{"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1909\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Subseries\u0026page=14","prev":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1909\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Subseries\u0026page=13","next":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1909\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Subseries\u0026page=15","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":14,"next_page":15,"prev_page":13,"total_pages":62,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":130,"total_count":614,"first_page?":false,"last_page?":false}},"data":[{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c05","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"E. Dolly Ann Mines","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c05#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c05","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c05"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c05","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","E. Dolly Ann Mines","6 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"E. Dolly Ann Mines","title_ssm":["E. Dolly Ann Mines"],"title_tesim":["E. Dolly Ann Mines"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1885-1921"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1885/1921"],"normalized_title_ssm":["E. 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":["6 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":153,"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#27/components#4","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_c05"}},{"id":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01_c01","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"Edward Alexander Dudley Papers","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01_c01","ref_ssm":["vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01_c01"],"id":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01_c01","ead_ssi":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552","_root_":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552","_nest_parent_":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01","parent_ssi":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01","parent_ssim":["vihart_repositories_4_resources_552","vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01"],"parent_ids_ssim":["vihart_repositories_4_resources_552","vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers","Family Papers"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers","Family Papers"],"text":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers","Family Papers","Edward Alexander Dudley Papers"],"title_filing_ssi":"Edward Alexander Dudley Papers","title_ssm":["Edward Alexander Dudley Papers"],"title_tesim":["Edward Alexander Dudley Papers"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1873-1920"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1873/1920"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Edward Alexander Dudley Papers"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["James Madison University"],"collection_ssim":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":6,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":2,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collection Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu)."],"date_range_isim":[1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#0","timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:00:30.805Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552","ead_ssi":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552","_root_":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552","_nest_parent_":"vihart_repositories_4_resources_552","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/JMU/repositories_4_resources_552.xml","title_ssm":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers"],"title_tesim":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1873-2005"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1873-2005"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["SC 0213","/repositories/4/resources/552"],"text":["SC 0213","/repositories/4/resources/552","Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers","Rockingham County (Va.) -- History","Highland County (Va.) -- History","Virginia -- History, Local","Physicians -- Virginia -- Records and correspondence","Merchants -- Virginia -- Records and correspondence","Business records -- Virginia -- Sources","Ledgers (account books)","Letters (correspondence)","Family papers","Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.","The collection is arranged into four series. Series 1: Family Papers is arranged further into subseries.","Family Papers, 1873-1984 Photographs, 1923-1969 Community Organizations and Events, 1939-1998 Ephemera, 1913-2005","\"Attempted Suicide\" Highland Recorder . 1903 December 18. p.3.","Blair, Charles William. A History of Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church . Bridgewater Beacon Printing, Inc. Bridgewater, VA. 2000.","\"Edward A. Dudley\" Staunton News Leader . 1927 May 31. p.4.","\"History\" Kwangju Christian Hospital Website. Accessed 2012 Dec. 5. http://kch.or.kr/eng/history.html.","\"M.Dudley Rexrode\" Daily News-Record . 2006 January 30. p.10.","\"Nonagenarian Rexrode is Ruritans' Citizen of Year.\" Daily News-Record . 1995 October 23. p.16","\"Staunton Man Dies in Korea\" Daily News-Record . 1938 March 2. p.8.","The papers were acquired from the estate of Marshall Dudley Rexrode (1905-2006). Rexrode graduated from Bridgewater College and attended Virginia Tech. He was a prominent farmer and member of the community in Mt. Solon, Virginia. He was a charter member of the North River Ruritan Club and served as their treasurer for 45 years. Rexrode was an elder, deacon, and chairman of the board of trustees for Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church (a historic church established in 1768 in Augusta County). Rexrode was also the secretary-treasurer of the Rockingham County Land Bank Association and assistant secretary-treasurer of Staunton Production Credit Association. He served on the Augusta County Planning Commission three times. Additionally, he was director and president of the Augusta County Farm Bureau Federation, as well as director and president of the Augusta County Petroleum Co-op. His work on various boards, social organizations, and church related activities is evidence of his active community involvement.","Marshall Dudley Rexrode was in possession of his family's papers including those of his father, Dr. Charles Pinkey Rexrode (1871-1929), and his maternal grandfather, Edward Alexander Dudley (1850-1927), and Arthur B. Dudley (1870-1946). Charles P. Rexrode, M.D. was a physician and pharmacist in Crab Bottom, Highland County, Virginia (now Blue Grass, Virginia). The Highland Recorder contains references to Dr. Rexrode treating patients and making house calls during times of emergency. Edward A. Dudley was a prominent farmer and cattle raiser in Highland County and Augusta County, Virginia. Dudley was living in the Churchville area of Augusta County at the time of his death in May 1927.","Also included in this collection are photographs and correspondence relating to Marshall Dudley Rexrode's aunt, Mary Alberta Dudley Brand (1894-1973). Brand and her husband Dr. Louis Christian Brand were Presbyterian Missionaries in Korea from 1924-1938, during the time that Korea was occupied by Japan. Dr. Brand was a physician and third director of the Ellen-Lavine Graham Hospital (now the Kwangju Christian Hospital) in Kwangju, Korea, where he was devoted to the elimination of tuberculosis. The Brand's daughter, Mary Alice Brand Boyle 1924-2006), and son-in-law, Lewis Venable Boyle (1923-2005), are also documented in this collection.","In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in 2017-2018. This collection was previously cataloged as SC 5039. During this time, the collection was minimally reprocessed in order to simplify the arrangement and description, and rehoused to remove unnecessary oversize boxes. The collection was originally processed in 2012 and described in minute detail, often at the item-level (e.g. obituaries). Some of this description was retained. Description that was deemed irrelevant or superfluous was not retained during reprocessing. Photographs were grouped according to identifications made by the original processor and were housed in plastic sleeves. During reprocessing in 2019, the photographs were removed and housed in archival folders.","The Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers contain personal and financial records, photographs, and ephemera related to the Dudely and Rexrode families of Augusta County, Virginia, as well as the related Brand and Boyle families. Tax records, insurance records, and ledgers of family businesses, including C.P. Rexrode's medical practice and A.B and E.A. Dudley's agricultural business, are present. This collection also includes Rexrode, Dudley, and Brand family photographs including photographs of Virginia Tech and the Dudley-Brand family in Korea in the 1930s. Many are unidentified or presumed to be identified. Additionally, the collection contains documents related to community organizations including local ruritan clubs and the Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church in Mt. Solon, Virginia where M. Dudley Rexrode served as a deacon and elder. Printed ephemera in the collection includes a postcard with the label \"The summer resort of foreigner at Katsuma Peninsula (Korea),\" newspaper clippings of local interest articles and obituaries, and ticket stubs for Magic Kingdom and Disney World.","The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collection Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).","Personal papers and ledgers relating to the Dudley and Rexrode families of Augusta County, Virginia. Included in this collection are the receipts, invoices, and tax documents of Edward Alexander Dudley; ledgers from the practice and pharmacy of Dr. Charles Pinkey Rexrode; ledgers from the agricultural business of Arthur B. Dudley; family photographs; and documents from the Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church in Mt. Solon, Virginia.","James Madison University Libraries Special Collections","Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church (Mr. Solon, Va.) -- Records and correspondence","Dudley family","Rexrode family","Whetzel, Charlie, 1940-2021","Rexrode, M. Dudley (Marshall Dudley), 1905-2006","English"],"unitid_tesim":["SC 0213","/repositories/4/resources/552"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers"],"collection_title_tesim":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers"],"collection_ssim":["Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers"],"repository_ssm":["James Madison University"],"repository_ssim":["James Madison University"],"geogname_ssm":["Rockingham County (Va.) -- History","Highland County (Va.) -- History","Virginia -- History, Local"],"geogname_ssim":["Rockingham County (Va.) -- History","Highland County (Va.) -- History","Virginia -- History, Local"],"creator_ssm":["Dudley family","Rexrode family","Whetzel, Charlie, 1940-2021"],"creator_ssim":["Dudley family","Rexrode family","Whetzel, Charlie, 1940-2021"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Whetzel, Charlie, 1940-2021"],"creator_famname_ssim":["Dudley family","Rexrode family"],"creators_ssim":["Whetzel, Charlie, 1940-2021","Dudley family","Rexrode family"],"places_ssim":["Rockingham County (Va.) -- History","Highland County (Va.) -- History","Virginia -- History, Local"],"access_terms_ssm":["The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collection Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu)."],"acqinfo_ssim":["The materials in this collection were purchased by Special Collections at the March 24, 2008 estate sale of Marshall Dudley Rexrode. The sale took place in Mt. Solon, Virginia and was auctioneered by Charley Whetzel."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Physicians -- Virginia -- Records and correspondence","Merchants -- Virginia -- Records and correspondence","Business records -- Virginia -- Sources","Ledgers (account books)","Letters (correspondence)","Family papers"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Physicians -- Virginia -- Records and correspondence","Merchants -- Virginia -- Records and correspondence","Business records -- Virginia -- Sources","Ledgers (account books)","Letters (correspondence)","Family papers"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["1.26 cubic feet 4 boxes"],"extent_tesim":["1.26 cubic feet 4 boxes"],"genreform_ssim":["Ledgers (account books)","Letters (correspondence)","Family papers"],"date_range_isim":[1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985,1986,1987,1988,1989,1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCollection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is arranged into four series. Series 1: Family Papers is arranged further into subseries.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003clist numeration=\"arabic\" type=\"ordered\"\u003e\n \u003citem\u003eFamily Papers, 1873-1984\u003c/item\u003e\n \u003citem\u003ePhotographs, 1923-1969\u003c/item\u003e\n \u003citem\u003eCommunity Organizations and Events, 1939-1998\u003c/item\u003e\n \u003citem\u003eEphemera, 1913-2005\u003c/item\u003e\n \u003c/list\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement"],"arrangement_tesim":["The collection is arranged into four series. Series 1: Family Papers is arranged further into subseries.","Family Papers, 1873-1984 Photographs, 1923-1969 Community Organizations and Events, 1939-1998 Ephemera, 1913-2005"],"bibliography_html_tesm":["\u003cbibref\u003e\"Attempted Suicide\" \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eHighland Recorder\u003c/emph\u003e. 1903 December 18. p.3.\u003c/bibref\u003e","\u003cbibref\u003eBlair, Charles William. \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eA History of Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church\u003c/emph\u003e. Bridgewater Beacon Printing, Inc. Bridgewater, VA. 2000.\u003c/bibref\u003e","\u003cbibref\u003e\"Edward A. Dudley\" \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eStaunton News Leader\u003c/emph\u003e. 1927 May 31. p.4.\u003c/bibref\u003e","\u003cbibref\u003e\"History\" Kwangju Christian Hospital Website. Accessed 2012 Dec. 5. http://kch.or.kr/eng/history.html.\u003c/bibref\u003e","\u003cbibref\u003e\"M.Dudley Rexrode\" \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eDaily News-Record\u003c/emph\u003e. 2006 January 30. p.10.\u003c/bibref\u003e","\u003cbibref\u003e\"Nonagenarian Rexrode is Ruritans' Citizen of Year.\" \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eDaily News-Record\u003c/emph\u003e. 1995 October 23. p.16\u003c/bibref\u003e","\u003cbibref\u003e\"Staunton Man Dies in Korea\" \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eDaily News-Record\u003c/emph\u003e. 1938 March 2. p.8.\u003c/bibref\u003e"],"bibliography_heading_ssm":["Bibliography"],"bibliography_tesim":["\"Attempted Suicide\" Highland Recorder . 1903 December 18. p.3.","Blair, Charles William. A History of Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church . Bridgewater Beacon Printing, Inc. Bridgewater, VA. 2000.","\"Edward A. Dudley\" Staunton News Leader . 1927 May 31. p.4.","\"History\" Kwangju Christian Hospital Website. Accessed 2012 Dec. 5. http://kch.or.kr/eng/history.html.","\"M.Dudley Rexrode\" Daily News-Record . 2006 January 30. p.10.","\"Nonagenarian Rexrode is Ruritans' Citizen of Year.\" Daily News-Record . 1995 October 23. p.16","\"Staunton Man Dies in Korea\" Daily News-Record . 1938 March 2. p.8."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe papers were acquired from the estate of Marshall Dudley Rexrode (1905-2006). Rexrode graduated from Bridgewater College and attended Virginia Tech. He was a prominent farmer and member of the community in Mt. Solon, Virginia. He was a charter member of the North River Ruritan Club and served as their treasurer for 45 years. Rexrode was an elder, deacon, and chairman of the board of trustees for Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church (a historic church established in 1768 in Augusta County). Rexrode was also the secretary-treasurer of the Rockingham County Land Bank Association and assistant secretary-treasurer of Staunton Production Credit Association. He served on the Augusta County Planning Commission three times. Additionally, he was director and president of the Augusta County Farm Bureau Federation, as well as director and president of the Augusta County Petroleum Co-op. His work on various boards, social organizations, and church related activities is evidence of his active community involvement.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eMarshall Dudley Rexrode was in possession of his family's papers including those of his father, Dr. Charles Pinkey Rexrode (1871-1929), and his maternal grandfather, Edward Alexander Dudley (1850-1927), and Arthur B. Dudley (1870-1946). Charles P. Rexrode, M.D. was a physician and pharmacist in Crab Bottom, Highland County, Virginia (now Blue Grass, Virginia). The Highland Recorder contains references to Dr. Rexrode treating patients and making house calls during times of emergency. Edward A. Dudley was a prominent farmer and cattle raiser in Highland County and Augusta County, Virginia. Dudley was living in the Churchville area of Augusta County at the time of his death in May 1927.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlso included in this collection are photographs and correspondence relating to Marshall Dudley Rexrode's aunt, Mary Alberta Dudley Brand (1894-1973). Brand and her husband Dr. Louis Christian Brand were Presbyterian Missionaries in Korea from 1924-1938, during the time that Korea was occupied by Japan. Dr. Brand was a physician and third director of the Ellen-Lavine Graham Hospital (now the Kwangju Christian Hospital) in Kwangju, Korea, where he was devoted to the elimination of tuberculosis. The Brand's daughter, Mary Alice Brand Boyle 1924-2006), and son-in-law, Lewis Venable Boyle (1923-2005), are also documented in this collection.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Bio/Historical Note"],"bioghist_tesim":["The papers were acquired from the estate of Marshall Dudley Rexrode (1905-2006). Rexrode graduated from Bridgewater College and attended Virginia Tech. He was a prominent farmer and member of the community in Mt. Solon, Virginia. He was a charter member of the North River Ruritan Club and served as their treasurer for 45 years. Rexrode was an elder, deacon, and chairman of the board of trustees for Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church (a historic church established in 1768 in Augusta County). Rexrode was also the secretary-treasurer of the Rockingham County Land Bank Association and assistant secretary-treasurer of Staunton Production Credit Association. He served on the Augusta County Planning Commission three times. Additionally, he was director and president of the Augusta County Farm Bureau Federation, as well as director and president of the Augusta County Petroleum Co-op. His work on various boards, social organizations, and church related activities is evidence of his active community involvement.","Marshall Dudley Rexrode was in possession of his family's papers including those of his father, Dr. Charles Pinkey Rexrode (1871-1929), and his maternal grandfather, Edward Alexander Dudley (1850-1927), and Arthur B. Dudley (1870-1946). Charles P. Rexrode, M.D. was a physician and pharmacist in Crab Bottom, Highland County, Virginia (now Blue Grass, Virginia). The Highland Recorder contains references to Dr. Rexrode treating patients and making house calls during times of emergency. Edward A. Dudley was a prominent farmer and cattle raiser in Highland County and Augusta County, Virginia. Dudley was living in the Churchville area of Augusta County at the time of his death in May 1927.","Also included in this collection are photographs and correspondence relating to Marshall Dudley Rexrode's aunt, Mary Alberta Dudley Brand (1894-1973). Brand and her husband Dr. Louis Christian Brand were Presbyterian Missionaries in Korea from 1924-1938, during the time that Korea was occupied by Japan. Dr. Brand was a physician and third director of the Ellen-Lavine Graham Hospital (now the Kwangju Christian Hospital) in Kwangju, Korea, where he was devoted to the elimination of tuberculosis. The Brand's daughter, Mary Alice Brand Boyle 1924-2006), and son-in-law, Lewis Venable Boyle (1923-2005), are also documented in this collection."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers, SC 0213, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers, SC 0213, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eIn order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in 2017-2018. \u003cemph render=\"bold\"\u003eThis collection was previously cataloged as SC 5039.\u003c/emph\u003e During this time, the collection was minimally reprocessed in order to simplify the arrangement and description, and rehoused to remove unnecessary oversize boxes. The collection was originally processed in 2012 and described in minute detail, often at the item-level (e.g. obituaries). Some of this description was retained. Description that was deemed irrelevant or superfluous was not retained during reprocessing. Photographs were grouped according to identifications made by the original processor and were housed in plastic sleeves. During reprocessing in 2019, the photographs were removed and housed in archival folders.\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in 2017-2018. This collection was previously cataloged as SC 5039. During this time, the collection was minimally reprocessed in order to simplify the arrangement and description, and rehoused to remove unnecessary oversize boxes. The collection was originally processed in 2012 and described in minute detail, often at the item-level (e.g. obituaries). Some of this description was retained. Description that was deemed irrelevant or superfluous was not retained during reprocessing. Photographs were grouped according to identifications made by the original processor and were housed in plastic sleeves. During reprocessing in 2019, the photographs were removed and housed in archival folders."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers contain personal and financial records, photographs, and ephemera related to the Dudely and Rexrode families of Augusta County, Virginia, as well as the related Brand and Boyle families. Tax records, insurance records, and ledgers of family businesses, including C.P. Rexrode's medical practice and A.B and E.A. Dudley's agricultural business, are present. This collection also includes Rexrode, Dudley, and Brand family photographs including photographs of Virginia Tech and the Dudley-Brand family in Korea in the 1930s. Many are unidentified or presumed to be identified. Additionally, the collection contains documents related to community organizations including local ruritan clubs and the Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church in Mt. Solon, Virginia where M. Dudley Rexrode served as a deacon and elder. Printed ephemera in the collection includes a postcard with the label \"The summer resort of foreigner at Katsuma Peninsula (Korea),\" newspaper clippings of local interest articles and obituaries, and ticket stubs for Magic Kingdom and Disney World.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Dudley and Rexrode Family Papers contain personal and financial records, photographs, and ephemera related to the Dudely and Rexrode families of Augusta County, Virginia, as well as the related Brand and Boyle families. Tax records, insurance records, and ledgers of family businesses, including C.P. Rexrode's medical practice and A.B and E.A. Dudley's agricultural business, are present. This collection also includes Rexrode, Dudley, and Brand family photographs including photographs of Virginia Tech and the Dudley-Brand family in Korea in the 1930s. Many are unidentified or presumed to be identified. Additionally, the collection contains documents related to community organizations including local ruritan clubs and the Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church in Mt. Solon, Virginia where M. Dudley Rexrode served as a deacon and elder. Printed ephemera in the collection includes a postcard with the label \"The summer resort of foreigner at Katsuma Peninsula (Korea),\" newspaper clippings of local interest articles and obituaries, and ticket stubs for Magic Kingdom and Disney World."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collection Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collection Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu)."],"abstract_html_tesm":["\u003cabstract id=\"aspace_c13e03ea522acc67ad26287ff1de9f0c\"\u003ePersonal papers and ledgers relating to the Dudley and Rexrode families of Augusta County, Virginia. Included in this collection are the receipts, invoices, and tax documents of Edward Alexander Dudley; ledgers from the practice and pharmacy of Dr. Charles Pinkey Rexrode; ledgers from the agricultural business of Arthur B. Dudley; family photographs; and documents from the Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church in Mt. Solon, Virginia.\u003c/abstract\u003e"],"abstract_tesim":["Personal papers and ledgers relating to the Dudley and Rexrode families of Augusta County, Virginia. Included in this collection are the receipts, invoices, and tax documents of Edward Alexander Dudley; ledgers from the practice and pharmacy of Dr. Charles Pinkey Rexrode; ledgers from the agricultural business of Arthur B. Dudley; family photographs; and documents from the Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church in Mt. Solon, Virginia."],"names_coll_ssim":["Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church (Mr. Solon, Va.) -- Records and correspondence","Rexrode, M. Dudley (Marshall Dudley), 1905-2006","Whetzel, Charlie, 1940-2021"],"names_ssim":["James Madison University Libraries Special Collections","Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church (Mr. Solon, Va.) -- Records and correspondence","Dudley family","Rexrode family","Whetzel, Charlie, 1940-2021","Rexrode, M. Dudley (Marshall Dudley), 1905-2006"],"corpname_ssim":["James Madison University Libraries Special Collections","Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church (Mr. Solon, Va.) -- Records and correspondence"],"famname_ssim":["Dudley family","Rexrode family"],"persname_ssim":["Whetzel, Charlie, 1940-2021","Rexrode, M. Dudley (Marshall Dudley), 1905-2006"],"language_ssim":["English"],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":57,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:00:30.805Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vihart_repositories_4_resources_552_c01_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c05","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"E. General Manager; H. G. Merry, E. C.\n Means, J. P. Guernsey, F. U. Humbert. Also\n includes letters of H. M. Goodwin, managing\n director; and S. G. Cargill, assistant\n treasurer","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c05#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c05","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c05"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c17_c05","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","E. General Manager; H. G. Merry, E. C.\n Means, J. P. Guernsey, F. U. Humbert. Also\n includes letters of H. M. Goodwin, managing\n director; and S. G. Cargill, assistant\n treasurer","52 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"E. General Manager; H. G. Merry, E. C.\n Means, J. P. Guernsey, F. U. Humbert. Also\n includes letters of H. M. Goodwin, managing\n director; and S. G. Cargill, assistant\n treasurer","title_ssm":["E. General Manager; H. G. Merry, E. C.\n Means, J. P. Guernsey, F. U. Humbert. Also\n includes letters of H. M. Goodwin, managing\n director; and S. G. Cargill, assistant\n treasurer"],"title_tesim":["E. General Manager; H. G. Merry, E. C.\n Means, J. P. Guernsey, F. U. Humbert. Also\n includes letters of H. M. Goodwin, managing\n director; and S. G. Cargill, assistant\n treasurer"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1884-1915"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1884/1915"],"normalized_title_ssm":["E. General Manager; H. G. Merry, E. C.\n Means, J. P. Guernsey, F. U. Humbert. Also\n includes letters of H. M. Goodwin, managing\n director; and S. G. Cargill, assistant\n treasurer"],"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":["52 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":91,"date_range_isim":[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],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#16/components#4","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_c05"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c05","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"E. Low Moor Stock Receipts, 10, 11,\n 13-15","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c05#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c05","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c05"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c26_c05","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","E. Low Moor Stock Receipts, 10, 11,\n 13-15","5 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"E. Low Moor Stock Receipts, 10, 11,\n 13-15","title_ssm":["E. Low Moor Stock Receipts, 10, 11,\n 13-15"],"title_tesim":["E. Low Moor Stock Receipts, 10, 11,\n 13-15"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1898-1915"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1898/1915"],"normalized_title_ssm":["E. Low Moor Stock Receipts, 10, 11,\n 13-15"],"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":143,"date_range_isim":[1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#25/components#4","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_c05"}},{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01_c03","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"Elvira Carr Bentley Papers","abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01_c03#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"\u003cp\u003eBox 2, Folders 10-13\u003c/p\u003e","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01_c03#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01_c03","ref_ssm":["viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01_c03"],"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01_c03","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01","parent_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01","parent_ssim":["viw_repositories_2_resources_9037","viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viw_repositories_2_resources_9037","viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["John Boyd Bentley Papers","Series 1: Papers and Correspondence"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["John Boyd Bentley Papers","Series 1: Papers and Correspondence"],"text":["John Boyd Bentley Papers","Series 1: Papers and Correspondence","Elvira Carr Bentley Papers","Box 2, Folders 10-13"],"title_filing_ssi":"Elvira Carr Bentley Papers","title_ssm":["Elvira Carr Bentley Papers"],"title_tesim":["Elvira Carr Bentley Papers"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1895-1983"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1895/1983"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Elvira Carr Bentley Papers"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"collection_ssim":["John Boyd Bentley Papers"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":4,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":39,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"date_range_isim":[1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBox 2, Folders 10-13\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Box 2, Folders 10-13"],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#2","timestamp":"2026-04-30T22:04:21.945Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9037","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WM/repositories_2_resources_9037.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Bentley, John Boyd, Papers","title_ssm":["John Boyd Bentley Papers"],"title_tesim":["John Boyd Bentley Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1895-1987"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1895-1987"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Mss. 82 B44","/repositories/2/resources/9037"],"text":["Mss. 82 B44","/repositories/2/resources/9037","John Boyd Bentley Papers","Episcopal Church--Clergy","Episcopal Church--Missions","United States--Alaska--History","World War, 1914-1918","Correspondence","Diaries","Photographs","1042 items.","Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.","Organization: This collection is organized into 7 series. Series 1 contains papers and correspondence; Series 2 contains bound volumes and other related material; Series 3 contains photographs; Series 4 contains oversized material; Series 5 contains artifacts; Series 6 contains audio tapes; Series 7 contains the addition to the collection. Arrangement: This collection is arranged by chronologically by date. Series 1: Papers and Correspondence, is further divided into the following subseries: genealogical material, the papers of John Boyd Bentley, and the papers of Elvira Carr Bentley.","John Boyd Bentley was born in Hampton, Virginia 9 February 1896. He attended the College of William and Mary and served in the U. S. Field Artillery in World War I. Bentley attended the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia He served as an Episcopal clergyman in Alaska and in Williamsburg. He then served as Suffragan Bishop and Bishop of Alaska. From 1947 to 1964, Bentley was Director of Overseas Missions of the Episcopal Church. He died 12 June 1989."," Biography Timeline"," 1896, February 9 Born, Hampton, Virginia,son of Charles Headley Bentleyand Susan Elizabeth (Cake) Bentley"," 1915 Entered College of William and Mary(attended 1915-1916 and 1920-1921 but did not graduate)"," 1917 Entered service in U.S. Field Artillery"," 1921, May 28 Married Elvira Wentworth Carr(died, 1983)"," 1921 Attended Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia"," 1921-1925 Episcopal clergyman in Alaska"," 1926-1930 Episcopal clergyman in Williamsburg, Virginia"," 1931 Ordained Bishop in Denver, Colorado"," 1931-1942 Suffragan Bishop of Alaska"," 1942-1947 Bishop in charge of Alaska"," 1947-1964 Director of Overseas Missions of Episcopal Church"," 1964 Retired and moved to Hampton, Virginia"," 1964-1989 Episcopal minister in Diocese of Southern Virginia"," 1989, June 12 Died, Hampton, Virginia. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: .","Other Information:"," Additional information may be found at http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00058.frame","Processed by John Coski in 1987.","Audiocassettes from this collection have been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.","Personal and professional papers, 1896-1987, of Bishop John Boyd Bentley, Bishop of Alaska and Director of Overseas Missions for the Protestant Episcopal Church and personal papers, 1895-1983, of his wife Elvira Carr Bentley."," Includes comprehensive records of his ministerial career including records of his official acts and texts of sermons and invocations. There is some correspondence relating to Bentley's career, including letters from W. A. R. Goodwin (1869-1939), Rector of Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia; Peter Trimble Rowe (1856-1941), Bishop of Alaska; and Henry Knox Sherrill (1890-1980), President Bishop of the Episcopal Church."," There is material relating to Bentley's work in Alaska, including a series of letters to his wife, 1930-1937, describing his travels on the Alaskan frontier. The collection also includes a photograph collection as well as diaries, correspondence, and photographs which chronicle his tours of the Far East in 1949; a world tour, 1959-1960; and tours of Latin America, 1960-1961. \n \n There are audio-cassettes of his autobiography.","Artifacts transferred to the Manuscripts Artifact Collection (Mss. 1.03) include Alaskan Landscape Painting (82B44.A11)"," All audiovisual material from this collection has been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.","Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.","Special Collections Research Center","Bruton Parish Church (Williamsburg, Va.)","College of William and Mary--Alumni and alumnae","Bentley, John Boyd, 1896-1989","Bentley, Elvira Carr, d. 1983","Goodwin, William Archer Rutherfoord, 1869-1939","Sherrill, Henry Knox, Bp., 1890-","English"],"unitid_tesim":["Mss. 82 B44","/repositories/2/resources/9037"],"normalized_title_ssm":["John Boyd Bentley Papers"],"collection_title_tesim":["John Boyd Bentley Papers"],"collection_ssim":["John Boyd Bentley Papers"],"repository_ssm":["College of William and Mary"],"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"creator_ssm":["Bentley, John Boyd, 1896-1989","Bentley, Elvira Carr, d. 1983","Goodwin, William Archer Rutherfoord, 1869-1939","Sherrill, Henry Knox, Bp., 1890-"],"creator_ssim":["Bentley, John Boyd, 1896-1989","Bentley, Elvira Carr, d. 1983","Goodwin, William Archer Rutherfoord, 1869-1939","Sherrill, Henry Knox, Bp., 1890-"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Bentley, John Boyd, 1896-1989","Bentley, Elvira Carr, d. 1983","Goodwin, William Archer Rutherfoord, 1869-1939","Sherrill, Henry Knox, Bp., 1890-"],"creators_ssim":["Bentley, John Boyd, 1896-1989","Bentley, Elvira Carr, d. 1983","Goodwin, William Archer Rutherfoord, 1869-1939","Sherrill, Henry Knox, Bp., 1890-"],"access_terms_ssm":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"acqinfo_ssim":["Gift: Acc. No. 82-36; 5 items, 10/2/1982.Gift: Acc. No. 82-39; 310 items, 10/17/1982.Gift: Acc. No. 83-22; 350 items, 4/16/1983.Gift: Acc. No. 84-8; 15 items, 2/9/1984.Gift: Acc. No. 85-52; 350 items, 11/18/1985.Gift: Acc. No. 88-10; 2 items, 2/17/1988.Gift: Acc. No. 88-16; 9 items, 4/26/1988.Transferred: Acc. No. 94-90; 1 item, 12/21/1994."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Episcopal Church--Clergy","Episcopal Church--Missions","United States--Alaska--History","World War, 1914-1918","Correspondence","Diaries","Photographs"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Episcopal Church--Clergy","Episcopal Church--Missions","United States--Alaska--History","World War, 1914-1918","Correspondence","Diaries","Photographs"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["1042 items."],"extent_ssm":["2.50 Linear Feet"],"extent_tesim":["2.50 Linear Feet"],"genreform_ssim":["Correspondence","Diaries","Photographs"],"date_range_isim":[1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985,1986,1987],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCollection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access:"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eOrganization: This collection is organized into 7 series. Series 1 contains papers and correspondence; Series 2 contains bound volumes and other related material; Series 3 contains photographs; Series 4 contains oversized material; Series 5 contains artifacts; Series 6 contains audio tapes; Series 7 contains the addition to the collection. Arrangement: This collection is arranged by chronologically by date. Series 1: Papers and Correspondence, is further divided into the following subseries: genealogical material, the papers of John Boyd Bentley, and the papers of Elvira Carr Bentley.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement of Materials:"],"arrangement_tesim":["Organization: This collection is organized into 7 series. Series 1 contains papers and correspondence; Series 2 contains bound volumes and other related material; Series 3 contains photographs; Series 4 contains oversized material; Series 5 contains artifacts; Series 6 contains audio tapes; Series 7 contains the addition to the collection. Arrangement: This collection is arranged by chronologically by date. Series 1: Papers and Correspondence, is further divided into the following subseries: genealogical material, the papers of John Boyd Bentley, and the papers of Elvira Carr Bentley."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eJohn Boyd Bentley was born in Hampton, Virginia 9 February 1896. He attended the College of William and Mary and served in the U. S. Field Artillery in World War I. Bentley attended the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia He served as an Episcopal clergyman in Alaska and in Williamsburg. He then served as Suffragan Bishop and Bishop of Alaska. From 1947 to 1964, Bentley was Director of Overseas Missions of the Episcopal Church. He died 12 June 1989.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e Biography Timeline\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1896, February 9 Born, Hampton, Virginia,son of Charles Headley Bentleyand Susan Elizabeth (Cake) Bentley\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1915 Entered College of William and Mary(attended 1915-1916 and 1920-1921 but did not graduate)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1917 Entered service in U.S. Field Artillery\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1921, May 28 Married Elvira Wentworth Carr(died, 1983)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1921 Attended Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1921-1925 Episcopal clergyman in Alaska\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1926-1930 Episcopal clergyman in Williamsburg, Virginia\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1931 Ordained Bishop in Denver, Colorado\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1931-1942 Suffragan Bishop of Alaska\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1942-1947 Bishop in charge of Alaska\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1947-1964 Director of Overseas Missions of Episcopal Church\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1964 Retired and moved to Hampton, Virginia\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1964-1989 Episcopal minister in Diocese of Southern Virginia\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e 1989, June 12 Died, Hampton, Virginia. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: \u003cextref href=\"http://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/John_Boyd_Bentley\" title=\"John Boyd Bentley\"\u003e\u003c/extref\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Information:"],"bioghist_tesim":["John Boyd Bentley was born in Hampton, Virginia 9 February 1896. He attended the College of William and Mary and served in the U. S. Field Artillery in World War I. Bentley attended the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia He served as an Episcopal clergyman in Alaska and in Williamsburg. He then served as Suffragan Bishop and Bishop of Alaska. From 1947 to 1964, Bentley was Director of Overseas Missions of the Episcopal Church. He died 12 June 1989."," Biography Timeline"," 1896, February 9 Born, Hampton, Virginia,son of Charles Headley Bentleyand Susan Elizabeth (Cake) Bentley"," 1915 Entered College of William and Mary(attended 1915-1916 and 1920-1921 but did not graduate)"," 1917 Entered service in U.S. Field Artillery"," 1921, May 28 Married Elvira Wentworth Carr(died, 1983)"," 1921 Attended Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia"," 1921-1925 Episcopal clergyman in Alaska"," 1926-1930 Episcopal clergyman in Williamsburg, Virginia"," 1931 Ordained Bishop in Denver, Colorado"," 1931-1942 Suffragan Bishop of Alaska"," 1942-1947 Bishop in charge of Alaska"," 1947-1964 Director of Overseas Missions of Episcopal Church"," 1964 Retired and moved to Hampton, Virginia"," 1964-1989 Episcopal minister in Diocese of Southern Virginia"," 1989, June 12 Died, Hampton, Virginia. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: ."],"odd_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eOther Information:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e Additional information may be found at http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00058.frame\u003c/p\u003e"],"odd_heading_ssm":["General"],"odd_tesim":["Other Information:"," Additional information may be found at http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00058.frame"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eJohn Boyd Bentley Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["John Boyd Bentley Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eProcessed by John Coski in 1987.\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information:"],"processinfo_tesim":["Processed by John Coski in 1987."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eAudiocassettes from this collection have been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Materials:"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["Audiocassettes from this collection have been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePersonal and professional papers, 1896-1987, of Bishop John Boyd Bentley, Bishop of Alaska and Director of Overseas Missions for the Protestant Episcopal Church and personal papers, 1895-1983, of his wife Elvira Carr Bentley.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e Includes comprehensive records of his ministerial career including records of his official acts and texts of sermons and invocations. There is some correspondence relating to Bentley's career, including letters from W. A. R. Goodwin (1869-1939), Rector of Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia; Peter Trimble Rowe (1856-1941), Bishop of Alaska; and Henry Knox Sherrill (1890-1980), President Bishop of the Episcopal Church.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e There is material relating to Bentley's work in Alaska, including a series of letters to his wife, 1930-1937, describing his travels on the Alaskan frontier. The collection also includes a photograph collection as well as diaries, correspondence, and photographs which chronicle his tours of the Far East in 1949; a world tour, 1959-1960; and tours of Latin America, 1960-1961. \n \n There are audio-cassettes of his autobiography.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Personal and professional papers, 1896-1987, of Bishop John Boyd Bentley, Bishop of Alaska and Director of Overseas Missions for the Protestant Episcopal Church and personal papers, 1895-1983, of his wife Elvira Carr Bentley."," Includes comprehensive records of his ministerial career including records of his official acts and texts of sermons and invocations. There is some correspondence relating to Bentley's career, including letters from W. A. R. Goodwin (1869-1939), Rector of Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia; Peter Trimble Rowe (1856-1941), Bishop of Alaska; and Henry Knox Sherrill (1890-1980), President Bishop of the Episcopal Church."," There is material relating to Bentley's work in Alaska, including a series of letters to his wife, 1930-1937, describing his travels on the Alaskan frontier. The collection also includes a photograph collection as well as diaries, correspondence, and photographs which chronicle his tours of the Far East in 1949; a world tour, 1959-1960; and tours of Latin America, 1960-1961. \n \n There are audio-cassettes of his autobiography."],"separatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eArtifacts transferred to the Manuscripts Artifact Collection (Mss. 1.03) include Alaskan Landscape Painting (82B44.A11)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e All audiovisual material from this collection has been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.\u003c/p\u003e"],"separatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Separated Materials:"],"separatedmaterial_tesim":["Artifacts transferred to the Manuscripts Artifact Collection (Mss. 1.03) include Alaskan Landscape Painting (82B44.A11)"," All audiovisual material from this collection has been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBefore reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use:"],"userestrict_tesim":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"names_coll_ssim":["Bruton Parish Church (Williamsburg, Va.)","College of William and Mary--Alumni and alumnae"],"names_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Bruton Parish Church (Williamsburg, Va.)","College of William and Mary--Alumni and alumnae","Bentley, John Boyd, 1896-1989","Bentley, Elvira Carr, d. 1983","Goodwin, William Archer Rutherfoord, 1869-1939","Sherrill, Henry Knox, Bp., 1890-"],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Bruton Parish Church (Williamsburg, Va.)","College of William and Mary--Alumni and alumnae"],"persname_ssim":["Bentley, John Boyd, 1896-1989","Bentley, Elvira Carr, d. 1983","Goodwin, William Archer Rutherfoord, 1869-1939","Sherrill, Henry Knox, Bp., 1890-"],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":111,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T22:04:21.945Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_9037_c01_c03"}},{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02_c04","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"Ephemera and Memorabilia","abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02_c04#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"\u003cp\u003eScope and Contents Material from both the personal and professional lives of William C. and Elizabeth Stubbs. Includes invitations, newsletters, programs, menus, pamphlets, flyers and newspapers.\u003c/p\u003e","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02_c04#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02_c04","ref_ssm":["viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02_c04"],"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02_c04","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02","parent_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02","parent_ssim":["viw_repositories_2_resources_8973","viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viw_repositories_2_resources_8973","viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)","Family Papers"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)","Family Papers"],"text":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)","Family Papers","Ephemera and Memorabilia","Scope and Contents Material from both the personal and professional lives of William C. and Elizabeth Stubbs.  Includes invitations, newsletters, programs, menus, pamphlets, flyers and newspapers."],"title_filing_ssi":"Ephemera and Memorabilia","title_ssm":["Ephemera and Memorabilia"],"title_tesim":["Ephemera and Memorabilia"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1856-1936"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1856/1936"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Ephemera and Memorabilia"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"collection_ssim":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":1,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":616,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Collection is open to all researchers. Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Manuscripts and Rare Books Librarian, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"date_range_isim":[1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eScope and Contents Material from both the personal and professional lives of William C. and Elizabeth Stubbs.  Includes invitations, newsletters, programs, menus, pamphlets, flyers and newspapers.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Scope and Contents Material from both the personal and professional lives of William C. and Elizabeth Stubbs.  Includes invitations, newsletters, programs, menus, pamphlets, flyers and newspapers."],"_nest_path_":"/components#1/components#3","timestamp":"2026-04-30T22:05:34.019Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8973","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WM/repositories_2_resources_8973.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Stubbs, William Carter (I)","title_ssm":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)"],"title_tesim":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)"],"unitdate_ssm":["1832-1936"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1832-1936"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["01/Mss. 39.1 St8","/repositories/2/resources/8973"],"text":["01/Mss. 39.1 St8","/repositories/2/resources/8973","William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)","Alabama--History","Gloucester County (Va.)--Genealogy.","New Orleans (La.)","Genealogy","Gloucester County (Va.)--History","Jamestown Ter-centennial Exposition (1907)","Real estate business--Alabama.","Real estate management","Soil and crop management","Sugar growing--Louisiana.","Correspondence","Financial records","Notebooks","Receipts (financial records)","Collection is open to all researchers. Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Manuscripts and Rare Books Librarian, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."," William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia. He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.\n\n ","Administrative History: William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana.   He was the Executive Commissioner of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition Commission for the State of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia.  He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.\n\n ","William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia. He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.","William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana.   He was the Executive Commissioner of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition Commission for the State of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia.  He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.","Unprocessed material processed and added to finding aid in 2016.","See also William Carter Stubbs Papers (II), William Carter Stubbs Scrapbook, and the Thomas Jefferson Stubbs Papers, all at Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.","Mostly correspondence of and genealogical data, chiefly 1860-1923, collected by William Carter Stubbs and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair Stubbs. Also includes correspondence from members of the Stubbs, Saunders and Blair families; accounts and correspondence relating to his farm \"Valley Front\" in Gloucester County, Va. and his Alabama farm; his notes on soil and chemical experiments; papers concerning the Louisiana exhibit at Jamestown Tercentennial, 1907; and papers of Elizabeth Saunders Blair Stubbs and Mary Louise Saunders Blair.  Over 8000 items.","Special Collections Research Center","Blair family","Saunders family","Stubbs family","English"],"unitid_tesim":["01/Mss. 39.1 St8","/repositories/2/resources/8973"],"normalized_title_ssm":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)"],"collection_title_tesim":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)"],"collection_ssim":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I)"],"repository_ssm":["College of William and Mary"],"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"geogname_ssm":["Alabama--History","Gloucester County (Va.)--Genealogy.","New Orleans (La.)"],"geogname_ssim":["Alabama--History","Gloucester County (Va.)--Genealogy.","New Orleans (La.)"],"places_ssim":["Alabama--History","Gloucester County (Va.)--Genealogy.","New Orleans (La.)"],"acqinfo_ssim":["Purchase."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Genealogy","Gloucester County (Va.)--History","Jamestown Ter-centennial Exposition (1907)","Real estate business--Alabama.","Real estate management","Soil and crop management","Sugar growing--Louisiana.","Correspondence","Financial records","Notebooks","Receipts (financial records)"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Genealogy","Gloucester County (Va.)--History","Jamestown Ter-centennial Exposition (1907)","Real estate business--Alabama.","Real estate management","Soil and crop management","Sugar growing--Louisiana.","Correspondence","Financial records","Notebooks","Receipts (financial records)"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["16.00 Linear Feet"],"extent_tesim":["16.00 Linear Feet"],"genreform_ssim":["Correspondence","Financial records","Notebooks","Receipts (financial records)"],"date_range_isim":[1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCollection is open to all researchers. Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Manuscripts and Rare Books Librarian, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access:"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Collection is open to all researchers. Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Manuscripts and Rare Books Librarian, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cbioghist altrender=\"Biographical Information\" encodinganalog=\"545$a\"\u003e William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia. He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.\n\n \u003c/bioghist\u003e","\u003cbioghist altrender=\"Administrative History\" encodinganalog=\"545$b\"\u003e \u003chead\u003eAdministrative History:\u003c/head\u003e William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana.   He was the Executive Commissioner of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition Commission for the State of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia.  He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.\n\n \u003c/bioghist\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWilliam Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia. He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWilliam Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana.   He was the Executive Commissioner of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition Commission for the State of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia.  He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical","Biographical Information:","Administrative History:"],"bioghist_tesim":[" William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia. He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.\n\n ","Administrative History: William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana.   He was the Executive Commissioner of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition Commission for the State of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia.  He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.\n\n ","William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia. He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924.","William Carter Stubbs was a native of Gloucester County, Va. In 1872, he became professor of chemistry at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Auburn University) and six years later, state chemist of Alabama. He married Elizabeth Saunders Blair. In 1885, Stubbs was made director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, New Orleans. He later became state chemist and geologist of Louisiana.   He was the Executive Commissioner of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition Commission for the State of Louisiana. He operated a rental/mortgage business in Alabama and helped with the Stubbs Family businesses in Sassafras, Gloucester County, Virginia.  He and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair, were genealogists and published books on their families. Stubbs died in 1924."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eWilliam Carter Stubbs Papers (I), Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["William Carter Stubbs Papers (I), Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eUnprocessed material processed and added to finding aid in 2016.\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information:"],"processinfo_tesim":["Unprocessed material processed and added to finding aid in 2016."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee also William Carter Stubbs Papers (II), William Carter Stubbs Scrapbook, and the Thomas Jefferson Stubbs Papers, all at Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Materials:"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["See also William Carter Stubbs Papers (II), William Carter Stubbs Scrapbook, and the Thomas Jefferson Stubbs Papers, all at Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eMostly correspondence of and genealogical data, chiefly 1860-1923, collected by William Carter Stubbs and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair Stubbs. Also includes correspondence from members of the Stubbs, Saunders and Blair families; accounts and correspondence relating to his farm \"Valley Front\" in Gloucester County, Va. and his Alabama farm; his notes on soil and chemical experiments; papers concerning the Louisiana exhibit at Jamestown Tercentennial, 1907; and papers of Elizabeth Saunders Blair Stubbs and Mary Louise Saunders Blair.  Over 8000 items.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Mostly correspondence of and genealogical data, chiefly 1860-1923, collected by William Carter Stubbs and his wife, Elizabeth Saunders Blair Stubbs. Also includes correspondence from members of the Stubbs, Saunders and Blair families; accounts and correspondence relating to his farm \"Valley Front\" in Gloucester County, Va. and his Alabama farm; his notes on soil and chemical experiments; papers concerning the Louisiana exhibit at Jamestown Tercentennial, 1907; and papers of Elizabeth Saunders Blair Stubbs and Mary Louise Saunders Blair.  Over 8000 items."],"names_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Blair family","Saunders family","Stubbs family"],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center"],"names_coll_ssim":["Blair family","Saunders family","Stubbs family"],"famname_ssim":["Blair family","Saunders family","Stubbs family"],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":728,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T22:05:34.019Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_8973_c02_c04"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c05","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"E. Shipments-General","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c05#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c05","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c05"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c05","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","E. Shipments-General","24 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"E. Shipments-General","title_ssm":["E. Shipments-General"],"title_tesim":["E. Shipments-General"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1883-1920"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1883/1920"],"normalized_title_ssm":["E. Shipments-General"],"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":["24 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":55,"date_range_isim":[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],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#11/components#4","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_c05"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c05","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"E. Store","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c05#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c05","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c05"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c05","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c13"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c13"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Journals"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Journals"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Journals","E. Store","3 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"E. Store","title_ssm":["E. Store"],"title_tesim":["E. Store"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1883-1911"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1883/1911"],"normalized_title_ssm":["E. Store"],"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":["3 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":63,"date_range_isim":[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],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#12/components#4","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_c13_c05"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c15_c05","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"E. Store","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c15_c05#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c15_c05","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c15_c05"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c15_c05","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c15","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c15","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c15"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c15"],"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","E. Store","3 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"E. Store","title_ssm":["E. Store"],"title_tesim":["E. Store"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1883-1911"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1883/1911"],"normalized_title_ssm":["E. Store"],"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":["3 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":77,"date_range_isim":[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],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#14/components#4","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_c15_c05"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c05","type":"Subseries","attributes":{"title":"E. Store #5","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c05#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c05","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c05"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c10_c05","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","E. Store #5","15 volumes"],"title_filing_ssi":"E. Store #5","title_ssm":["E. Store #5"],"title_tesim":["E. Store #5"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1904-1916"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1904/1916"],"normalized_title_ssm":["E. Store #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":["15 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Subseries"],"level_ssim":["Subseries"],"sort_isi":39,"date_range_isim":[1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#9/components#4","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_c05"}}],"included":[{"type":"facet","id":"repository_ssim","attributes":{"label":"Repository","items":[{"attributes":{"label":"Alexandria Library","value":"Alexandria Library","hits":7},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1909\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Subseries\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=Alexandria+Library"}},{"attributes":{"label":"College of William and Mary","value":"College of William and 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