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Famous Engineers
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The Father of American Civil
Engineering
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Born Oct. 10, 1770, this self-taught engineer
was named "The Father of Civil Engineering" by the American
Society of Civil Engineers in 1969. |
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Although his father was an officer in George
Washington's Continentals, he received very limited formal
education due to financial circumstances after the war. |
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Fortunately, the young lad went to live with
his uncle as a teenager and was able to receive formal
training in math, surveying and the law. |
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In 1784, at the age of 24, he was hired by the
famous civil engineer William Weston to assist him in making
canal surveys for what would eventually become part of the
Erie Canal system. |
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He spent the better part of two decades working
with Weston and then won an appointment as a New York county
judge. |
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In 1817, the governor of New York, DeWittt
Clinton, was able to secure the funds to build the Erie Canal.
The canal, dubbed "Clinton's Ditch" was ridiculed in the press
because of the seemingly insurmountable difficulty and cost of
the project. |
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At the time, there were no formally trained
civil engineers in the United States and Weston was still
working in England. The state of New York hired "the
judge" - the only man in the U.S. who could take on such a
task - as the chief engineer for the Erie Canal project. |
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The task was daunting. The Erie Canal, at
363 miles long, was the longest canal in the world at the time
of its construction. The canal rose more than 600 feet
from the Hudson River at Albany, NY to Lake Erie and required
a total of 83 locks. More than 1,000 workers died of
swamp fever when the canal reached the Montezuma Swamp, west
of Syracuse in 1819. |
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Nonetheless, "the judge" completed the Erie
Canal project in 1825. The canal reduced transport costs
between the Great Lakes region and Eastern New York by 95%.
It resulted in a massive population surge in western New York
and helped New York City to become a major U.S. port. |
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The Erie Canal project spurred "canal fever" in
the U.S. in the 1820's and 1830's. The construction of
new canals was vital to the new country's growth. Many
of the young men who attended the judge's on the job training
known as "the Erie School of Engineering" went on to build
many of the young country's canals, railroads and bridges.
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The judge went on to build the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal, the St. Lawrence Ship Channel, the New York and
Erie Railroad and the Tioga and Chemung Railroad. |
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In the twilight of his career, he served as the
chief engineer of New York City. He also found time to
chair the first engineering committee to look into forming a
national society for civil engineers, which eventually led to
the formation of the ASCE. |
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Who was the judge that became the Father of
American Civil Engineering? |
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Because of his
"Erie School of Engineering" during the Erie Canal project, Benjamin
Wright is called "the Father of American Civil Engineering".
Although not formally trained himself in engineering, he taught dozens
of young men the skills needed to build America's transportation
infrastructure. These men went on to become the foremost canal
builders of their day and they passed on their knowledge to other young
men on subsequent projects.
After completion
of the Erie Canal project in 1825, it was stated in the media about
Wright and his men, "They built the longest canal in the world, with the
least experience, for the least money, and the greatest public benefit."
The Erie Canal was
indeed a "great public benefit". The canal paid for itself within
two years through tolls levied on barges using the canal. More
importantly, it provided a link between the Atlantic Ocean and the
frontier areas in western New York and beyond.
Wright married in
Philomela Waterman in September, 1798. They had nine children,
five of whom went on to become civil engineers. Benjamin Wright
died in New York City on August 24, 1842 at the age of 72.
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