a series of wartime stories, and won the first O. Henry Memorial Prize in 1919 for \"England to America\" which has become an American classic. Her passionate interest in politics, absent in most of her writings, was the moving force of \"Uncle Sam of Freedom Ridge\" (1920), a plea for ratification of the League Covenant. The story was made into a film and became an issue in the presidential election of 1920. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ctitle\u003eDeep Channel\u003c/title\u003e (1923), her last full length novel, Miss Montague returned to the locale of her earlier novels, yet the book was a more skillful and sophisticated work, closely tied to the new literature of the 1920s and, in the words of Professor Stuart P. Sherman, \"animated by the passion for self-realization.\" In a lighter vein were the legendary exploits of Tony Beaver, the Paul Bunyan of West Virginia, which Miss Montague published as a collection of short stories in \u003ctitle\u003eUp Eel River\u003c/title\u003e (1928). \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eWhile the author continued writing short stories, essays, poetry, and completed a long unpublished novel in the 1930s, her didactic writings had been part of a world less harsh and irrational than that the United States of the depression decade. Her works now belong to a passing era. Nevertheless, she was active with her pen almost until the time of her death in Richmond, Virginia on September 26, 1955.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Margaret Prescott Montague was born on November 28, 1878 at \"Oakhurst,\" the Montague homestead near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Of New England parentages, she inherited the cultural milieu of the Back Bay as well as that of the West Virginia highlands. Her early education was undertaken by her parents; in her middle teens she was attending Miss Gussie Daniel's school in Richmond, Virginia. It was Miss Gussie, according to Miss Montague, who \"discovered my small ability.\" ","Under the influence of the local colorists, Miss Montague turned to the mountain folk of West Virginia for her early novels:  The Poet, Miss Kate , and I  (1905),  The Sowing of Alderson Cree  (1907), and  In Calvert's Valley  (1908).  Linda  (1912), showed a trend away from the earlier folk literature, oscillating as the novel did between the Back Bay and the back woods. ","From 1909 on Miss Montague was subject to \"severe physical afflictions\" that left her partially blind and deaf for the rest of her career. Always an intensely religious person, she now sought to find self-realization and truth in Christian mysticism and a philosophy of ennoblement through suffering. These themes marked much of her work after 1915.  Closed Doors  (1915) was a study of handicapped children at the West Virginia School of the Deaf and Blind. In \"The Lucky Lady\" (1933) Miss Montague asserted that man was still master of his fate and also his handicaps. She recorded her mystical experiences in such articles as \"Twenty Minutes of Reality\" (1916) and \"Leaves from a Secret Journal'' (1926) written under the nome de plume of Jane Steger. ","From 1915 she turned more and more to the shorter forms of prose, the short story and essay. She wrote a series of wartime stories, and won the first O. Henry Memorial Prize in 1919 for \"England to America\" which has become an American classic. Her passionate interest in politics, absent in most of her writings, was the moving force of \"Uncle Sam of Freedom Ridge\" (1920), a plea for ratification of the League Covenant. The story was made into a film and became an issue in the presidential election of 1920. ","In  Deep Channel  (1923), her last full length novel, Miss Montague returned to the locale of her earlier novels, yet the book was a more skillful and sophisticated work, closely tied to the new literature of the 1920s and, in the words of Professor Stuart P. Sherman, \"animated by the passion for self-realization.\" In a lighter vein were the legendary exploits of Tony Beaver, the Paul Bunyan of West Virginia, which Miss Montague published as a collection of short stories in  Up Eel River  (1928). ","While the author continued writing short stories, essays, poetry, and completed a long unpublished novel in the 1930s, her didactic writings had been part of a world less harsh and irrational than that the United States of the depression decade. Her works now belong to a passing era. Nevertheless, she was active with her pen almost until the time of her death in Richmond, Virginia on September 26, 1955."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers, A\u0026amp;M 1110, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Margaret Prescott Montague, Author, Papers, A\u0026M 1110, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eIn September 2018, A\u0026amp;M 1152 and 1169 were formally merged into this collection. The former custodian of this collection had donated A\u0026amp;M 1152 and 1169 the year following the donation of A\u0026amp;M 1110, likely with the intention of adding them to the first collection. Previous processors had already interfiled 1152 and 1169 into this collection and described the three collections as one. When reprocessing this collection, we tried to maintain the original intellectual arrangement as best we could. The note from the original paper finding aid is as follows:\u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nThe Montague papers were presented to the West Virginia Collection by the author's brother, the Reverend Cary Montague of Richmond, Virginia. Miss Ellen Lee Ball had custody of the papers from 1955 to 1958 and spent much time and effort in arranging and annotating the collection. Further processing and cataloging has been done by the staff of the West Virginia Collection.\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["In September 2018, A\u0026M 1152 and 1169 were formally merged into this collection. The former custodian of this collection had donated A\u0026M 1152 and 1169 the year following the donation of A\u0026M 1110, likely with the intention of adding them to the first collection. Previous processors had already interfiled 1152 and 1169 into this collection and described the three collections as one. When reprocessing this collection, we tried to maintain the original intellectual arrangement as best we could. The note from the original paper finding aid is as follows: \nThe Montague papers were presented to the West Virginia Collection by the author's brother, the Reverend Cary Montague of Richmond, Virginia. Miss Ellen Lee Ball had custody of the papers from 1955 to 1958 and spent much time and effort in arranging and annotating the collection. Further processing and cataloging has been done by the staff of the West Virginia Collection."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e582, 1110, 1348, 2218\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["582, 1110, 1348, 2218"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence, manuscripts, notes and notebooks, diaries, press clippings, photographs, and printed material of a West Virginia essayist, short-story writer, poet and novelist, who won the first O. Henry Memorial Prize in 1919 for her short story, \"England to America.\" The papers include correspondence from editors, publishers, agents and critics; readers' correspondence; family letters; manuscripts of short stories and other works; outlines, plots, and drafts; and diaries and notebooks primarily concerned with religious meditation, Christian mysticism, and Miss Montague's concept of human ennoblement through suffering. Correspondents include Bernard Baruch, Russell Doubleday, Howard M. Gore, M.A. DeWolfe Howe, Vachel Lindsay, Christopher Morley, Philip Van Doren Stern, Joseph P. Tumulty, and Woodrow Wilson.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence, manuscripts, notes and notebooks, diaries, press clippings, photographs, and printed material of a West Virginia essayist, short-story writer, poet and novelist, who won the first O. Henry Memorial Prize in 1919 for her short story, \"England to America.\" The papers include correspondence from editors, publishers, agents and critics; readers' correspondence; family letters; manuscripts of short stories and other works; outlines, plots, and drafts; and diaries and notebooks primarily concerned with religious meditation, Christian mysticism, and Miss Montague's concept of human ennoblement through suffering. Correspondents include Bernard Baruch, Russell Doubleday, Howard M. Gore, M.A. DeWolfe Howe, Vachel Lindsay, Christopher Morley, Philip Van Doren Stern, Joseph P. Tumulty, and Woodrow Wilson."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the  Permissions and Copyright page  on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_8b42e6de2210918dc1ac2b4ded264e77\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536  / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536  / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/"],"names_ssim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center","Montague, Margaret Prescott, 1878-1955","Baruch, Bernard M. (Bernard Mannes), 1870-1965","Doubleday, Russell, 1872-1949","Gore, Howard M.","Howe, M. A. De Wolfe (Mark Antony De Wolfe), 1864-1960","Lindsay, Vachel, 1879-1931","Morley, Christopher, 1890-1957","Stern, Philip Van Doren, 1900-1984","Tumulty, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick), 1879-1954","Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924"],"corpname_ssim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center"],"names_coll_ssim":["Montague, Margaret Prescott, 1878-1955","Baruch, Bernard M. (Bernard Mannes), 1870-1965","Doubleday, Russell, 1872-1949","Gore, Howard M.","Howe, M. A. 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