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WVRHC Newsletter, Spring 2001 West Virginia & Regional History Center

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WVRHC Newsletter, Spring 2001 West Virginia & Regional History Center West Virginia & Regional History Center University Libraries Newsletters Spring 2001 WVRHC Newsletter, Spring 2001 West Virginia & Regional History Center Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wvrhc-newsletters Part of the History Commons West Virginia and Regional History Collection NEWSLETTER Volume 16, No. 2 West Virginia University Libraries Spring 2001 WARD ENGINEERING G UIDE B ooN TO STUDY OF humble Little Kanawha River, not much more than a trickle W EST VIRGINIA MARITIME H ISTORY in some places today, experienced an age of navigational The early decades of the twentieth century have been glory that is just a dim memory (see WVRHC Newsletter referred to as the "The Barge Age" in America by some Fall 1987). historians, due to the immense traffic in natural resources Considering the above, it really should be no surprise and other freight that moved along the nation's inland wa- that a small West Virginia engineering firm played a lead- terways during the period. Though rarely thought of today ing role in developing the technology that powered this as a maritime state, West Virginia's rivers were among the era. Based in Charleston, the Ward Engineering Company most crowded in the nation at the time. In fact, according revolutionized river navigation in America during the late to Charles Ambler, the Monongahela River was the busi- nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company's est river in the world during the 1920s. The Ohio and achievements are documented in detail in the Ward Engi- Kanawha rivers were no doubt close behind. Even the neering Company archives at the Regional History Col- lection. An inventory and guide to the collection, which contains voluminous correspondence, business records, photographs, and nearly 5,000 technical draw- ings of boats and barges built by the company between the 1880s and 1930s, was recently com- pleted under the supervision of Assistant Curator Michael Ridderbusch. The work was sup- ported by a grant from the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen. A shoemaker's son, Charles Ward grew up in Leamington, England, where he was appren- ticed to a pipe fitter at age six- teen. After working for gas and iron companies in Leamington and Liverpool, he emigrated to America during the early 1870s. The James Rumsey, ca. 1903. Nicknamed the "Little Giant," this famous towboat made history by proving the superiority of screw propulsion over the paddlewheel in a 1903 duel against the most Settling in Charleston, he re- renowned stern wheeler on the Kanawha River, the D.T. Lane. ceived employment supervising a new gas works and also opened a store that sold gas fit- tings and provided plumbing services. Ward soon left the gas company to concentrate his ef- forts upon designing and manufacturing steam boilers for transportational use. Rather than relying on traditional boiler design in which coils of hot air were used to bring drums of water to a boil, Ward developed a method in which Charles Ward coils of water were heated in a chamber of hot air. The (1841-1915), result represented a dramatic increase in heat production maritime engineer and founder of per unit of water. Ward tested his new design on a steam Ward Engineering, packet called the Wild Goose with mixed success during ca./890. the late 1870s. When he finally patented the Ward Water Tube Boiler in 1879, his new invention was met with skep- ticism by most riverboatmen who were accustomed to the old "Scotch Boiler" design. Yet, gradually over the next two decades, water tube boilers built by Ward and his com- petitors came to dominate the industry. Ward faced similar skepticism when he advocated the launched in 1902, the U.S. Government had every inten- elimination of the bulky, if picturesque, paddle wheel as a tion of holding him at his word. In response to ridicule by means of propulsion in favor of the screw propeller during veteran rivermen, an inspector from the Engineering the 1890s. After testing screw propulsion on small family Service's Pittsburgh Office was brought in to pass judg- yachts, Ward offered to build a towboat for the U.S. Engi- ment on the slender craft, which Ward had named the James neering Service that he claimed would be the equal of any Rumsey after the Shepherdstown steamboat pioneer. When boat then in government service. When the boat was the inspector pronounced it inferior to a sternwheeler, a (Continued on page 9) The U.S. Lighthouse Tender, Greenbrier, was reportedly "the most beautiful steamboat ever built" in the Kanawha Valley. Launched on October 13, 1923, the boat's passengers included President and Mrs. Herbert Hoover. 2 A BRIEF GUIDE TO PUBLISHED R ESEARCH (3 vols., 1958). These are significant sources for brief RESOURCES IN THE WEST VIRGINIA AND biographies and family histories of West Virginians of state REGIONAL HISTORY COLLECTION and local prominence. Harold Malcolm Forbes Of particular importance are the 51 volumes of the West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia (Richwood, W.Va.: Jim Editor's note: Comstock, 1974-78). The first 25 volumes are a traditional To assist the many researchers who visit the Regional encyclopedia of names, places, and topics presented al- History Collection each year, Associate Curator Harold phabetically. Numerous entries in these first 25 volumes Forbes recently compiled the following guide to published refer to the second 25 volumes, which contain fuller treat- research resources available in the West Virginia Collec- ment of selected subjects and reprints of important works tion. The guide is a useful tool for embarking upon of West Virginia history. Volume 51 is an oversized "cof- research in literally any field ofWest Virginia history. As it fee-table book" of West Virginia pictures and portraits. references many publications, and also internet sites, that The published histories of West Virginia's communi- are accessible across the country, the guide is reprinted ties, counties, and regions include historical, biographical, here for the convenience of our readers. and genealogical data from the earliest settlements to the period immediately preceding the book's publication. Such STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY PUBLICATIONS local histories have been published in West Virginia since the 1870s. Citations to these histories may be found in The most comprehensive listing of published West Forbes' West Virginia History and in the online catalog. Virginia local histories, state histories, and biographies, For accessing these materials in either the card catalog or including books, pamphlets, and articles is: the online catalog, search by author or title, or perform a Harold M. Forbes. West Virginia History: A Bibliogra- subject headings search using the following formats: phy and Guide to Research. (Morgantown: West Brooke County Virginia University Press, 1981.) Jefferson County W Va This work includes bibliographies of each county and Kanawha County W Va-History region as well as sources for both common topics and spe- An excellent starting place for searching state history cial interest topics including Blennerhassett's Island, the on the World Wide Web is the West Virginia Archives and Mason-Dixon Line, mound builders, the Hatfield-McCoy History site: Feud, ghosts, folk music, the John Brown Raid on Harpers Ferry, religion, the salt industry, mineral springs and http://www. wvculture.org/history/index .htrnl others. When using the West Virginia Collection's card The following are useful sources for brief introductions catalog or MountainLynx online catalog to search for any to the history and geography of West Virginia's counties topic, users may construct subject searches according to and regions: the Library of Congress Subject Headings, the large red E. Lee North. The 55 West Virginias: A Guide to the volumes found near the computers. These volumes list the State 's Counties. Revised edition. (Morgantown: West precise headings that are used in the Libraries' catalogs. VIrginia University Press, 1998.) When a term in these volumes is followed by (May Subd Writers' Program. West Virginia. West Virginia, A Guide Geog), add -West Virginia to that subject heading in to the Mountain State. (New York: Oxford University order to narrow the search to entries concerning West Press, 1941. Reprinted: Richwood, W.Va., 1974; Virginia. St. Clair Shores, Mich., 1974.) The best general surveys of West Virginia state history include those written by Charles H. Ambler, James Morton Eminent West Virginia historians describe and exam- Callahan, Phil M. Conley, Oscar D. Lambert, Otis K. Rice, ine the available historical resources concerning politics, and John Alexander Williams. Many of the multi-volume education, economic history, labor, immigration and state histories also include extensive coverage oflocal his- ethnicity, women's history, African Americans, and envi- tory, biography, and family history; notable works in this ronmental issues in: category include those by: Bernard L. Butcher (3 vols., West Virginia History: Critical Essays on the Literature. 1912), Thomas C. Miller (3 vols., 1913), Sylvester Myers Edited by Ronald L. Lewis and John C. Hennen, Jr. (2 vols., 1915), James Morton Callahan (3 vols., 1923), (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 1993.) Morris P. Shawkey (5 vols., 1928), and Oscar D. Lambert 3 GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL REsouRcEs Val D. Greenwood. The Researcher's Guide to Ameri- A wide assortment of works with compilations of brief can Genealogy. 3rd edition. (Baltimore: Genealogical biographies of West Virginians of state and local promi- Publishing Co., 2000.) nence include: The Source: A Guidebook ofAmerican Genealogy. Bench and Bar of West Virginia (1919) Edited by Arlene Eakle and Johni Cerny. (Salt Lake Prominent Men of West Virginia (1890) City: Ancestry Publishing Co., 1984.) West Virginia Women (1974) Raymond S. Wright. The Genealogist's Handbook: Missing Chapters: West Virginia Women in History Modern Methods for Researching Family History. (2 volumes, 1983, 1986) (Chicago: American Library Association, 1995.) Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of Milton Rubincam.
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