W. Graham Claytor

William Graham Claytor (20 December 1886 – 28 February 1971) of Roanoke, Virginia, was the vice president of Appalachian Power Company, an electric utility service.

He is best remembered for supervising the construction of a dam and creation of a 4,500 acre (18 km²), 21 mile (34 km) long lake on the New River in Pulaski County, a hydroelectric project completed in 1939. The resultant Claytor Lake and surrrounding Claytor Lake State Park in Virginia are named for him.

Claytor married Gertrude Harris Boatwright, a lyric poet who published two collections of her poems. Their two sons each became well-known transportation administrators who led several large American railroads:

* W. Graham Claytor Jr. (1912-1994) headed the Southern Railway and later Amtrak.

* Robert B. Claytor (1922-1993) was president of the Norfolk and Western Railway, and the first president of the new Norfolk Southern when it was created in 1982.

"The Claytor Brothers: Virginians Building America's Railroad" is a semi-permanent exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia.

References

* John T. Kneebone et al., eds., "Dictionary of Virginia Biography" (Richmond, 1998- ), 3:295-296. ISBN 0-88490-206-4

External links

* [http://www.dcr.state.va.us/parks/claytor.htm Claytor Lake State Park (Virginia)]