The Great Kanawha Navigation

The vision of a central waterway connecting tidewater Virginia with the Ohio River to rival the Erie Canal persisted for decades during the 19th century. The idea was at first fostered by the commonwealth of Virginia and then reincarnated as the Central Water Line, which was endorsed by the federal government. It was a grand vision, and though never implemented, the Great Kanawha Navigation nevertheless became a highly successful regionally controlled waterway that developed the rich resources of the Kanawha Valley. Emory Kemp has compiled a comprehensive history of navigation on the Great Kanawha River, detailing the industrial archaeology of this waterway from the early 19th century, and offering a detailed case study of a major 19th- and early 20th-century civil engineering project that would significantly advance the nation's industrial development.Using the early unsuccessful attempts to connect the James River and western waters as a background, The Great Kanawha Navigation emphasizes technological innovation and construction of navigational structures on the river. With the river men championing open navigation during favorable stages of the river, and at the same time clamoring for controls to ensure navigation during periods of low flow, the Corps of Engineers responded with the concept of the movable dam to provide a cost-effective means of moving bulk cargo, especially coal, salt, lumber, cement, and chemicals, along nearly 100 miles of the Great Kanawha River. The Great Kanawha Navigation employed a series of ten locks and dams and became a laboratory for the use of movable dams in the United States, using first the French Chanoine shutter wicket dam and then the German Roller Gate dam. The innovative technology of the ten dams, the volume of freight carried and the management of the system by the Corps of Engineers made this one of the most significant public works in the nation. Each of the two systems provided cost-effective and environmentally sound means to tap the rich mineral resources of the Kanawha Valley. By any measure, the Great Kanawha Navigation has been one of the more successful ventures of the Corps of Engineers; Kemp has provided extensive photographs, illustrations, diagrams, and maps to further emphasize the construction of the various hydraulic structures. The result is an interesting and significant blend of biographical, technical, political, geographical, and industrial history that will delight historians of technology and the region.

About the Author :
Dr. Emory Kemp is the founder and director of the Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology at West Virginia University, where he was also chair and professor of civil engineering at the College of Engineering, and a professor of

Review :
. . . .the technology available at each of the formative stages is presented and reviewed comprehensively. There are numerous illustrations. . . .this book provides a a thorough and informed reviewof successive improvements to a major navigation, set in a more than local context.-- "Industrial Archaeology Review" The Great Kanawha Navigation is a history of efforts undertaken to improve West Virginia's Kanawha River to the point where it could be controlled and serve as a major year-round artery of trade and commerce. It is a good example of the internal improvements, first advocated in the early 19th century, that would foster growth and help perfect the new nation. This book is an important and highly detailed case study of this project, bringing together literally all the data surrounding it for the first time.-- "William E. Worthington, National Museum of American History" '. . . is the best book to be written about the origins and operations of America's modern inland navigation system.-- "Industrial Archeology" "Kemp has lucidly delineated the development of one regonial link, transversing Appalachia. An insightful case study of an extensive transport system, this work admirably details the innovative movable dam technology emplyed, and places these ambitious public works within the broader context of social and industrial history.-- "Virginia Quarterly Review" A nicely illustrated history of an important, yet often overlooked, river navigation system. Professor Kemp fully explicates the movable dam technology that fostered economic growth along the Kanawha; he also appreciates--and explains--the importance of the project's relationship to the proposed trans-Appalachian canal (known as the 'Central Water Line') linking the Ohio River to the James River and the Atlantic Seaboard. The Great Kanawha Navigation comprises a most welcome contribution to the history of America's transportation infrastructure.-- "D.C. Jackson, Lafayette College" Kemp's account of the system's construction is a useful reminder that it took imagination, hard work --- and more than a little politic perseverance --- to make it a reality.-- "The Herald-Dispatch" Kemp's book is a welcome contribution to the history of American hydraulic engeneering, for it is the first comprehensive account of the development of one of the country's major inland navigation systems.-- "Technology and Culture" Kemp's intriguing book is appropriate for college programs emphasizing technical problem solving or the history of technoology.-- "Choice" This study is an important contribution to the history of river engineering in America. This book is both rich in detail and sophisticatied in its interpretation because it is thouroughly grounded in primary as well as secondary sources.-- "The Public Historian"