Rohrer Mines

Sun Jan 20 22:08:14 EST 2019

Peter,

The Rorer Mines were on the back side of Roanoke Mountain in Roanoke
County, near present day Peakwood and Southern Hills Drives. The Griffin
and Trout Mines were adjacent to this tract, as iron deposits were rich in
that section. The narrow gauge railroad went from these mines to the
present day Wasena Park area for washing, then onward and upward over the
river, in a wide arc, to connect with the N&W at present day Hurt Park
Elementary School.

The issue of furnaces for the Rorer Mine ore is still being considered, so
I'll only report that much of this ore was sent out of the area, and some
of it was sent to the Crozier furnace which I believe was situated down by
the N&W's far east end. In the city's west end, there was a furnace built a
little bit later. I'm not sure what connection it had to Rorer Iron Co.,
though.

I will make a mess of the facts if I try to recite all of the changes to
the narrow gauge bridge without reading my notes. The first bridge was
wooden, and it simply transported the narrow gauge train from the washer to
the N&W tracks. It was not very good for pedestrians, but there really was
no other way to get across the river at that junction unless you went all
the way around the bend to Tosh's Ford (site of present day Franklin Road
Bridge). The wooden narrow gauge bridge was replaced by steel girders twice
that I've read about. The information about your ancestor is very helpful,
as I'm researching the rise and fall of Ferdinand Rorer -- and the
continuation of the company up to its consolidation with Virginia Iron,
Coal and Coke. I'm only now finishing up with the existing 1886 newspapers
where F. Rorer has gone bankrupt, having left the state as his assets are
being sold off. I have found the company suffering a horrid downturn in the
iron market. Rorer lost everything, he was grossly overextended as a
risk-taking developer and speculator. The company's other investors are
barely holding on at this point in the story, and I've run out of newpapers
at the Virginia Room library, so I'm going to have to get creative while I
look for more information on the financial story of Rorer Iron Company.

You have just confirmed for me that the company goes into receivership, and
I'll welcome any other information you have on this company.

Back to the bridges. Two hefty stone piers were constructed for the narrow
gauge, and they were abandoned (and left sitting in the river) when the new
steel girders were put in place. I believe these girders are replaced a few
years later, and raised in height, to make way for the Tidewater and
Deepwater tracks. This second set of girders is strong enough that cars are
now able to drive across the bridge. I believe there is also a period when
a trolley is allowed to cross there. This bridge is replaced in the
Depression Era with present day Wasena Bridge, which is due for replacement
in 2020.

I am attaching a post card from around 1910 which shows the later version
of the steel bridge across the river. It is still called the narrow gauge
bridge, because that is all Roanoke has in its vernacular to describe that
crossing. In truth, there is no more narrow gauge going through that
section of the city, not since the 1890s, when the Rorer Iron Company
relocated its wash station and narrow gauge junction to a place near
present day Tanglewood Mall. This took place soon after the Winston-Salem
line was built. I've read one account that said the wash station in Wasena
was putting an awful lot of silt into the river and it was a mess, so the
city was probably glad to see it go.

Hope this helps get you started, I look forward to hearing more from you.

Stephen Warren
Roanoke

On Sun, Jan 20, 2019 at 11:24 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> Peter
>
>
> I have a little information that may help.
>
>
> Rorer Mines were located below Peakwood Drive in Southern Hills.ï¿½ It was
> served by a little narrow gauge railroad.ï¿½ There were two main mines the
> Rorer Mine and the Trout Mine located just south through a couple of
> switchbacks.
>
>
> The railroad extended to the foot of Wasena Ave. to the location of the
> ore wash. Thence across the bridge over the Roanoke River to the Crozier
> Furnace at West Roanoke and other furnaces as far away as Pennsylvania.
>
>
> The bridges no longer exist.
>
>
> Jim Blackstock
>
>
> 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.ï¿½
>
> 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.ï¿½
>
> 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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