N&W Concrete Water Tanks/Water Softening

[NW Mailing List]

I am somewhat confused about all the sudden interest and apparent explosion
of information now available on N&W concrete water tanks. For the last five
or so years plus I have been working on an academic project on the
historical evolution of C&O water softening techniques, water tank design,
Virginia geochemistry of ground water, and the application of chemistry to
railroad water purification problems.


Last year I asked for help with my project on this list serve as I had
completed the work on the C&O and wanted to expand my research paper into a
possible comparative work involving the N&W and the Virginian. Aside from
very nice responses from Alex Schust and Jeff Hawkins no one responded to
my queries whatsoever. I also visited the archive more than once and found
the process very frustrating and was under the impression there was little
or no information or documentation available. Although I think Mr. Gordon
(?) found me a small notebook in the archive that was somewhat useful. Sad
to say most professional historians find the archive in Roanoke tough
sledding but that is a story for another day…



 As I recall I also volunteered to submit something on this topic to *The
Arrow* -which has just been mentioned by someone else today- and was also
rebuffed. Having read the constant back and forth of messages on this topic
over the past few weeks it is nice to know the information I seek is may be
available. Whether I will be able to access any of it remains to be seen.
This has all been, and continues to be, VERY frustrating! Wow.



If possible I would ask that Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Hawkins (and anyone
else?) could contact me offline (gfitzgerald111 at gmail.com ) to discuss the
research materials they have in their possession on this topic. I would
also be willing to meet with anyone who has materials on N&W concrete water
tanks and the water-softening program at one of the next archive meetings.



 Best,



Gerard



Gerard J. Fitzgerald

Department of History and Art History

George Mason University
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