Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

James River and Kanawha Co. Records, 1835-1881. Accessions 20914, 22600, 23369, 36327b-d, 38075, Business records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Accession 20914, Donor information unavailable; Accession 22600, Lent for copying by Frances Robertson; Accession 23369, Gift of Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co.; Accession 36327b-d, Purchased; Accession 38075, Gift of Agnes Mahoney Donnelly.

Biographical/Historical Information

The James River Company was chartered by an act of the General Assembly of January 14, 1785. The company was to improve the navigation of the James River from tidewater to the "highest practicable point." The James River and Kanawha Company was chartered on February 17, 1820 as the successor to the James River Company, with the state subscribing to 3/5 of the stock. With the end of the Civil War the business of the canals began to fall off. On March 5, 1880 the James River and Kanawha Company was sold to the Richmond and Alleghany Railway Company.

Born in 1818, Edward Lorraine worked on the James River and Kanawha Canal for 30 years. He began as a rod man in 1842, was promoted to assistant engineer, and finally appointed chief engineer of the canal. Lorraine served in this position until his death from smallpox in January 1873.

Scope and Content Information

Accession 20914 is an account, 1837-1838, 1848, (7 p.) submitted by William Fraser, of the firm of Fraser and Pearse, to the James River and Kanawha Company in support of extra charges incurred during construction of Lock 34, Section 135, of the James River and Kanawha Canal. The extra charges are detailed and are followed by Fraser's explanation and extracts of correspondence between William Beckwith, principal assistant engineer, and the board of the company. Section 135 is identified as the Middleton Mill Race. The item is docketed 1848.

Accession 22600 consists of photostats of certificates of debt, July 1, 1839, numbers 56a through 56d, in five dollar denomiations, signed by James Pearce, "For the Secretary." An act of the General Assembly passed March 23, 1839, provided for the issuance of such notes.

Accession 23369 includes typed abstracts from company minutes regarding the location of the canal and the names of the owners of condemned property, 1835-1840, and minutes concerning the reopening of the canal at the close of the Civil War, 1865, (1 v.); and extracts from the proceedings of the Board of Assessors of the company, concerning condemantion of land in Albemarle, Amherst, Bedford, Campbell, Fluvanna, Goochland, Henrico, and Nelson Counties, 1836-1840, (1 v.).

Accession 36327 consists of three parts: b) five journals of proceedings (minute books), 1835-1842, 1859-1881, Vol. 20-22, 25-26, two index volumes, one journal, 1848-1860; c) seven field books, 1839-1879, Nos. 1546, 1548-1551, 1555, one volume not numbered; and d) 17 maps, n.d.

Accession 36327b) Included are 5 volumes of the Proceedings of the President and the Directors of the James River and Kanawha Company, 1835-1837 (Vol. 20, 335 p.), 1837-1839 (Vol. 21, 419 p.), 1839-1842 (Vol. 22, 534 p.), 1859-1866 (Vol. 25, 609 p.), and 1866-1881 (Vol. 26, 444 p.), 2 index volumes to theses minutes, and one journal (B, or Vol. 94, 638 p.), 1848-1860. The minutes record construction data, revenue, wages, and report any event, that may have been of importance for the board's decision process. One index volume covers the minute books Vol. 20-26, 1835-1881; the other is an index to Vol. 24, 1854-1859, which itself is not included in this collection. The entries in journal B include expenses and repairs of the Canal, tolls, interest, balance sheets, and dividends on loans. For preservation reasons, 36327b is only served on microfilm (Misc. Reel 2049-2050). Indexes and Minutes Vol. 20-22 are available on Misc. Reel 2049; Minutes Vol. 25-26 and Journal B are available on Misc. Reel 2050.

Accession 36327c) Field books: No. 1546, Sept. 15, 1839 (48 p.) contains Blue Ridge Canal notes of reference to the line, listing mainly beginning and end of tangents, references and deflections. The back cover reads "Notes of survey between Lynchburg and North River" and the last pages contain calculations. No. 1548 "W.G. Turpin," 1848, was apparently kept by Walter G. Turpin, and contains calculations for various work, like benches, pits, ditches, and embankment on different sections of the canal, usually headed by the name of the contractor. The second half contains detailed listing of costs involved for embankments and locks needed, as well as a synopsis of the Estimate on the Bald Eagle Residence, surveys of cross section, as well as some drawings. No. 1549 is the "Field book of the relocation of the Blue Ridge Canal, 2nd division," June 23, 1847 (114 p.), containing chiefly survey notes organized by numbered sections. No. 1550, "Bald Eagle Residence," was kept by James M. Harris and contains survey notes, calculations, some drawings and listing of costs. No. 15551, 1847-1849, (114 p.), also kept by James M. Harris, is the Estimate book for Bald Eagle Residence. No. 1555, 1878-1879 (96 p.), "Blacksburg," contains survey notes and drawings for various projects, mainly dams, and several pages contain the names of contractors.

Accession 36327d) The seventeen maps, n.d., included in this collection all show privately owned property, portions of which needed to be taken for the use of the James River and Kanawha Canal. Concerned were the estates of the following families: Cross, Fudge, Irvine, Johns, Jones, Kearnes, Mays, Pharr, Scott, Sivley, Skeen, Spangler, Tennant, and Womack.

Accession 38075 is a letter, dated 18 March 1863 [1865] from Edward Lorraine (1818-1872), chief engineer of the James River and Kanawha Companyt to the company's president and directors, informing them of the damage to the canal caused by Union cavalry troops under the command of Philip Sheridan (1831-1888), Thomas Devin (1822-1878), George Custer (1839-1876), and Wesley Merritt (1834-1910). Union troops destroyed locks, gates, bridges, boats, and other supplies, and took tools, boats, and other supplies. This is a scanned copy and transcript of the letter.