The Canal on the James: An Illustrated Guide to the James River and Kanawha Canal

Over a period of thirty years T. Gibson Hobbs, Jr. collected every scrap of information he could find about the James River and Kanawha Canal in Virginia. This book is a compilation of his research the talks he gave, the slides he showed, and the maps on which he meticulously cataloged the works of the canal system. Gibson was an engineer and this book reflects his passion. One chapter provides an instructive, year-by-year account of the construction of the canal and the men who built it. Their battles political, meteorological, economic, and interpersonal are detailed alongside the many technical challenges they encountered over decades of trial and error. Because he was a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, Gibson wrote a chapter on the canal era in that city. Another section concentrates on the canal boats and their captains. A first-person account of a packet boat trip brings home the reality of the canal in its glory days. More than 200 drawings and photographs bring the stories to life, and sixty maps allow the reader to locate the still-existing canal works on approximately 150 river-miles in Virginia.