Rohrer Mines

[NW Mailing List]

Peter,


I have been interesed in the Rorer NG for some time, and NWHS member 
Stephen Warren has done extensive research on it.  Briefly it extended 
some 9 miles from ore mines in Roanoke County (now in the City of 
Roanoke) to a washing facility in what is now Wasena Park and then 
continued to a transfer facility at the south side of the N&W's yard.  
The principal in the company was Ferdinand Rorer who has two streets in 
Roanoke named for him (Ferdinand Ave. and Rorer Ave).  It has been 
recorded that Rorer delighted in giving rides on the NG to influential 
friends.


I'm attaching a scan showing the NG bridge over the Roanoke River that 
you referred to.  This shows the bridge after being converted to a 
pedestrian walkway and after the short span to the right in this image 
had collapsed.


Gordon Hamilton


On 1/18/2019 6:16 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> In May of 1887, while R.P.C. Sanderson was the assistant to the 
> superintendent of motive power for the Norfolk and Western, he was the 
> court appointed receiver for the Rohrer mine property. This included 
> the oversite of the erection of two steel bridges over the Roanoke 
> River with 120 foot spans. Since he was a full time employee of the 
> N&W he had to squeeze the bridge work into the early morning and 
> evenings.
>
> Two questions: where were the Rohrer mines? and does anyone know if 
> those bridges still exist? I have found references to the mine in 
> engineering journals but they simply say the Rohrer mine was in 
> Roanoke County.
>
> There is a little irony in R.P.C. taking charge of the building of 
> bridges. Just before he went to work for the N&W he was hired by the 
> City of New York as one of three engineers for a bridge to be built 
> across the Harlem River. He didn't last a week before he quit because 
> of the politics involved. He wouldn't comprise what he thought was 
> morally correct.
>
> Peter Getz
>
>
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