B-1082

Canton Coal Pier

Architectural Survey File

This is the architectural survey file for this MIHP record. The survey file is organized reverse-

chronological (that is, with the latest material on top). It contains all MIHP inventory forms, National

Register nomination forms, determinations of eligibility (DOE) forms, and accompanying documentation

such as photographs and maps.

Users should be aware that additional undigitized material about this property may be found in on-site

architectural reports, copies of HABS/HAER or other documentation, drawings, and the “vertical files” at

the MHT Library in Crownsville. The vertical files may include newspaper clippings, field notes, draft

versions of forms and architectural reports, photographs, maps, and drawings. Researchers who need a

thorough understanding of this property should plan to visit the MHT Library as part of their research

project; look at the MHT web site (mht.maryland.gov) for details about how to make an appointment.

All material is property of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Last Updated: 09-13-2019

Addendum to Inventory No. B-1082

Maryland Historical TrustMaryland Inventory of Historic Properties Form Page 1 of 1 Name of Property: Canton Coal Pier Location: Crossing South Clinton Street; 1.8 miles south of Boston Street

Prepared by: Skelly and Loy Inc. Date:01/18/2019

A Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties (MIHP) Form was completed for the Canton Coal Pier (B-1082) in March 1980 (Zembala 1980). At the time, the pier, built in 1916 and located on both sides of South Clinton Street in Canton, was still in operation and functioning as it had when it was constructed. The Canton Coal Pier was railroad based and composed of four distinct elements: 1) a gravity/cable-haul system for moving loaded coal cars to 2) a car dumper with storage hoppers; 3) a four-ton, cable-drawn system that carried the coal cars out to the pier; and 4) three traveling loaders on the pier that placed the coal in ships.

Sometime between 1980, when the MIHP form was completed, and 1994, the earliest date aerial photographs are available through Google Earth (United States Geological Survey 1994), all superstructure and machinery was removed from the Canton Coal Pier. All that remains is the concrete pier on the west side of Clinton Street.

Bibliography

United States Geological Survey

1994 Aerial Imagery of the former Canton Coal Pier. Accessed through GoogleEarth. Accessed December 3, 2019.

Zembala, D. 1980 Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory Form for State Historic Sites Survey. B-

1082, Canton Coal Pier. On file, Maryland Historical Trust, Crownsville, Maryland.

0 2,000' 4,000'

720m0

0 2,000' 4,000'

720m0

B-1082 CANTON COAL PIERHISTORIC LOCATIONBALTIMORE EAST, MD ANDCURTIS BAY, MD 20167.5 MINUTE QUADRANGLE39.264943°, -76.568918°

Esri, HERE, Garmin, © OpenStreetMap contributors0 2,000' 4,000'

720m0

SOURCE: USGS QUAD. SHEET -CURTIS BAY, MD 1975

0 1,000' 2,000'

360m0

SOURCE:OPEN BALTIMORE 2019

(PARCEL DATA)

TAX PARCEL MAPB-1082

CANTON COAL PIER HISTORIC LOCATION2200 S. CLINTON ST.

WARD 01, SECTION 10,BLOCK 1903C, LOT 001

2200

0 2,000' 4,000'

720m0

SOURCE: USGS QUAD. SHEET -CURTIS BAY, MD 1975

0 300' 600'

110m0

SOURCE:BING 2019 (BASE IMAGERY)

B-1082 CANTON COAL PIERHISTORIC LOCATIONBALTIMORE EAST, MD ANDCURTIS BAY, MD 20167.5 MINUTE QUADRANGLE39.264943°, -76.568918°

LEGEND

!_ PHOTO LOCATION

B-1082 CANTON COAL PIERHISTORIC LOCATION

B-1082 CANTON COAL PIER CROSSING SOUTH CLINTON STREET; 1.8 MILES SOUTH OF BOSTON STREET

CITY OF BALTIMORE

PHOTOGRAPH LOG BGE’s Key Crossing Reliability Initiative City of Baltimore, Maryland Photographer: Gerald M. Kuncio, Skelly and Loy, Inc. Date: January 9, 2019 Ink and Paper Combination: Canon Pixma iP8720 Color Inkjet Printer and HP Premium Plus Photo Paper Brand, Make, and Dye Type of CD-R Gold: Verbatim Ultralife Archival Grade CD-R, 24-karat gold and patented Phthalocyaninine phase-changing dye Photograph Captions B-1082_2019-01-09_01.tif. Concrete pier at the location of the former Canton Coal Pier, facing southwest.

B-1082 Canton Coal Pier

Statement of Significance

by the Penn Central Railroad in 1916 When aonstructe1, the Canton Coal Pier was radically

different from any other on the Atlantic Coast and has re-

mained so until the present time. It is not known how many

others of the type -- if any -- were built but it is probably

unique today . Still in full operation it is unchanged in any

substantial way from its original form . It is effecient but

in apparent danger of replacement due to deferred maintenance .

The outstanding feat~res of the Pier are its combination of

cable-drawn dump cars that carry coal to the pier and traveling

loaders that carry coal from the pier into the ships . When

constructed, the plant ' s capacity was 800 tons per hour --since

raised to 1000 . It proved enormously effective as a unified

system for transferring coal from railroad cars to coastal

vessels. The entire equipment of the . Pier was bui l t in 1916-

17 by the Mead-Morrison Manufactur~ng Company of Chicago and

installed under the direction of the Pennsylvania Railr~ad's

chief engineer , A.C . Shand .

MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST B-1082

MAGI #0410825715

INVENTORY FORM FOR STATE HISTORIC SITES SURVEY

UN AME HISTORIC Canton Coal Pier AND/OR COMMON

flLOCATION STREET & NUMBER Crossing Clinton St. lB miles south of Boston St., Canton

CITY. TOWN Baltimore VICINITY OF

STATE Maryland

DcLASSIFICATION

CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS _ DISTRICT _PUBLIC X--OCCUPIED

_ BUILDING(S) JLPRIVATE _ UNOCCUPIED

X,..STRUCTURE - BOTH _ WORK IN PROGRESS

_ SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE _ OBJECT _ IN PROCESS )('_YES: RESTRICTED

- BEING CONSIDERED - YES: UNRESTRICTED

- NO

DOWNER OF PROPERTY NAME

Conrail STREET & NUMBER

Room 1846, 6 Penn Center CITY. TOWN

Philadelphia - VICINITY OF

IJLOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE.

REG1STRYOFDEEos, erc. Baltimore City Hall STREET & NUMBER

100 N. Holliday Street CITY. TOWN

Baltimore

II REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE

DATE

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

COUNTY

PRESENT USE

_AGRICULTURE _ MUSEUM

_ COMMERCIAL _PARK

- EDUCATIONAL _PRIVATE RESIDENCE

_ENTERTAINMENT _ RELIGIOUS

_ GOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC

..XINDUSTRIAL _TRANSPORTATION

_ MI LITARY _ OTHER.

Telephone #:

Liber #: WA 3700-412 Folio #: 412

STATE

Maryland 21202

_FEDERAL -5TATE -COUNTY _ LOCAL

DEPOSITORY FOR

SURVEY RECORDS

CITY. TOWN STATE

II DESCRIPTION

CONDITION

- EXCELLENT

- GOOD

UFAIR

_ QETERIORATEO

_RUINS

_UNEXPOSED

CHECK ONE

_,{,NALTERED

---ALTERED

CHECK ONE

/ORIGINAL SITE

_ MOVED DATE __ _

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT ANO ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN ) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

The Canton Coal Pier is located on Clinton Street . 8 mile south of Boston Street in Canton , Baltimore, Maryland . It is owned and operated by the Penn Central Railroad.

The plant is composed of four distinct elements: 1. a gravity/ cable-haul system for getting the loaded cars to 2. a car dumper with storage hoppers , 3. a cable car system , of four-ton cable-drawn dump cars that carry the coal out to the pier , and 4 . three traveling loaders on the pier that place the coal in the ships. They operate in combination as follows :

In the " load" yard area to the east of the pier, the railroad hopper or "road" cars are pushed over a hump , and from that point no locomotives are required until time to remove the cars from the " empty" yard . With brakes released, one at a time the loaded cars run down to the foot of an incline, from which a cable propelled "barney" pushes them up to the car dumper. The empties run from there by gravity to the "empty" yard. As the "load" and "empty" yards are side by side there is a kickback to turn the cars back on themselves at the foot of the incline , before being picked up by the barney .

The 100 - ton hopper under the car dumper automatically gravity feeds into the cable cars which travel on an endless narrow-gage track. The cars are hauled up a 6 . 72% grade to the high steel super­structure on the pier proper, passing to the outer end of the pier and oack, and back down the incline to the starting point . In transit they can be made to deliver their coal " to any of the three traveling loaders .

These loaders are machines that move along the 1000 foot pier on a two-rail track, carrying a hopper and a chute for delive r ing the coal into barges or the holds of vessels . There are two loaders on the north side and one (presently out of service) on the south .

The cab l e system is divided - into two 'parts--one for the incline , the oth~r for the pier superstructure. A tripp~ng device at the top of the incline releases the car from the fir s t cable, and if it is too close to the car ahead, it can be held at will until the spacing is as desired . The aim is to have the 62 cars about 30 feet apart.

The emptying of the dump cars is centrally controlled from a headhouse at the top of the incline, so that it is impossible for loader No. 1 to take coal intended f or No. 2 . The operator in the headhouse designates where each car of coal is del i vered .

The cable is driven by a 150 hp motor in a small powerhouse

CONTINUE ON SEPARATE SHEET IF NECESSARY

Ill SIGNIFICANCE

0 ERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW

_ REHISTORIC -ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC _ COMMUNITY PLANNING - LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE _RELIGION

_ 1400· 1499 -ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _CONSERVATION - LAW _SCIENCE

_ 1500. 1599 -AGRICULTURE _ ECONOM ICS - LITERATURE _ SCULPTURE

_ 1600- 1699 -ARCHITECTU RE _ EDUCATION _ M ILITARY _ SOCIA U HUMANITARIAN

_ 1700- 1799 -ART .,XeNGINEERING _ M USIC _ THEATER

_ 1800 1899 :iLCOMM ERCE _ EXPLORATION/ SETTLEM ENT _ PHILOSOPHY _ TRANSPORTATION

.,X1900· - COMMU NICATIONS JCINDUSTRY _ POLITICS/ GOVERNM ENT _ OTHER tSPECIFYI

_ INVENTION

SPECIFIC DATES 1916 - 1917 BUI LDEA/ ARCHITECT

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

When it was built, the Canton Coal Pier was radically different from any other on the Atlantic Coast , and has remained so until the present time. How many others of the type were built , if any , is not known , but it is probably unique today. Still in ful l operation, it is unchanged in any substantial way f rom its original form. It is efficient , but in apparent danger of r eplacement due to deferred maintenance .

The outstanding features of the Pier are its combination of cable- drawn dump cars that carry coal to the pier and traveling loaders that carry coal from the pier ' into the ships . When con­structed, the plant ' s capacity was 800 tons per hour--since raised to 1000. It proved enormously effective and ef ficient as a unified system for transferring coal from railroad cars to coastal vessel s . Today the efficiency of the Pier continues as it is used to load coal onto barges and export ships that deliver throughout the world.

The entire equipment of the Pier was built in 1916-17 by the Mead -Mo-rrison Manufactur ing Company of Chicago and installed under the direction of the Pennsyl vani a Railroad's chief engineer, A. C. Shand.

The text of this form has been taken, with some alteration, from page 19 of the booklet, Some Industrial Archaeology of the Monumental City , which describes the Canton Coal Pier . See #9 , Major Bi bliographical References.

CONTINUE ON SEPARATE SHEET IF NECESSARY

llMAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Vogel, Robert M. , ed . Som~ Indus tr·ial Ar·cnaeo'lo'gy o f the· Monumental City & Environs·, The 'Pnrsic·a·1 ·Pre·s·enc·e ·of n·a1 tiniore ' s Engin·ee ring a·nd rndus'trial History . Smithsonian Ins ti tut i on , Washington, n. C., Socie t y for Inaustrial Archaeo l ogy , Apr i l 1975.

CONTlNUE ON SE~AW\TE SHEET I f NECESSARY

II!JGEOGRAPHICAL DATA A CREAGE OF NOM INATED PROPERTY------ - -

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION

LI ST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIE S

STATE COUNTY

STATE COUNTY

mFORM PREPARED BY NAME I TITLE

Dennis Zembala ORGANIZATION DATE

Baltimore Industrial Museum March, 1980 STREET & NUM BER TELEPHONE

217 ~- Charles ,street ~-------~

301-396-1931 CITY OR TOW N STATE

Baltimore Maryland 2120 .

The Maryland Historic Sites Inventory was officially created b y an Act of the Maryland Legislature , to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41 , Section 181 KA , 1974 Supplement .

The Survey and Inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only and do not constitute any infringe­ment of indivi dual property rights.

RETURN TO : Maryland Historical Trust The Shaw Hous e , 21 State Ci rcl e Annapolis, Maryland 21 401 ( 301) 267-1438 .

PS • 1 10 8

'1-l. Canton Coal Pier, descr. p. 2

under the pier at the bulkhead line just west of Clinton Street.

The pier was erected to replace an 1887 facility of the "loco­motive incline" type , in which the loaded hopper cars were pushed up a zo incline onto the pier structure, from which they dumped through chutes directly into the ships . Its capacity was only about 500 tons per hour, and its entire operation was far less flexible . Just to the north of the present pier can be seen the ruins of the earlier one, as well as the brick piers that supported the incline over Clinton Street .

The 1917 coal pier survives today with little essential change from its original construction or method of operation. A series of storage bunkers at the end of the pier has been removed, and the dis­charge ends of the loader chutes have been fitted with "trimmers" for distributing the coal to all corners of the ships' holds. It is these that produce , when the chutes are in their raised position, the loaders' striking zoomorphic effect. Addi tionally, the dump cars have had their wood bodies replaced by ones of sheet steel and their friction journals by roller bearings, while in the interests of reduc ing air pollution, water sprays have been placed in the car-dumper hopper where the cable cars are loaded to keep down dust .

Operation is steady overall--if momentarily sporadic--dependent ent irely upon the demands of ships and barges . A backlog of cars is present in the load yard. A large amount of coal (as well as coke, occasional ly) is loaded to barges for the short trip down harbor to Bethlehem Steel ' s Sparrows Point Plant.

(Ma,jor Bibliographical References cont:i.nued)

Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 1948.

"Coal Exports Through Baltimore Reach Farthest Corners of the World. " Port of Baltimore, October 1978, pp 14 .5

Condensed Catalogues of Mechanical Equipment wi.th Directory. New York: American Society of Mechanical Engi neers, 1917.

Seventie th Annual Report, Pennsyl va nia Railroad Compa ny. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Rai l road Company , 19J6.-

Sevenly- First Annual Report, Pennsylvania Railroad Company . Philadelphi a : Pennsylvania Rai l road Company , J9l'l .

"Two Novel Coal Piers Recently Opened at Port of Dal t i more." Engi neering News-Record, 16 August 1917, pp 292-7 .

Vogel, Rohert M., ed. Some Industrial Archaeoloe;y 0f the Monument­a l Cit,y & Environs , The Physical Presence o.f llal Llmo:re ' s En­gi neering and Indust rial Hi.story. Smi Lhsonian Insti.tuti.on, Washington, D.C. : Society for Industrial J\rcllae0l ogy , 1975.

·.

WEIGHING LOADER. TO SERVE BUXKERS AT CAN'l"O::-:, HAS PA:-. COl\-VEYOR

GRAYITY LOADER 3 AT CA:>:TO:-\ JS DESIGNED FOR OPE'.:ll-TOP BOATS

From "Two Novel Coal Pier s Recent ly Op ened at Port of Baltimore ,"

Engineerin~ News -Record, Vol . 79 , No . 7 .

Augu st 16 , 1917 .

1. SITE 1.0. NO NAER INVENTORY U.S. Department of the Interior Herita e Conservation and Recreation Service

2 INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION

8. NAME(S) OF STRUCTURE

Canton Coal t>ier

10. STATE COUNTY

COUNTY NAME

11.SITEADDRESS (STREET & NO) Crossing Clinton Street. South of Boston St., Canton

CITYNICINITY Baltimore

1.8 miles

15. CONDITION 70 0 EXCELLENT 71 0GOOD 72 11!;J FAIR

3. PRIORITY

5. DATE

4. DANGER OF DEMOLITION? (SPECIFY THREAT)

6. GOVT SOURCE OF THREAT

7. OWNER/ADMIN Conrai 1

9. OWNER"S ADDRESS

KJ YES ONO OUNKNOWN

Room 1846, 6 t>enn C 01ter

CONG. DIST.

COUNTY NAME

12. EXISTING QNR QNHL SURVEYS

OCONF 13. SPECIAL FEATURES (DESCRIBE BELOW)

0 INTERIOR INTACT SCALE Cil 1:24 0 1:62.5

OOTHER SCALE 0 1:24 0 1:62.5

OOTHER 730 DETERIORATED 74 0 RUINS 75 0 UNEXPOSED

0 HABS QSTATE

CITYNICINITY t>hiladelphfa

OHAER-1 QCOUNTY

QHAER 0 LOCAL

QNPS QCLS ~OTHER

QEXTERIOR INTACT QENVIRONS INTACT

auAD Ba 1 tim ere East NAME

QUAD NAME

760ALTERED L:Q DESTROYED 850 DEMOLISHED DATE I March 1980

16. INVENTORIED BY Dennis Zembala

AFFILIATION I Baltimore Industrial Museum

17. DESCRIPTION ANO BACKGROUND HISTORY, INCLUDING CONSTRUCTION OATE{SJ. HISTORICAL OATE(SI. PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS. ~eE~1AtsoEfistilo<tur~aNTby0th~RT~~WWL~~~t~Ga1EETfa1t"T-road in 1916 the Canton Coal t>ier was radically different from any other on the Atlantic Coast and has remained so until the present time. It is not known how many others of the type -­if any -- were built but it is probably unique today. Still in full operation it is unchanged in any substantial way from its original form. It is efficient but in apparent danger of replacement due to deferred maintenance. The outstanding features of the t>ier are its combination of cable-drawn dump cars that carry coal to the pier and traveling loaders that carry coal from the pier into the ships·. When constructed, the plant's capacity was 800 tons per hour -- since raised to 1000. It proved enormously effective as a unified system for transferring coal from railroad cars to coastal vessels. The entire equipment of the t>ier was built in 1916-17 by the Mead-Morrison Manufactur-ing Company of Chicago and installed under the direction of the rennsylvania Railroad's chief engineer, A. C. Shand.

18 ORIGINAL USE Transportation/Cargo Handling

I ADAPTIVE USE PRESENT USE I Transportation/cargo Handling

19. REFERENCES-HISTORICAL REFERENCES. PERSONAL CONT ACTS. AND/OR OTHER Vogel , Robert M., ed. Some Industrial Archaeology of the Monumental City & Environs (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., so·ciety for Industrial Archaeology, April, 1975.) r>ennsylvania Ra.1lroad .Company, 1948. "Coa 1 Ex orts Throu h Baltimore Reach Farthest Corners of the World. 11 t>ort of Baltimore, October 1978,

20 URBAN AREA 50.000 21. POP. OR MORE? (Ives ONO

24 LOCATED IN AN HISTORIC DISTRICT? DYES

HC0 < REGION

22. PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY

«JNO NAME

ES. LIMITED ONO

DYES.UNLIMITED QUNKNOWN

DISTRICT 1.0 . NO

(CONT OVER)

25. PHOTOS ANO SKETCH MAP OF LOCATION

I I

References - cont. Vogel. Robert M., ed. Some Industrial Archaeology of the Monumenta+ City & Environs, The rhysical rresence of Baltimore)s/ En jneerin and Industrial Histor . Smithsonian Institution, Wash., D.C.: Society for Indus. Arch ., 1975 . "Two Nove 1 Coa ri ers Recently Opened at t>ort of Ba 1 t i more." Engineering News-Record, 16 August 1917, pp. 292-7.

A~FEAEf'JCl:SICOtlTlt;!UEO) 1 f h . 1 E . t . h D. t N v k Am • s . f h . 1 . 1 ~onaensea ~ata ogues o Mee anica gu1pmen wit 1rec ory. ew 1or : er1can oc1ety o Mee an1ca Engineers, 917. Seventieth An nual Report, t>ennsylvan ia Railroad Company. rhiladelphia: t>ennsylvania Railroad Company, 1916. Seventy-First Annual Report, rennsylvania Railroad Company. t>hiladelphia: t>ennsylvania Railroad Company, 1917.

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Form No. 10-300 ,o.14' 6 - l(><{l..

\!'-&" ·

UN ITED ST ATES DEPARTM ENT Of THE I NTER IOR /t. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

' . . . NATIONAL REGISTER OF IDSTORIC PLACES

INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM

SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS

0 NAME HISTORIC

CANTON COAL PIER AND/ OR COMMON

Canton Coal Pier

LOCATION STREET& NUMBER Canton

Clinton Street at Keith Avenue , _ NOTFORPUBUCATION

CITY. TOWN

Baltimore _VICINITY OF

STATE

Maryland CODE

24

EJcLASSIFICATION

CATEGORY

_DISTRICT

_BUILDING($)

X-STRUCTURE

_ SITE

_ OBJECT

OWNERSHIP STATUS

_ PUBLIC _QCCUPIEO

J{?RIVATE _ UNOCCUPIED

_ BOTH _ WORK IN PROGRESS

PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE

_ IN PROCESS _ YES: RESTRICTED

_BEING CONSIDERED _ YES: UNRESTRICTED

..:»io

ll]OWNER OF PROPERTY

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

COUNTY CODE

Baltimore City 510

PRESENT USE

-AGRICULTU RE _MUSEUM

_COMMERCIAL _ PARK

_ EDUCATIONAL _PRIVATE RESIDENCE

_ ENTERTAINMENT _ RELIGIOUS

_GOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC

2LINDUSTRIAL _TRANSPORTATION

_M ILITARY _ OTHER:

NAME Mr . Jervis Langdon , Jr ., President, Penn c t 1 T ' c en ra rans. o .

STREET & NUMBER

Room 1846, 6 Penn Center CITY. TOWN

Philadelphia _ VICINITY OF

LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC. Baltimore City Hall STREET & NUMBER

CITY. TOWN

Baltimore

. REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE

DATE

STATE

Pennsylvani a 19104

STATE

Mary] and

_FEDERAL _STATE _COUNTY - LOCAL

DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS

CITY. TOWN STATE

'· .... f°fJ DESCRIPTION

CONDITION

_liXCELLEN'

.JLGOOD

_FAI R

_DETERIORATED

- RUINS

_ UNEXPOSED

CHECl.ONE

X.UlfA1.1QED

--AlTElllD

CHECK ONE

XORIGINAL SITE

_MOVED DATE __ _

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

The Canton Coal Pier is located at the intersection of Clinton Street and Keith Avenue in Canton, Baltimore , Maryl and. It is owned and operated by the Penn Central Railroad.

The plant is composed o f four distinct elements: (1) a gravity/ cable-haul system for getting the loaded cars to {2) a car dumper with storage hoppers , (3J' a cable ·car system of four-ton cable-drawn a ump cars that carry ~he coal out to the pier, and (4) three travel ing loaders on the pier that place the coal i n the ships . They operate in combination as follows :

In the "loa d" yard area to the east of the pier , the railroad hopper or "road" _cars are pushed over a hump , and from that point no locomoti.ves are required until time to remove the cars from the " empty " yard. With. brakes released , one at a time the l oaded cars run down to the £,oot o~ an i .ncline , from which a cable propelled "barney" pushes them u~ to the car dumper . The empties run from there by gravity to the " empty " yard . As · the "load" and •empty" yards are side by side there is a kickback to turn the cars back on themselves at the foot o~ the incline , before being picked up by the barney.

The 100-ton hopper under the car dumper automaticall y gravity feeds into the cable cars which travel on an endless narrow-gage track . The cars are hauled up a 6.72% grade to the high steel superstructure on the pier proper, passing to the outer end of the pier and back , and back down the incline to the starting point. In transit they can be made to deliver th.eir coal to any of the three traveling loaders .

These loaders are machines that move along the 1000 foot pier on a two-rai l track , carrying a hopper and a chute for delivering the coal into barges or the holds of vessels. There are two loaders on the north side and one (presentl y out of service) o n the south .

The cable system is divided into two parts--one for the incline , the other for the pier superstructure . A tripping device at the top of the incline releases the car from the first cable , and if it is too close to the car ahead , it can be held at will until the spacing is as desired . The aim is to have the 62 cars about 3 0 fee t apart .

The emptying of the dump cars is centrally controlled from a headhouse at the top of the incline , so that it is impossible for loader No . 1 to take coal intended for No. 2 . The operat6~ in the headhouse designates where each car of coal i s delivered .

The cable is driven by a 150 hp motor in a small powerhouse under the pier at the bulkhead line just west of Clinton Street .

The pier was erected to replace an 1887 facility of the " locomotive incline" type , in which the loaded hopper cars were pushed up a 2% incline onto the pier structure , from which they dumped through chutes directly into the ships . Its cap:i.city was only about 500 tons per hour, a nd its entire operation was far less f l exible . Just to the north of the present pier can be seen the ruins of the earlier one , as well as the brick piers that supported the incline over Clinton Street.

The 1917 coal pier surviv:es today with little essential change from ~ts original construction or method of operation . A series of

'·

Form No 1l'J -300 a (Hev.' 10-74)

t, UN ITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF T HE I NTER I OR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF lilSTORIC PLACES I •

INVENTORY--NOMINATION FORM

CANTON COAL PIER

CONTI NUAT I O N SHEET ITEM NUMBER 7

FOR NPS USE ONLY .

RECEIVED

loATE ENTERED·.

PAGE 1

storage bunkers at the end of t he pier has been removed , and the discharge ends of the loader chutes have been fitted with " trimmers " for distributing the coal -to all corners of the ships ' holds . It is these that produce , when the chutes are in their raised position , the loaders ' striking zoomorphic effect . Additionall y , the dump cars have had their wood bodies replaced by ones of sheet steel and their friction journals by roller bearings , while in the interests of re­ducing air pollution , water sprays have been placed in the car­dumper hopper where the cable cars are loaded to keep down dust .

Operation is steady overall if momentarily sporadic , dependent t_ _ entirely upon the demands of ships and barges. A backlog of cars is

"''tV'~present in the load yard . A large amount of coal (as well as coke , i· occasionally) is loaded to barges for the short trip down harbor to

Bethlehem Steel ' s Sparrows Point Plant .

'·

Ill SIGNIFICANCE

PERIOD · AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- OH ECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW

_ PREHISTORIC

_ 1400- 1499

. _1500- 1599

_ 1600-1699

_1700-1799

_ 1800-1899

~900·

--ARCHEOLUGY·PREHISTORIC

_ARCHEOLO~Y - HISTORIC

_AGRICULTURE

_ARCHITECTURE

-ART

X..coMMERCE

_ COMMU NICATIONS

SPECIFIC DATES 1916.-.1917

_COMMUNITY PLANNING _ LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

_ CONSERVATION _LAW

- ECONOMICS _ LITERATURE

- EDUCATION _MILITARY

X ENGINEERING _MUSIC

_ EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY

*INDUSTRY _ POLITI CS/GOVER NM ENT

_I NVENTION

BUILDER/ ARCH ITECT

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE (see note below}.

_ RELIGION

_ SCIENCE

- SCULPTURE

- SOCIAUHUMANIT ARIAN

_ THEATER

_TRANSPORTATION

_OTHER (SPECIFY)

When it was built , the Canton Coal Pier was radically different from any other on the Atlantic Coast , and has remained so unti l the present time . How· many- others of the 'type were built, if any, is not known, but it is probably unique today . Still in full operation , it is unchanged in any substantial way from its original form . It is efficient, excellently maintained , and in no apparent danger of replacement despite what is regarded as its considerable antiquity .

· The outstanding features of the Pier are its combination of cable-drawn dump cars that carry coal to the pier and traveling loaders that carry coal ;from the pier into the ··Ships . When constructed , t he plant ' s capacity wa s 80 0 tons per hour , since raised to 1000. It proved enormously effective and efficient as a unified system for transferring coal from railroad cars to coastal vessels . Today the efficiency of the Pier continues as it is used to load coal onto barges and export ships that deliver throughout the world .

The entire equipment of the Pier was built in 1916-1917 by the Mead-Morrison Manufac turing Company of Chicago and installed under the direction of the Pennsylvania Railroad ' s chief engineer, A. C. Shand.

The text of this form has been taken , with some alteration, f;t;'oro pa9e 19 o~ the. booklet , · 'S'ome· Tn'dustrial Arc·ha·e·olog·y ·o·f the

· l1onumenta·1· City' ." .' · . which describes the Canton Coal Pier . See #9, Major Bibliographical References.

' MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

'· ·.Vogel , Robert M., ed . Some Industrial Archaeology of the Monwnental City & Environs, The. Physical P~esence of Baltimore ' s Eng ineerfn9 a·nd rndu'str<i :;:fi. Hts:toYy ~ Smithsonian Ins ti tu ti on , Washington , D. C., Society- for Industrial Archaeology , April 1975 .

ll!JGEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY __ 20 acres UTM REFERENCES

ALi_j I I I I ZONE EASTING

cliJ I I 1 I I I l , l NORTHING

I ., l -r ·I VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION

sl.i_J I I , I ZO NE EASTING

oWJl ·a I

J I ., ., I I ., NORTHING

I ·I I I I I

LIST ALL STATES A ND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

STATE CODE COUNTY

STATE CODE COUNTY

mFORM PREPARED BY NAME/TITLE

Pamela James, Assistant Historian ORGANIZATION

Maryland Historical Trust STREET & NUMBER

21 State Circle CITY OR TOWN

IS DATE

August 1975 TELEPHONE

301-267-1438 STATE

CODE

CODE

Annapolis Maryland 21401

[flSTA TE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGN IFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHI N THE STATE IS:

NATIONAL _ STATE __ LOCAL __

As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665). I

hereby nominate th.is property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it ha·s been evaluated according to the

criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE

TITLE DATE

DATE #

GPO 892-453

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