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Robinson and Principals Architectural Records, 1855/2012","MSS 16518","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/3/resources/1030","Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- Designs and plans","Architecture, Domestic -- Designs and plans.","Architects and community -- Virginia.","Architects -- Virginia.","Blueprints (reprographic copies)","architectural drawings (visual works)","design drawings","This collection is open for research.","Some of the architectural works are brittle or torn and need to be handled delicately.","Photographic materials need to be handled with proper gloves.","Please note, part of this collection is housed at Ivy Stacks, an off-site storage facility. Requests for materials housed at Ivy Stacks require at least 72 hours' notice.","Folder 93 (drawings for Commission No. 15400) is a custom made oversized folder made from stiff board, and requires specific handling instructions. These instructions are also found on the folder.","To view the drawings untie the knots of the ribbons found on the sides of the folder. After opening the folder, untie knotted ribbon that holds the interior board in place, and then remove the board.","After viewing, place the interior board white side down on top of the curled edge before closing the folder to prevent the blueprint from curling. Then tie horizontal ribbon so the interior board sandwiches the blueprints tightly. Please make sure the blueprint doesn't curl on itself before closing the top flap. Finally, tie the exterior ribbons at the sides of the folder.","This collection has been minimally processed and is available for research. Please note, part of this collection is housed at Ivy Stacks, an off-site storage facility. Requests for materials housed at Ivy Stacks require at least 72 hours' notice.","Due the physical condition of this item, it is housed in a custom made oversized folder made from stiff board, and requires specific handling instructions. These instructions are also found on the folder.","To view the drawings untie the knots of the ribbons found on the sides of the folder. After opening the folder, untie knotted ribbon that holds the interior board in place, and then remove the board.","After viewing, place the interior board white side down on top of the curled edge before closing the folder to prevent the blueprint from curling. Then tie horizontal ribbon so the interior board sandwiches the blueprints tightly. Please make sure the blueprint doesn't curl on itself before closing the top flap. Finally, tie the exterior ribbons at the sides of the folder.","The collection is arranged into four main series:","Series 1 - Charles M. Robinson records, 1978, 2020, undated","Series 2 - Office records, 1935-1992, undated","Series 3 - Architectural drawings, 1907-2012","Series 4 - Project photograph files, 1855-1999, undated","Series 2 and 4 are further arranged into large files, and Series 3 is arranged first into subseries, then into files.","The files in Series 2, Office records, are arranged accoring to the significance of the documents to the firm's operations.","In Series 3, Architectural drawings, the subseries are named after each decade, beginning with 1900s and ending with the 2010s. The files below these subseries are project titles arranged in general chronological order grouped together by year.","The files in Series 4, Project photograph files, are arranged alphabetically.","Charles Morrison Robinson was born on March 3, 1867, in Hamilton, Loudoun County, Virginia. He was the eldest son of architect and builder James T. Robinson and Elizabeth Crockett Robinson. His family relocated to Welland, Ontario, where he completed his early schooling before beginning architectural training under D.S. Hopkins in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and John K. Peebles in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1889, he formed his first partnership—Smith \u0026 Robinson—in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He married Annie Custer in 1891, and their son, Charles Custer Robinson, was born two years later.","Following years of practice in Pennsylvania, including partnerships with George T. Smith, R.B. Crockett, and George Winkler, Robinson returned to Virginia in 1906, establishing Charles M. Robinson, Architect in Richmond. Robinson became a leading designer for a future comprehensive statewide public school system mandated by Virginia's 1902 Constitution.","Between 1906 and 1932, Robinson's practice produced plans for more than 400 public schools and many university buildings, including commissions in Richmond, Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, and dozens of rural counties. Robinson's standardized plans were paired with styles ranging from Arts \u0026 Crafts to Collegiate Gothic, Spanish Revival, and Art Deco. His schools featured ample light, logical circulation, and adaptable common spaces.","In 1908 he won the commission to design the campus of the State Normal School at Harrisonburg, now James Madison University, designing its first seven buildings and subsequent expansions through 1928. He designed foundational campuses for the institutions now known as the University of Mary Washington, Radford University, and Virginia State University, and oversaw more than sixty major projects for the College of William \u0026 Mary between 1921 and 1931, including the Sunken Garden and numerous residence halls, academic buildings, and the George Preston Blow Gymnasium.","His practice also extended beyond education. In 1918 he designed the tuberculosis sanitariums (sanatoriums) at Catawba, Burkeville, and Charlottesville for the Virginia State Board of Health. In Richmond, he designed civic and commercial structures, including the Times-Dispatch Building, Stuart Circle Hospital, Grace Hospital, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, the Sunday School Building at Ginter Park Methodist Church, and (in partnership with his former apprentice Marcellus Wright, Sr.) the ACCA Shriner Mosque—today the Altria Theater. Residentially, his Laburnum Court development introduced an early twentieth-century model of middle-class housing arranged around a landscaped central park.","By the 1920s, Robinson had expanded his firm to include his son Charles Custer Robinson, Benjamin A. Ruffin, and John Binford Walford, who became partners in Charles M. Robinson, Architects in 1922. Although Robinson retired to his farm in Hampton in 1926, he remained professionally active, producing drawings at home and visiting construction sites. Robinson died on August 20, 1932, at age 66 in a Norfolk hospital, and the firm was formally dissolved the following day.","The practice he founded continued through multiple generations of architects, evolving through successive names—J. Binford Walford, Architect (1932–1946); Walford \u0026 Wright (1946–1962); Wright, Jones \u0026 Wilkerson (1962–1991); Wright, Jones, Wilkerson, Rothschild \u0026 Boynton (1991–1994); and finally Boynton, Rothschild, Rowland (1994–2020). The firm remained active for more than a century before being acquired in 2020.","Reference List:","Arlington County Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board. (2008, September). Historic District Designation Form. Arlington County Register of Historic Places. https://www.arlingtonva.us/files/sharedassets/public/v/1/projects/documents/wraps_localhistoricdistrictdesignation_wilsonschool_2009.pdf","Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA. (1932, August 22). Charles M. Robinson Prominent Architect, Dies; Burial Today. Newspapers.com by Ancestry. https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-charles-m-robinson-prominen/166469428/","Loth, C. (1999). The Virginia Landmarks Register. The University Press of Virginia. https://books.google.com/booksid=NJa_64aH1iMC\u0026q=charles+robinson#v=onepage\u0026q=charles%20robinson\u0026f=false","Morgan, S.W. (2019, September 24). Virginia's Unsung Architect. Richmond Magazine. https://richmondmagazine.com/home/latest/charles-robinson-branch-museum/","Moyer, L. (n.d.). Halls of History. University of Mary Washington Magazine. https://magazine.umw.edu/spring2013/features/halls-of-history/","Preservation Durham. (n.d.). Robinson, Charles M. Open Durham from Preservation Durham. https://www.opendurham.org/people/robinson-charles-m","Robinson, D.B. (n.d.). Charles M. Robinson: A Virginia Architectural History. https://www.charlesmrobinson.com/index.html","United States Department of the Interior National Park Service. (1992, October 31). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form. Internet rchive Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20101111233435/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/MultipleCounty/127-0845_PublicSchoolsinRichmondMPS_NPS_final.pdf","Winthrop, R.P. (2015, January 27). Architects of Richmond: Charles M. Robinson. Architecture Richmond. https://architecturerichmond.com/architects-of-richmond-charles-m-robinson/","CONTENT WARNING:\nThis material contains offensive or harmful language. This material contains references to outdated terminology for African Americans, as well as for Native Americans. The terms \"Colored\" and Negro\", in commom parlance when the drawings were created, are used throughout the architectural drawings to refer to Black people. The term \"Indian\" is also used to refer to Native Americans. These terms are primarily found in the titles of architectural drawings. Titles remain as they were found for historical context. The purpose of this note is to give users the opportunity to decide whether they need or want to view these materials, or at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials.","Some items in this collection sustained damage from pests and/or mold prior to coming to the Library. Preservation staff has frozen and stabilized the items to prevent further damage from pests or mold and cleaned the items to facilitate handling. 10/20/23","The commission number for this set of drawings is the same as the number for the \"John W. Daniel School, Newport News Schools, VA, 1913\" drawings. However, there is no indication of the projects being related.","The commission number for this set of drawings is the same as the number for the \"Eastville High School, Northampton County, VA, 1913\" drawings. However, there is no indication of the projects being related.","The Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records consist of materials about Charles M. Robinson, and the office records, architectural and design plans, and project photograph files of the Charles M. Robinson, Architect firm and successor firms. The materials document the business operations of the firms, as well as their role in developing the city of Richmond, VA, and in developing various institutions and organizations across the state of Virginia. The works in this collection also demonstrate the significance of the firm's activities on communities in these areas. It is divided into four series.","Series 1, Charles M. Robinson Files (1978, 2020, undated; 1 folder), includes copies of documents about Charles M. Robinson, such as a copy of his Architecture License. There is also a copy of a short essay about Robinson's role in the construction of the ACCA Shrine, now known as the Altria Theater.","Series 2, Office records (circa 1935-1992, undated; 18 folders), includes office records, which are arranged in decreasing order of their significance/functionality to the firm's operations. Most notably are the lists of commissions, index to the architectural drawings, and the commission notes. These records cover the majority of the timeline following Robinson's death.","Series 3, Architectural drawings (1907-2012, undated; 3 oversized boxes, 93 flat file folders, 4 tubes, 1457 tube boxes), the largest part of this collection, consists of the firm's architectural drawings and design plans, as well as the drawings and plans Robinson created in his role as the official school board architect for several cities and counties in Virginia, and as an architect for the Virginia State Board of Health. They span more than a century beginning in 1907 and ending in 2012 and represent over 1600 projects.","Included are drawings, designs, and plans for educational institutions, hospitals, churches, offices, retail stores, private residences, and plots across the state of Virginia. The series also includes topographic maps and site studies. There are original designs, proposed designs, voided designs, additions, alterations, and renovations. The designs are comprehensive, and include work on interiors and exteriors, plumbing and ventilation systems, and landscape works.","Primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in locations across Virginia are very well represented by the plans in this collection. More well-known post-secondary educational institutions include the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Raford University, University of Mary Washington, George Mason University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. However, the number of primary and secondary schools represented in the collection is even greater.","Of particular significance are the designs and plans the firm created for educational institutions for students from underrepresented, historically oppressed, and marginalized groups. These include the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, the Virginia State University, the nation's first fully-state supported four-year post-secondary learning institution for Black Americans, and the HBCUs Norfolk State University and Virginia Union University.","The works that Robinson completed as an architect for the Virginia State Board of Health include plans and designs for the Catawba, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont Tuberculosis sanitoriums (rehabilitation center, hospice, etc.). Robinson's work in this role also affected the lives of people from underrepresented groups, as the Piedmont institution was developed specifically for the care of Black residents of Virginia.","Series 4, Project photograph files (circa 1855-1999, undated; 9 boxes, 15 folders), includes many of the project photograph files from the architectural firm. Although there are some items from Robinson's time with the firm, the large majority are dated and document the projects from after his death on August 20, 1932. The photograph file index introduces the rest of the series, which includes prints, negatives, photo documentation from John Binford Walford and Oscar Pendleton Wright's photograph albums, and undated presentation photos.","Dates: 1907 – 2012, bulk date 1907-1995","This series consists of architectural rolls that contain drawings, designs, and plans of educational institutions, hospitals, churches, offices, retail stores, and private residences across the state of Virginia. The series also includes rolls that hold topographic maps, plot and general layouts, and site studies. The drawings comprise original designs, proposed designs, voided designs, additions, alterations, and renovations. The designs are comprehensive, and include work on interiors and exteriors, plumbing and ventilation systems, and landscape works. For a detailed inventory of the drawings, please see the Charles M. Robinson architectural records drawing inventory in the External Documents field.","This collection contains some in-copyright material. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page (https://www.library.virginia.edu/special-collections/services/publishing) for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials.","Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library","Robinson","Robinson, Charles M. (Morrison), 1867-1932","Charles Morrison Robinson","James T. Robinson","Elizabeth Crockett Robinson","D.S. Hopkins","John K. Peebles","Annie Custer","Charles Custer Robinson","George T. Smith","R.B. Crockett","George Winkler","Benjamin A. Ruffin","John Binford Walford","English"],"collection_title_tesim":["Charles M. 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Finally, tie the exterior ribbons at the sides of the folder.\u003c/p\u003e ","\u003cp\u003eThis collection has been minimally processed and is available for research. Please note, part of this collection is housed at Ivy Stacks, an off-site storage facility. Requests for materials housed at Ivy Stacks require at least 72 hours' notice.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDue the physical condition of this item, it is housed in a custom made oversized folder made from stiff board, and requires specific handling instructions. These instructions are also found on the folder.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eTo view the drawings untie the knots of the ribbons found on the sides of the folder. After opening the folder, untie knotted ribbon that holds the interior board in place, and then remove the board.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAfter viewing, place the interior board white side down on top of the curled edge before closing the folder to prevent the blueprint from curling. Then tie horizontal ribbon so the interior board sandwiches the blueprints tightly. Please make sure the blueprint doesn't curl on itself before closing the top flap. Finally, tie the exterior ribbons at the sides of the folder.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access","Physical Access","Conditions Governing Access","Physical Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["This collection is open for research.","Some of the architectural works are brittle or torn and need to be handled delicately.","Photographic materials need to be handled with proper gloves.","Please note, part of this collection is housed at Ivy Stacks, an off-site storage facility. Requests for materials housed at Ivy Stacks require at least 72 hours' notice.","Folder 93 (drawings for Commission No. 15400) is a custom made oversized folder made from stiff board, and requires specific handling instructions. These instructions are also found on the folder.","To view the drawings untie the knots of the ribbons found on the sides of the folder. After opening the folder, untie knotted ribbon that holds the interior board in place, and then remove the board.","After viewing, place the interior board white side down on top of the curled edge before closing the folder to prevent the blueprint from curling. Then tie horizontal ribbon so the interior board sandwiches the blueprints tightly. Please make sure the blueprint doesn't curl on itself before closing the top flap. Finally, tie the exterior ribbons at the sides of the folder.","This collection has been minimally processed and is available for research. Please note, part of this collection is housed at Ivy Stacks, an off-site storage facility. Requests for materials housed at Ivy Stacks require at least 72 hours' notice.","Due the physical condition of this item, it is housed in a custom made oversized folder made from stiff board, and requires specific handling instructions. These instructions are also found on the folder.","To view the drawings untie the knots of the ribbons found on the sides of the folder. After opening the folder, untie knotted ribbon that holds the interior board in place, and then remove the board.","After viewing, place the interior board white side down on top of the curled edge before closing the folder to prevent the blueprint from curling. Then tie horizontal ribbon so the interior board sandwiches the blueprints tightly. Please make sure the blueprint doesn't curl on itself before closing the top flap. Finally, tie the exterior ribbons at the sides of the folder."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is arranged into four main series: \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 1 - Charles M. Robinson records, 1978, 2020, undated\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 2 - Office records, 1935-1992, undated\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 3 - Architectural drawings, 1907-2012\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 4 - Project photograph files, 1855-1999, undated\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 2 and 4 are further arranged into large files, and Series 3 is arranged first into subseries, then into files.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe files in Series 2, Office records, are arranged accoring to the significance of the documents to the firm's operations.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn Series 3, Architectural drawings, the subseries are named after each decade, beginning with 1900s and ending with the 2010s. The files below these subseries are project titles arranged in general chronological order grouped together by year.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe files in Series 4, Project photograph files, are arranged alphabetically. \u003c/p\u003e "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement"],"arrangement_tesim":["The collection is arranged into four main series:","Series 1 - Charles M. Robinson records, 1978, 2020, undated","Series 2 - Office records, 1935-1992, undated","Series 3 - Architectural drawings, 1907-2012","Series 4 - Project photograph files, 1855-1999, undated","Series 2 and 4 are further arranged into large files, and Series 3 is arranged first into subseries, then into files.","The files in Series 2, Office records, are arranged accoring to the significance of the documents to the firm's operations.","In Series 3, Architectural drawings, the subseries are named after each decade, beginning with 1900s and ending with the 2010s. The files below these subseries are project titles arranged in general chronological order grouped together by year.","The files in Series 4, Project photograph files, are arranged alphabetically."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cpersname\u003eCharles Morrison Robinson\u003c/persname\u003e was born on \u003cdate\u003eMarch 3, 1867\u003c/date\u003e, in \u003cgeogname\u003eHamilton, Loudoun County, Virginia\u003c/geogname\u003e. He was the eldest son of \u003coccupation\u003earchitect\u003c/occupation\u003e and builder \u003cpersname\u003eJames T. Robinson\u003c/persname\u003e and \u003cpersname\u003eElizabeth Crockett Robinson\u003c/persname\u003e. His family relocated to \u003cgeogname\u003eWelland, Ontario\u003c/geogname\u003e, where he completed his early schooling before beginning architectural training under \u003cpersname\u003eD.S. Hopkins\u003c/persname\u003e in \u003cgeogname\u003eGrand Rapids, Michigan\u003c/geogname\u003e, and \u003cpersname\u003eJohn K. Peebles\u003c/persname\u003e in \u003cgeogname\u003ePittsburgh, Pennsylvania\u003c/geogname\u003e. In \u003cdate\u003e1889\u003c/date\u003e, he formed his first partnership—Smith \u0026amp; Robinson—in \u003cgeogname\u003eAltoona, Pennsylvania\u003c/geogname\u003e. He married \u003cpersname\u003eAnnie Custer\u003c/persname\u003e in \u003cdate\u003e1891\u003c/date\u003e, and their son, \u003cpersname\u003eCharles Custer Robinson\u003c/persname\u003e, was born two years later. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFollowing years of practice in Pennsylvania, including partnerships with \u003cpersname\u003eGeorge T. Smith\u003c/persname\u003e, \u003cpersname\u003eR.B. Crockett\u003c/persname\u003e, and \u003cpersname\u003eGeorge Winkler\u003c/persname\u003e, \u003cfamname\u003eRobinson\u003c/famname\u003e returned to \u003cgeogname\u003eVirginia\u003c/geogname\u003e in \u003cdate\u003e1906\u003c/date\u003e, establishing Charles M. Robinson, Architect in \u003cgeogname\u003eRichmond\u003c/geogname\u003e. Robinson became a leading designer for a future comprehensive statewide public school system mandated by Virginia's 1902 Constitution. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eBetween \u003cdate\u003e1906\u003c/date\u003e and \u003cdate\u003e1932\u003c/date\u003e, Robinson's practice produced plans for more than 400 public schools and many university buildings, including commissions in \u003cgeogname\u003eRichmond\u003c/geogname\u003e, \u003cgeogname\u003eNorfolk\u003c/geogname\u003e, \u003cgeogname\u003eNewport News\u003c/geogname\u003e, \u003cgeogname\u003ePortsmouth\u003c/geogname\u003e, and dozens of rural counties. Robinson's standardized plans were paired with styles ranging from Arts \u0026amp; Crafts to Collegiate Gothic, Spanish Revival, and Art Deco. His schools featured ample light, logical circulation, and adaptable common spaces. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cdate\u003e1908\u003c/date\u003e he won the commission to design the campus of the State Normal School at \u003cgeogname\u003eHarrisonburg\u003c/geogname\u003e, now James Madison University, designing its first seven buildings and subsequent expansions through 1928. He designed foundational campuses for the institutions now known as the University of Mary Washington, Radford University, and Virginia State University, and oversaw more than sixty major projects for the College of William \u0026amp; Mary between 1921 and 1931, including the Sunken Garden and numerous residence halls, academic buildings, and the George Preston Blow Gymnasium. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eHis practice also extended beyond education. In 1918 he designed the tuberculosis sanitariums (sanatoriums) at \u003cgeogname\u003eCatawba\u003c/geogname\u003e, \u003cgeogname\u003eBurkeville\u003c/geogname\u003e, and \u003cgeogname\u003eCharlottesville\u003c/geogname\u003e for the Virginia State Board of Health. In Richmond, he designed civic and commercial structures, including the Times-Dispatch Building, Stuart Circle Hospital, Grace Hospital, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, the Sunday School Building at Ginter Park Methodist Church, and (in partnership with his former apprentice Marcellus Wright, Sr.) the ACCA Shriner Mosque—today the Altria Theater. Residentially, his Laburnum Court development introduced an early twentieth-century model of middle-class housing arranged around a landscaped central park. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eBy the 1920s, Robinson had expanded his firm to include his son Charles Custer Robinson, \u003cpersname\u003eBenjamin A. Ruffin\u003c/persname\u003e, and \u003cpersname\u003eJohn Binford Walford\u003c/persname\u003e, who became partners in Charles M. Robinson, Architects in 1922. Although Robinson retired to his farm in Hampton in \u003cdate\u003e1926\u003c/date\u003e, he remained professionally active, producing drawings at home and visiting construction sites. Robinson died on \u003cdate\u003eAugust 20, 1932\u003c/date\u003e, at age 66 in a Norfolk hospital, and the firm was formally dissolved the following day. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe practice he founded continued through multiple generations of architects, evolving through successive names—J. Binford Walford, Architect (1932–1946); Walford \u0026amp; Wright (1946–1962); Wright, Jones \u0026amp; Wilkerson (1962–1991); Wright, Jones, Wilkerson, Rothschild \u0026amp; Boynton (1991–1994); and finally Boynton, Rothschild, Rowland (1994–2020). The firm remained active for more than a century before being acquired in 2020.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eReference List:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eArlington County Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board. (2008, September). Historic District Designation Form. Arlington County Register of Historic Places. https://www.arlingtonva.us/files/sharedassets/public/v/1/projects/documents/wraps_localhistoricdistrictdesignation_wilsonschool_2009.pdf\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLedger-Star, Norfolk, VA. (1932, August 22). Charles M. Robinson Prominent Architect, Dies; Burial Today. Newspapers.com by Ancestry. https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-charles-m-robinson-prominen/166469428/\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLoth, C. (1999). The Virginia Landmarks Register. The University Press of Virginia. https://books.google.com/booksid=NJa_64aH1iMC\u0026amp;q=charles+robinson#v=onepage\u0026amp;q=charles%20robinson\u0026amp;f=false\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eMorgan, S.W. (2019, September 24). Virginia's Unsung Architect. Richmond Magazine. https://richmondmagazine.com/home/latest/charles-robinson-branch-museum/\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eMoyer, L. (n.d.). Halls of History. University of Mary Washington Magazine. https://magazine.umw.edu/spring2013/features/halls-of-history/\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePreservation Durham. (n.d.). Robinson, Charles M. Open Durham from Preservation Durham. https://www.opendurham.org/people/robinson-charles-m\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eRobinson, D.B. (n.d.). Charles M. Robinson: A Virginia Architectural History. https://www.charlesmrobinson.com/index.html\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eUnited States Department of the Interior National Park Service. (1992, October 31). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form. Internet rchive Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20101111233435/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/MultipleCounty/127-0845_PublicSchoolsinRichmondMPS_NPS_final.pdf\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWinthrop, R.P. (2015, January 27). Architects of Richmond: Charles M. Robinson. Architecture Richmond. https://architecturerichmond.com/architects-of-richmond-charles-m-robinson/\u003c/p\u003e "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Charles Morrison Robinson was born on March 3, 1867, in Hamilton, Loudoun County, Virginia. He was the eldest son of architect and builder James T. Robinson and Elizabeth Crockett Robinson. His family relocated to Welland, Ontario, where he completed his early schooling before beginning architectural training under D.S. Hopkins in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and John K. Peebles in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1889, he formed his first partnership—Smith \u0026 Robinson—in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He married Annie Custer in 1891, and their son, Charles Custer Robinson, was born two years later.","Following years of practice in Pennsylvania, including partnerships with George T. Smith, R.B. Crockett, and George Winkler, Robinson returned to Virginia in 1906, establishing Charles M. Robinson, Architect in Richmond. Robinson became a leading designer for a future comprehensive statewide public school system mandated by Virginia's 1902 Constitution.","Between 1906 and 1932, Robinson's practice produced plans for more than 400 public schools and many university buildings, including commissions in Richmond, Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, and dozens of rural counties. Robinson's standardized plans were paired with styles ranging from Arts \u0026 Crafts to Collegiate Gothic, Spanish Revival, and Art Deco. His schools featured ample light, logical circulation, and adaptable common spaces.","In 1908 he won the commission to design the campus of the State Normal School at Harrisonburg, now James Madison University, designing its first seven buildings and subsequent expansions through 1928. He designed foundational campuses for the institutions now known as the University of Mary Washington, Radford University, and Virginia State University, and oversaw more than sixty major projects for the College of William \u0026 Mary between 1921 and 1931, including the Sunken Garden and numerous residence halls, academic buildings, and the George Preston Blow Gymnasium.","His practice also extended beyond education. In 1918 he designed the tuberculosis sanitariums (sanatoriums) at Catawba, Burkeville, and Charlottesville for the Virginia State Board of Health. In Richmond, he designed civic and commercial structures, including the Times-Dispatch Building, Stuart Circle Hospital, Grace Hospital, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, the Sunday School Building at Ginter Park Methodist Church, and (in partnership with his former apprentice Marcellus Wright, Sr.) the ACCA Shriner Mosque—today the Altria Theater. Residentially, his Laburnum Court development introduced an early twentieth-century model of middle-class housing arranged around a landscaped central park.","By the 1920s, Robinson had expanded his firm to include his son Charles Custer Robinson, Benjamin A. Ruffin, and John Binford Walford, who became partners in Charles M. Robinson, Architects in 1922. Although Robinson retired to his farm in Hampton in 1926, he remained professionally active, producing drawings at home and visiting construction sites. Robinson died on August 20, 1932, at age 66 in a Norfolk hospital, and the firm was formally dissolved the following day.","The practice he founded continued through multiple generations of architects, evolving through successive names—J. Binford Walford, Architect (1932–1946); Walford \u0026 Wright (1946–1962); Wright, Jones \u0026 Wilkerson (1962–1991); Wright, Jones, Wilkerson, Rothschild \u0026 Boynton (1991–1994); and finally Boynton, Rothschild, Rowland (1994–2020). The firm remained active for more than a century before being acquired in 2020.","Reference List:","Arlington County Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board. (2008, September). Historic District Designation Form. Arlington County Register of Historic Places. https://www.arlingtonva.us/files/sharedassets/public/v/1/projects/documents/wraps_localhistoricdistrictdesignation_wilsonschool_2009.pdf","Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA. (1932, August 22). Charles M. Robinson Prominent Architect, Dies; Burial Today. Newspapers.com by Ancestry. https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-charles-m-robinson-prominen/166469428/","Loth, C. (1999). The Virginia Landmarks Register. The University Press of Virginia. https://books.google.com/booksid=NJa_64aH1iMC\u0026q=charles+robinson#v=onepage\u0026q=charles%20robinson\u0026f=false","Morgan, S.W. (2019, September 24). Virginia's Unsung Architect. Richmond Magazine. https://richmondmagazine.com/home/latest/charles-robinson-branch-museum/","Moyer, L. (n.d.). Halls of History. University of Mary Washington Magazine. https://magazine.umw.edu/spring2013/features/halls-of-history/","Preservation Durham. (n.d.). Robinson, Charles M. Open Durham from Preservation Durham. https://www.opendurham.org/people/robinson-charles-m","Robinson, D.B. (n.d.). Charles M. Robinson: A Virginia Architectural History. https://www.charlesmrobinson.com/index.html","United States Department of the Interior National Park Service. (1992, October 31). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form. Internet rchive Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20101111233435/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/MultipleCounty/127-0845_PublicSchoolsinRichmondMPS_NPS_final.pdf","Winthrop, R.P. (2015, January 27). Architects of Richmond: Charles M. Robinson. Architecture Richmond. https://architecturerichmond.com/architects-of-richmond-charles-m-robinson/"],"odd_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCONTENT WARNING:\nThis material contains offensive or harmful language. This material contains references to outdated terminology for African Americans, as well as for Native Americans. The terms \"Colored\" and Negro\", in commom parlance when the drawings were created, are used throughout the architectural drawings to refer to Black people. The term \"Indian\" is also used to refer to Native Americans. These terms are primarily found in the titles of architectural drawings. Titles remain as they were found for historical context. The purpose of this note is to give users the opportunity to decide whether they need or want to view these materials, or at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials.\u003c/p\u003e ","\u003cp\u003eSome items in this collection sustained damage from pests and/or mold prior to coming to the Library. Preservation staff has frozen and stabilized the items to prevent further damage from pests or mold and cleaned the items to facilitate handling. 10/20/23\u003c/p\u003e ","\u003cp\u003eThe commission number for this set of drawings is the same as the number for the \"John W. Daniel School, Newport News Schools, VA, 1913\" drawings. However, there is no indication of the projects being related.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe commission number for this set of drawings is the same as the number for the \"Eastville High School, Northampton County, VA, 1913\" drawings. However, there is no indication of the projects being related.\u003c/p\u003e"],"odd_heading_ssm":["Content Warning","Conservation and Preservation","General","General"],"odd_tesim":["CONTENT WARNING:\nThis material contains offensive or harmful language. This material contains references to outdated terminology for African Americans, as well as for Native Americans. The terms \"Colored\" and Negro\", in commom parlance when the drawings were created, are used throughout the architectural drawings to refer to Black people. The term \"Indian\" is also used to refer to Native Americans. These terms are primarily found in the titles of architectural drawings. Titles remain as they were found for historical context. The purpose of this note is to give users the opportunity to decide whether they need or want to view these materials, or at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials.","Some items in this collection sustained damage from pests and/or mold prior to coming to the Library. Preservation staff has frozen and stabilized the items to prevent further damage from pests or mold and cleaned the items to facilitate handling. 10/20/23","The commission number for this set of drawings is the same as the number for the \"John W. Daniel School, Newport News Schools, VA, 1913\" drawings. However, there is no indication of the projects being related.","The commission number for this set of drawings is the same as the number for the \"Eastville High School, Northampton County, VA, 1913\" drawings. However, there is no indication of the projects being related."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eMSS 16518, Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e "],"prefercite_tesim":["MSS 16518, Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records consist of materials about Charles M. Robinson, and the office records, architectural and design plans, and project photograph files of the Charles M. Robinson, Architect firm and successor firms. The materials document the business operations of the firms, as well as their role in developing the city of Richmond, VA, and in developing various institutions and organizations across the state of Virginia. The works in this collection also demonstrate the significance of the firm's activities on communities in these areas. It is divided into four series. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 1, Charles M. Robinson Files (1978, 2020, undated; 1 folder), includes copies of documents about Charles M. Robinson, such as a copy of his Architecture License. There is also a copy of a short essay about Robinson's role in the construction of the ACCA Shrine, now known as the Altria Theater. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 2, Office records (circa 1935-1992, undated; 18 folders), includes office records, which are arranged in decreasing order of their significance/functionality to the firm's operations. Most notably are the lists of commissions, index to the architectural drawings, and the commission notes. These records cover the majority of the timeline following Robinson's death. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 3, Architectural drawings (1907-2012, undated; 3 oversized boxes, 93 flat file folders, 4 tubes, 1457 tube boxes), the largest part of this collection, consists of the firm's architectural drawings and design plans, as well as the drawings and plans Robinson created in his role as the official school board architect for several cities and counties in Virginia, and as an architect for the Virginia State Board of Health. They span more than a century beginning in 1907 and ending in 2012 and represent over 1600 projects. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIncluded are drawings, designs, and plans for educational institutions, hospitals, churches, offices, retail stores, private residences, and plots across the state of Virginia. The series also includes topographic maps and site studies. There are original designs, proposed designs, voided designs, additions, alterations, and renovations. The designs are comprehensive, and include work on interiors and exteriors, plumbing and ventilation systems, and landscape works. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePrimary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in locations across Virginia are very well represented by the plans in this collection. More well-known post-secondary educational institutions include the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Raford University, University of Mary Washington, George Mason University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. However, the number of primary and secondary schools represented in the collection is even greater. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eOf particular significance are the designs and plans the firm created for educational institutions for students from underrepresented, historically oppressed, and marginalized groups. These include the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, the Virginia State University, the nation's first fully-state supported four-year post-secondary learning institution for Black Americans, and the HBCUs Norfolk State University and Virginia Union University. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe works that Robinson completed as an architect for the Virginia State Board of Health include plans and designs for the Catawba, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont Tuberculosis sanitoriums (rehabilitation center, hospice, etc.). Robinson's work in this role also affected the lives of people from underrepresented groups, as the Piedmont institution was developed specifically for the care of Black residents of Virginia. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries 4, Project photograph files (circa 1855-1999, undated; 9 boxes, 15 folders), includes many of the project photograph files from the architectural firm. Although there are some items from Robinson's time with the firm, the large majority are dated and document the projects from after his death on August 20, 1932. The photograph file index introduces the rest of the series, which includes prints, negatives, photo documentation from John Binford Walford and Oscar Pendleton Wright's photograph albums, and undated presentation photos. \u003c/p\u003e ","\u003cp\u003eDates: 1907 – 2012, bulk date 1907-1995 \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThis series consists of architectural rolls that contain drawings, designs, and plans of educational institutions, hospitals, churches, offices, retail stores, and private residences across the state of Virginia. The series also includes rolls that hold topographic maps, plot and general layouts, and site studies. The drawings comprise original designs, proposed designs, voided designs, additions, alterations, and renovations. The designs are comprehensive, and include work on interiors and exteriors, plumbing and ventilation systems, and landscape works. For a detailed inventory of the drawings, please see the Charles M. Robinson architectural records drawing inventory in the External Documents field.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents","Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records consist of materials about Charles M. Robinson, and the office records, architectural and design plans, and project photograph files of the Charles M. Robinson, Architect firm and successor firms. The materials document the business operations of the firms, as well as their role in developing the city of Richmond, VA, and in developing various institutions and organizations across the state of Virginia. The works in this collection also demonstrate the significance of the firm's activities on communities in these areas. It is divided into four series.","Series 1, Charles M. Robinson Files (1978, 2020, undated; 1 folder), includes copies of documents about Charles M. Robinson, such as a copy of his Architecture License. There is also a copy of a short essay about Robinson's role in the construction of the ACCA Shrine, now known as the Altria Theater.","Series 2, Office records (circa 1935-1992, undated; 18 folders), includes office records, which are arranged in decreasing order of their significance/functionality to the firm's operations. Most notably are the lists of commissions, index to the architectural drawings, and the commission notes. These records cover the majority of the timeline following Robinson's death.","Series 3, Architectural drawings (1907-2012, undated; 3 oversized boxes, 93 flat file folders, 4 tubes, 1457 tube boxes), the largest part of this collection, consists of the firm's architectural drawings and design plans, as well as the drawings and plans Robinson created in his role as the official school board architect for several cities and counties in Virginia, and as an architect for the Virginia State Board of Health. They span more than a century beginning in 1907 and ending in 2012 and represent over 1600 projects.","Included are drawings, designs, and plans for educational institutions, hospitals, churches, offices, retail stores, private residences, and plots across the state of Virginia. The series also includes topographic maps and site studies. There are original designs, proposed designs, voided designs, additions, alterations, and renovations. The designs are comprehensive, and include work on interiors and exteriors, plumbing and ventilation systems, and landscape works.","Primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in locations across Virginia are very well represented by the plans in this collection. More well-known post-secondary educational institutions include the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Raford University, University of Mary Washington, George Mason University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. However, the number of primary and secondary schools represented in the collection is even greater.","Of particular significance are the designs and plans the firm created for educational institutions for students from underrepresented, historically oppressed, and marginalized groups. These include the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, the Virginia State University, the nation's first fully-state supported four-year post-secondary learning institution for Black Americans, and the HBCUs Norfolk State University and Virginia Union University.","The works that Robinson completed as an architect for the Virginia State Board of Health include plans and designs for the Catawba, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont Tuberculosis sanitoriums (rehabilitation center, hospice, etc.). Robinson's work in this role also affected the lives of people from underrepresented groups, as the Piedmont institution was developed specifically for the care of Black residents of Virginia.","Series 4, Project photograph files (circa 1855-1999, undated; 9 boxes, 15 folders), includes many of the project photograph files from the architectural firm. Although there are some items from Robinson's time with the firm, the large majority are dated and document the projects from after his death on August 20, 1932. The photograph file index introduces the rest of the series, which includes prints, negatives, photo documentation from John Binford Walford and Oscar Pendleton Wright's photograph albums, and undated presentation photos.","Dates: 1907 – 2012, bulk date 1907-1995","This series consists of architectural rolls that contain drawings, designs, and plans of educational institutions, hospitals, churches, offices, retail stores, and private residences across the state of Virginia. The series also includes rolls that hold topographic maps, plot and general layouts, and site studies. The drawings comprise original designs, proposed designs, voided designs, additions, alterations, and renovations. The designs are comprehensive, and include work on interiors and exteriors, plumbing and ventilation systems, and landscape works. For a detailed inventory of the drawings, please see the Charles M. Robinson architectural records drawing inventory in the External Documents field."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection contains some in-copyright material. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page (https://www.library.virginia.edu/special-collections/services/publishing) for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials.\u003c/p\u003e "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["This collection contains some in-copyright material. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page (https://www.library.virginia.edu/special-collections/services/publishing) for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials."],"corpname_ssim":["Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library"],"famname_ssim":["Robinson"],"persname_ssim":["Robinson, Charles M. (Morrison), 1867-1932","Charles Morrison Robinson","James T. Robinson","Elizabeth Crockett Robinson","D.S. Hopkins","John K. Peebles","Annie Custer","Charles Custer Robinson","George T. Smith","R.B. Crockett","George Winkler","Benjamin A. Ruffin","John Binford Walford"],"names_coll_ssim":["Robinson, Charles M. (Morrison), 1867-1932"],"names_ssim":["Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library","Robinson","Robinson, Charles M. (Morrison), 1867-1932","Charles Morrison Robinson","James T. Robinson","Elizabeth Crockett Robinson","D.S. Hopkins","John K. Peebles","Annie Custer","Charles Custer Robinson","George T. Smith","R.B. Crockett","George Winkler","Benjamin A. Ruffin","John Binford Walford"],"language_ssim":["English"],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":1707,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:28:13.060Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_repositories_3_resources_1030_c03_c02"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c01_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. Accounts Payable, numbered sequence,\n 1-10, 1902/1923","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c01_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c01_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c01_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c01_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c01","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c01","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Accounts"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c01"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. Accounts Payable, numbered sequence,\n 1-10","title_ssm":["A. Accounts Payable, numbered sequence,\n 1-10"],"title_tesim":["A. Accounts Payable, numbered sequence,\n 1-10"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. Accounts Payable, numbered sequence,\n 1-10, 1902/1923"],"text":["A. Accounts Payable, numbered sequence,\n 1-10, 1902/1923","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Accounts","18 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Accounts"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Accounts"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1902/1923"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1902-1923"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":3,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["18 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"date_range_isim":[1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#0/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c01_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c18_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. Alphabetical sequence; includes\n records of castings and weights, financial\n statements of various companies, expenses of the\n [Low Moor?] medical department, mill silvery\n records, World War I workers exemption from\n [draft?] records, slag weights, stock\n transactions, and tools rented, 1881/1918","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c18_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c18_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c18_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c18_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c18","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c18","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Miscellaneous"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c18"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. Alphabetical sequence; includes\n records of castings and weights, financial\n statements of various companies, expenses of the\n [Low Moor?] medical department, mill silvery\n records, World War I workers exemption from\n [draft?] records, slag weights, stock\n transactions, and tools rented","title_ssm":["A. Alphabetical sequence; includes\n records of castings and weights, financial\n statements of various companies, expenses of the\n [Low Moor?] medical department, mill silvery\n records, World War I workers exemption from\n [draft?] records, slag weights, stock\n transactions, and tools rented"],"title_tesim":["A. Alphabetical sequence; includes\n records of castings and weights, financial\n statements of various companies, expenses of the\n [Low Moor?] medical department, mill silvery\n records, World War I workers exemption from\n [draft?] records, slag weights, stock\n transactions, and tools rented"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. Alphabetical sequence; includes\n records of castings and weights, financial\n statements of various companies, expenses of the\n [Low Moor?] medical department, mill silvery\n records, World War I workers exemption from\n [draft?] records, slag weights, stock\n transactions, and tools rented, 1881/1918"],"text":["A. Alphabetical sequence; includes\n records of castings and weights, financial\n statements of various companies, expenses of the\n [Low Moor?] medical department, mill silvery\n records, World War I workers exemption from\n [draft?] records, slag weights, stock\n transactions, and tools rented, 1881/1918","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Miscellaneous","9 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Miscellaneous"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Miscellaneous"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1881/1918"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1881-1918"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":102,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["9 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"date_range_isim":[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],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#17/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c18_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c04_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. Bills payable, 1882/1916","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c04_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c04_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c04_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c04_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c04","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c04","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Bills"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c04"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. Bills payable","title_ssm":["A. Bills payable"],"title_tesim":["A. Bills payable"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. Bills payable, 1882/1916"],"text":["A. Bills payable, 1882/1916","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Bills","7 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Bills"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Bills"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1882/1916"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1882-1916"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":16,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["7 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"date_range_isim":[1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#3/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c04_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c08_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. Coal Mined, Hauled, and\n Delivered, 1886/1916","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c08_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c08_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c08_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c08_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c08","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c08","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Coal"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c08"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. Coal Mined, Hauled, and\n Delivered","title_ssm":["A. Coal Mined, Hauled, and\n Delivered"],"title_tesim":["A. Coal Mined, Hauled, and\n Delivered"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. Coal Mined, Hauled, and\n Delivered, 1886/1916"],"text":["A. Coal Mined, Hauled, and\n Delivered, 1886/1916","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Coal","4 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Coal"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Coal"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1886/1916"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1886-1916"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":29,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["4 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"date_range_isim":[1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#7/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c08_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. Contracts, 1903/1919","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c12"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. Contracts","title_ssm":["A. Contracts"],"title_tesim":["A. Contracts"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. Contracts, 1903/1919"],"text":["A. Contracts, 1903/1919","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig","13 volumes; numbered sequence,\n 2-12"],"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"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1903/1919"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1903-1919"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":51,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["13 volumes; numbered sequence,\n 2-12"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"date_range_isim":[1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#11/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c07_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. Corn Exchange Bank of New\n York, 1904/1915","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c07_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c07_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c07_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c07_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c07","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c07","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Check Stub"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c07"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. Corn Exchange Bank of New\n York","title_ssm":["A. Corn Exchange Bank of New\n York"],"title_tesim":["A. Corn Exchange Bank of New\n York"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. Corn Exchange Bank of New\n York, 1904/1915"],"text":["A. Corn Exchange Bank of New\n York, 1904/1915","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Check Stub","3 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Check Stub"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Check Stub"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1904/1915"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1904-1915"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":25,"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,"date_range_isim":[1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#6/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c07_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. General, 1880/1916","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c13","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Journals"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c13"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. General","title_ssm":["A. General"],"title_tesim":["A. General"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. General, 1880/1916"],"text":["A. General, 1880/1916","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Journals","3 volumes"],"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"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1880/1916"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1880-1916"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":59,"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,"date_range_isim":[1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#12/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c13_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c25_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. General, 1881/1922","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c25_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c25_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c25_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c25_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c25","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c25","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Scrip Books"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c25"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. General","title_ssm":["A. General"],"title_tesim":["A. General"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. General, 1881/1922"],"text":["A. General, 1881/1922","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Scrip Books","17 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Scrip Books"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Scrip Books"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1881/1922"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1881-1922"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":125,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["17 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"date_range_isim":[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],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#24/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c25_c01"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c27_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"A. General, 1893/1920","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c27_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c27_c01","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c27_c01"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c27_c01","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c27","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c27","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Shipments-Outgoing"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c27"],"title_filing_ssi":"A. General","title_ssm":["A. General"],"title_tesim":["A. General"],"normalized_title_ssm":["A. General, 1893/1920"],"text":["A. General, 1893/1920","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Shipments-Outgoing","9 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Shipments-Outgoing"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Shipments-Outgoing"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1893/1920"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1893-1920"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":145,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["9 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"date_range_isim":[1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#26/components#0","timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z","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"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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 ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","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.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"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"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"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"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\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\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\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\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\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\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\n ","\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\n "],"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 MinesLow 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 Recorddated 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."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"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\n ","\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\n "],"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."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-06-23T07:33:41.315Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c27_c01"}}],"included":[{"type":"facet","id":"repository_ssim","attributes":{"label":"Repository","items":[{"attributes":{"label":"University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.","value":"University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.","hits":114},"links":{"remove":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}}]},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/facet/repository_ssim.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}},{"type":"facet","id":"collection_ssim","attributes":{"label":"Collection","items":[{"attributes":{"label":"Blair family papers, 1821/1949","value":"Blair family papers, 1821/1949","hits":7},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=Blair+family+papers%2C+1821%2F1949\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}},{"attributes":{"label":"Carter Glass Papers, 1820/1946","value":"Carter Glass Papers, 1820/1946","hits":9},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=Carter+Glass+Papers%2C+1820%2F1946\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}},{"attributes":{"label":"Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records, 1855/2012","value":"Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records, 1855/2012","hits":1},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=Charles+M.+Robinson+and+Principals+Architectural+Records%2C+1855%2F2012\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}},{"attributes":{"label":"Duke family law firm papers, 1820/1959","value":"Duke family law firm papers, 1820/1959","hits":3},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=Duke+family+law+firm+papers%2C+1820%2F1959\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}},{"attributes":{"label":"Herbert Friedman Holocaust materials, 1924/2006","value":"Herbert Friedman Holocaust materials, 1924/2006","hits":1},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=Herbert+Friedman+Holocaust+materials%2C+1924%2F2006\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}},{"attributes":{"label":"John L. Nau III Civil War History Collection, 1806/1988, bulk 1861/1865","value":"John L. Nau III Civil War History Collection, 1806/1988, bulk 1861/1865","hits":5},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=John+L.+Nau+III+Civil+War+History+Collection%2C+1806%2F1988%2C+bulk+1861%2F1865\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}},{"attributes":{"label":"John W. Warner papers, 1967/2009, bulk 1967/2008","value":"John W. Warner papers, 1967/2009, bulk 1967/2008","hits":1},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=John+W.+Warner+papers%2C+1967%2F2009%2C+bulk+1967%2F2008\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1915\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=University+of+Virginia%2C+Special+Collections+Dept."}},{"attributes":{"label":"Lewis M. 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