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William Graham Claytor (December 20, 1886 – February 28, 1971), of Roanoke, Virginia, was the vice president of Appalachian Power Company, an electric utility service.
Roanoke is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2010 census, the population was 97,032. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia.
He is best remembered for supervising the construction of the Claytor 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 surrounding Claytor Lake State Park in Virginia are named for him.
The Claytor Dam is a gravity dam on the New River in Pulaski County, Virginia, United States. It is also located about 2.5 mi (4.0 km) south of Radford. It is named after William Graham Claytor, then vice president of Appalachian Power Company (APC), who was instrumental in the dam's construction. APC is now a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP) who owns the dam. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and it supports a 75 MW power station. Its reservoir, Claytor Lake, is also used for recreation. The dam was constructed and its power station commissioned in 1939. It received its first license in 1943. It is 1,142 ft (348 m) long and 145 ft (44 m) tall. It stores a reservoir with a capacity of 225,000 acre⋅ft (278,000,000 m3). The reservoir covers 4,472 acres (1,810 ha) and stretches 21.67 mi (34.87 km) behind the dam.
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are also larger and deeper than ponds, though there are no official or scientific definitions. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams.
Pulaski County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 34,872. Its county seat is Pulaski.
Claytor married Gertrude Harris Boatwright, a lyric poet who published two collections of her poems. Two of their three sons became well-known transportation administrators who led several large American railroads:
Gertrude Harris Boatwright Claytor was an American poet.
- 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.
William Graham Claytor Jr. was an American lawyer, naval officer, and railroad, transportation and defense administrator for the United States government, working under the administrations of three US presidents.
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is a passenger railroad service that provides medium- and long-distance intercity service in the contiguous United States and to nine Canadian cities.
Robert Buckner Claytor was an American railroad administrator. He became President of the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1981 and was instrumental in the merger of the Southern Railway and the Norfolk & Western in 1982. He was the first chairman and CEO of the new Norfolk Southern, and is credited with locating the headquarters of the Fortune 500 company in Norfolk, Virginia, within sight of the massive coal pier at Lambert's Point on the Elizabeth River at Hampton Roads.
"The Claytor Brothers: Virginians Building America's Railroad" is a semi-permanent exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of transportation located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, US.
