Video from Summer Trip

The video of our experience across West Virginia to learn first-hand about the science and history of the timber and rail industries in the state is available HERE.
Throughout the course and the summer we learned how the timber and rail industries not only influenced each other but how those industries shaped our state.

Field Trip Plans – Saturday, April 21, 2012

We will meet at the Ritter Park Fountain at 8:30 AM on Saturday, April 21 and spend most of our day in and around Ritter Park.  Our field trip should last until 3 PM on Saturday.  Your lunch will be provided and you will receive a $100 stipend for the day.

In the morning, we will use the Samsung Galaxy Tab to take practice measures of selected trees to calculate board feet.  Please make certain that you have downloaded the Clinometer app and that your Tab’s battery is fully charged.  We will then take a walk around the park to study the trees in the area, their characteristics, uses and identification.  You will use the Tab to take notes on the trees and to photograph the leaves and/or bark of the trees.  You will be producing a sample field guide to trees for your students.

After lunch by the fountain from 11:30-12:00m we will review water quality assessment protocols with Pat.  You will need to follow the guidelines that Pat posted earlier this month on how to update your LabQuest’s firmware.  Using Pat’s explicit instructions, you should have no problems updating your LabQuest.  Please bring all probes and sensors to the park with you.  If you have the backpack from last year, you can load your LabQuest in that.  Otherwise, as Pat suggests, you can use a canvas tote. Assessing water quality will require several location changes so we will need to drive up and down stream to complete the stream water quality assessment. You will want to make certain that you have the water quality spreadsheet template on your Tab that Pat showed you how to make at our last class meeting. This will allow you to enter water quality data and produce graphs easily.  I would also suggest that you have the water quality protocol downloaded to your Tab so you will have easy access to instructions for using the Vernier sensors to determine water quality.

The field trip will take place rain or shine.  Inclement weather is forecast for Saturday so please dress accordingly.

You will need to bring the following items to the park with you on Saturday morning:

·         Fully charged Samsung Galaxy Tab with apps listed on the blog page

·         Fully charged and updated Vernier LabQuest and all sensors

·         Tape measure to determine tree circumference

·         Tree identification guides

·         Backpack or tote for gear

·         Sturdy shoes since we will be doing a lot of walking on uneven terrain

·         Rain jacket (if needed)

Following the field trip, you will be expected to make three blog postings:

1.       Trees of Ritter Park (including photos and descriptions) that your students can use

2.       Narrative and photos on the determination of board feet from a standing tree

3.       Assessment of water quality on 4 Pole Creek including data tables from each tested site

We will look forward to seeing everyone at Ritter Park from 8:30 – 3:00 on Saturday, April 21, 2012.  Get plenty of rest of Friday evening since we have a full day planned.  There will be a good deal of walking and a lot of creative juices flowing.

Blog updates

Please remember to keep your Forestry and Rail Transport blog up-to-date by posting at least once each week.  Your blog can be an excellent resource for your students as well as educators and students in other locations.  Your blog entries can contain information on the forest products or rail industries that you have learned from the presentations, guest speakers or your reading.  You can summarize things that you learned from viewing the DVDs that you have been given or from the books and other print materials.

Another great way to use your blog is to post thought provoking questions for your students.  You can ask them to describe why Shay, Climax and Heisler locomotives could ascend steep slopes that rod locomotives could not.  What are the advantages and disadvantages of rod and geared locomotives for different situations?  What major changes have taken place in the climax forests of West Virginia since the late 1800s and what factors influenced these changes?

The blogs that were produced by the coal project participants are in wide use throughout the state and across the country.  Those blogs are excellent documentation of the coal project and are great resources for teachers and students as well as individuals who are interested in coal.

Let’s make the blogs for the current project on Forestry and Rail Transport even better than last year’s blogs.

The 1913 Guyandotte Bridge Disaster

On January 1, 1913, the C & O No. 99 fell into the Guyandotte River when the bridge collapsed.  Seven were killed in the wreck.  This poem, later a song, was written about the disaster.

THE GUYANDOTTE BRIDGE DISASTER

It was New Year’s morning, Nineteen hundred and thirteen,

Engine eight hundred and twenty went down with fire and steam.

It was on this sad morning at about eleven o’clock,

The C & O Bridge at Guyandotte began to tremble and rock.

When the train reached Guyandotte the engineer was there,

Ed Webber was his name, he had dark and wavy hair.

He pulled his engine to the bridge, but the flagman he was there.

He held out the red as if to say, “You may cross here if you dare.”

Ed sat in his cab window so peaceful and so fair,

He did not know that on the bridge that death awaited him there.

Fireman Cook walked across the bridge and stopped on the other side,

He did not know that Webber was taking his last ride.

Rufe Medders was the bridge forman, a kind good-hearted man.

He stood there giving orders and signals with his hands.

His crew was working on the bridge, but this I think you know,

A-working for their families and for the C & O.

Brakeman Williams gave the signal and the engine started on,

But when she hit the trestle, he that Webber was gone.

The bridge trembled for a moment, and then went tumbling down,

They heard the engine crash below with a sad and mournful sound.

Conductor Love looked across the bridge, then turned and bowed his head,

He knew that faithful Webber was numbered with the dead.

Thirteen men were on the bridge, and when the bridge went down,

Six of them were rescued, while seven of them were drowned.

Ed Webber was the engineer, a brave and faithful man,

He went down with his engine, with the throttle in his hand.

  His body was recovered and placed beneath the sod,

We trust that he is resting with our Savior and our God.

Ed Weber left a loving wife and eight little children dear,

May God protect and comfort them while they remain down here.

Were those men religious?  This I do not know,

But when our Savior calls us, we surely have to go.

God bless their families, their dear old mothers too,

God bless their brothers and sisters, as they journey onward through.

Now all of us that see this song, be good and be true,

For God has said in his own words, that death will visit you.

There is a reprint of an article describing the wreck in the Cabell County Archives.

DRAFT Itinerary for Summer 2012 Trip

The itinerary for the July 2012 trip to locations of interest for the West Virginia Forestry and Rail Transport Project is under development.

A draft of the trip itinerary is available for your review.  This draft itinerary is under development and is subject to change as plans continue to develop.

If you click on the LINK to access the draft itinerary, it will open in Dropbox.  If you wish to click the "Download" option, you can bring the document in as a Word file and can click the links to potential visit sites for the summer trip.