Invitation to Open Warrior Celebration, 1913

Invitation to Open Warrior Celebration
open warrior p2 001.jpg
Open warrior p3 001.jpg

Title

Invitation to Open Warrior Celebration, 1913

Subject

Black Warrior River (Ala.)
Barges

Description

The invitation to the Open Warrior ceremony is dated Oct. 28, 1913, but delays getting the barge from New Orleans to Tuscaloosa caused the ceremony to be postponed until Oct. 31, 1913.

President Woodrow Wilson was scheduled to attend, but did not, perhaps because of the postponement.

After delays, the first barge of the Alabama and New Orleans Transportation Company made it up the Warrior River to Tuscaloosa. The barge, expected on a Tuesday, passed the city at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 30, 1913, announcing its passage with its shrill whistle below the M. & O. railroad bridge. Scores of people raced to the river to catch a glimpse of the long-awaited barge.

The barge continued up the river to Holt where it was expected to take on 100 tons of pig iron, and then on to the tipple, a structure used at a mine to load the extracted product for transport, to be loaded with 450 tons of coal. The loading at Holt was postponed until Saturday and the barge came back to Tuscaloosa for the celebrations on Friday with its load of coal.

The barge was different from any seen in the area before, designed after the barges used in Holland. Built largely of steel, the barge could run into any number of sand bars and mud banks with no serious damage. It had a maximum capacity of 1,000 tons and, with a maximum load, drew six feet of water.

The barge was said to have come up the river with little difficulty. Several times the barge ran on sand bars, but was able to get off without assistance. At Lock 3, a line from a government boat got tangled up in the barge’s propeller and divers had to cut the rope with knives.

S.H. Sprott, President of the City Commission, encouraged all owners to suspend business on Friday, when the barge would return down the river to Tuscaloosa, to allow all employees to take part in the Open Warrior celebration.

The exercises took place at Lock 10 where a platform had been erected for speakers and the christening of the barge by Miss Eleanore Blair and Miss Cherokee Van de Graaff. Barge No. 3 was given the name “Tuscaloosa.” Speakers were S.H. Sprott, Probate Judge W.W. Brandon, and U.S. Sen. John H. Bankhead.

After Friday’s celebrations, loading the pig iron on Saturday was a laborious task because of the lack of wharfing at Holt.

The “Tuscaloosa” took its leave at daybreak on Sunday morning, leaving officials talking about ways to erect wharves in the city in the quickest manner. All agreed that the Warrior River had been put to its severest test since the water level was at its lowest point of the year. It surpassed all expectations.

Source

Personal Collection of Victor Morris Friedman

Date

October 28, 1913

Contributor

Betty Slowe (Description)

Type

Document

Identifier

1257

Coverage

Tuscaloosa (AL)

Text

                    Open Warrior Celebration
        Tuscaloosa gates open to transportation through
                           Panama Canal 
           You are cordially invited to be present at the
                  celebration of the arrival of the
                             First Barge
                                on the
              Open Warrior at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
                       October 28th, 1913

Page 2: Program
9:00 A.M. - Arrival of President Woodrow Wilson and party on spe...(unreadable)
9:30 A.M. - Arrival of first steel barge at lock 12 and christening viewed by President Wilson and party.
10:00 A.M. - Band Concert
10:30 A.M. - Visit to Morgan Hall at University of Alabama
11:00 A.M. Auto trip to tipple and coal loading station on Warrior River

Page 3: Committees
General: F.G. Blair, Chairman Frank Fitts A.S. Van de Graaff Washington Moody W.J. Gilmore
President Woodrow Wilson: (Reception) - Dr. George H. Denny, Judge H.B. Foster
Secretary Daniel - (Reception) W.B. Oliver, George K. Little
(Unreadable) - Frank M. Moody, George D. Johnston, Robert H. Cochrane
Refreshment - J.P. Burchfield, C.C. Simpson, E.H. Bingham
Automobile - Hugo Friedman, W.F. Fitts Sr., Dr. H.C. Hassell
River - R.P. Prowell, M.B. Long, E.C. Perkins
Invitation - Judge W.W. Brandon, M.P. Jemison, S.D. McGee, H.A. Snow, S.H. Sprott, Jr.
William Jennings Bryan - (Reception) - Judge Bernard Harwood, Frank S. Moody
Grounds - George K. Little, E.B. Nuzum, F.W. Monnish
Transportation - C.B. Verner, G.A. Searcy, D.L. Rosenau
Music - A.M. McGehee, M.T. Maxwell, W.B. Storey
Publicity - E.L. Clarkson, Samuel Friedman, W.H. Raiford, L.C. Bradley, Tom Garner