diff options
Diffstat (limited to '26052.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 26052.txt | 2472 |
1 files changed, 2472 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/26052.txt b/26052.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7774815 --- /dev/null +++ b/26052.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2472 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of James B. Eads, by Louis How + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: James B. Eads + +Author: Louis How + +Release Date: July 14, 2008 [EBook #26052] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAMES B. EADS *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +The Riverside Biographical Series + +ANDREW JACKSON, by W. G. BROWN +JAMES B. EADS, by LOUIS HOW +BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, by PAUL E. MORE +PETER COOPER, by R. W. RAYMOND +THOMAS JEFFERSON, by H. C. MERWIN + +_IN PREPARATION_ + +WILLIAM PENN +GENERAL GRANT +LEWIS AND CLARKE + +Each about 100 pages, 16mo, with +photogravure portrait, 75 cents. + +HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + +[Illustration: Jas. B. Eads] + + + + +JAMES B. EADS + + + +BY + +LOUIS HOW + + + +HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY +Boston: 4 Park Street; New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street +Chicago: 378-388 Wabash Avenue + +The Riverside Press, Cambridge + +COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY LOUIS HOW +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +PREFACE + + +I must mention with particular gratitude several books that were +invaluable in preparing this sketch, in supplementing the usual +biographical dictionaries and naval histories. These are: Captain +Mahan's "The Gulf and Inland Waters;" Boynton's picturesque "History of +the American Navy during the Great Rebellion;" Mr. Fiske's "Mississippi +Valley in the Civil War;" Snead's "The Fight for Missouri;" Mr. C. M. +Woodward's "History of the St. Louis Bridge;" Mr. Estill McHenry's +edition of Eads's "Papers and Addresses," with a biography; two memoirs +by Senores Francisco de Garay and Ignacio Garfias, of the Mexican +Association of Civil Engineers; and, above all, several memoirs and +addresses and the history of the Jetties by Mr. Elmer L. Corthell, C. +E., without which I could scarcely have written this Life. + +I must also cordially thank for kind personal aid and advice Chancellor +Chaplin (of Washington University), Dr. William Taussig, Mr. Albert +Bushnell Hart, Major George Montague Wheeler of the Engineer Corps +(retired), Messrs. Winston Churchill, William L. Wright, C. Donovan, E. +L. Corthell (who was as obliging as he was helpful), Estill McHenry and +John A. Ubsdell, Mrs. Susan F. Stevens, and especially my mother--to +whose help and encouragement this Life of her father is due. + +L. H. + +ROCKPORT, MASS., July 30, 1900. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. EARLY TRAINING 1 + + II. THE GUNBOATS 22 + +III. THE BRIDGE 49 + + IV. THE JETTIES 75 + + V. THE SHIP-RAILWAY 105 + + + + +JAMES B. EADS + + + + +I + +EARLY TRAINING + + +James Buchanan Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, May 23, 1820. +Both the Eads family, who came from Maryland, and his mother's people, +the Buchanans, who were originally Irish, were gentlefolk; but James's +father never was very prosperous. The son, however, went to school, and +he showed early a very special love for machinery, observing with great +interest everything of that kind that he came upon. For a while the +family lived in Cincinnati; from there they removed in 1829 to +Louisville. In those days, when steamboats were the best of +conveyances, the Ohio River formed a natural highway between the two +towns. On the trip the small boy of nine hung around the engine of the +boat, considering it with so much wonder and admiration that finally +the engineer, who found him an apt pupil, explained the various parts +of the mechanism to him. + +He really had understood his lesson well, for two years later, in the +little workshop that his father had fitted up for him, he made a small +engine which ran by steam. Besides he made models of sawmills, +fire-engines, steamboats, and electrotyping machines. Except such +chance instruction as that which he found on the boat, he had had no +teaching in mechanics, but worked with the ingenuity of many a bright +boy; for he is by no means the only one who ever took apart and put +together the family clock, or even a lever-watch, with no other tool +than a penknife. One of his inventions, which shows not so much his +talent as his true boyishness, was a small box-wagon, open only +underneath and with a hole in front, which, suddenly produced before +his mother and sisters, ran mysteriously across the room. The motive +power concealed within this agreeable toy was found to be a live rat. + +So much is often said of the precocity of youthful geniuses, that it is +good to know that young Eads was after all a real flesh-and-blood boy, +a boy so mischievous that, as he was the only son, his father hired a +neighbor boy to come and play with him. Certainly he was very clever; +but that he had even better qualities than cleverness is shown by his +first actions on his arrival at Saint Louis. + +His father, deciding to move farther west, had sent ahead the mother, +the two daughters just grown, and the lad of thirteen, intending to +follow with supplies for opening a shop. Again the route was by river. +Arrived at Saint Louis, the boat caught fire; and early on a cold +morning the family set foot, scarcely clothed, not only in the city of +which the young boy was to be one day the leading citizen, but on the +very spot, it is said, where he was afterwards to base one pier of his +great bridge. On that bleak morning, however, none of them foresaw a +bright future, or indeed anything but a distressful present. Some +ladies of the old French families of the town were very kind to the +forlorn women; and once on her feet Mrs. Eads set about supporting +herself and her children. In those days, when sometimes a letter took a +week to go a couple of hundred miles, she was not the one to wait for +help from her husband; so she immediately rented a house and took +boarders. The boy, as resourceful and self-reliant as his mother, now +showed his energy as well as his devotion by doing the first thing he +found to help her. In going along the street he saw some apples for +sale, and, buying as many of them as he could afford, he peddled them +to the passers-by. + +That, of course, was no permanent occupation for a well-bred boy, whose +associations and abilities were both high. Nevertheless his family +could no longer afford to have him at school, and it was necessary for +him to do some sort of work. One of his mother's boarders, a Mr. +Barrett Williams, offered him a position in his mercantile house. +Before long this gentleman discovered his young employee's aptitude and +overwhelming love for mechanics, and kindly allowed the lad the use of +his own library. Studying at night the scientific books which he found +there, Eads acquired his first theoretical knowledge of engineering. In +this way, without teachers, he began, in a time when there was no free +higher education, to educate himself; and both then and ever after he +was a constant reader not only of scientific works, but of all kinds of +books. This practical experience in helping to support his family and +in getting his own education, while he was still so young a lad, was +the school in which he learned self-reliance. It is pleasant to know +that the earnestness of life did not take all of his boyishness away +from him, for it must have been while he was hard at work that he built +a real steamboat, six feet long, and navigated it on Chouteau's Pond. + +For five years he was a clerk in the dry-goods house. At the end of +that time, probably because he was in poor health, he left that +position for one that would take him more into the open air. Though his +health was not strong, he was by no means an invalid; for at nineteen +his muscles were solid and his fund of nervous energy was +inexhaustible. So, with the natural taste of a boy for a more exciting +life, he took a position as clerk on a Mississippi River steamboat. +While he had nothing to do with actually running the boat, he certainly +kept his eyes open to everything going on both on board and in the +river; and began then to make an acquaintance with the stream which was +later to be the scene of his greatest labors. If ever Nature played a +prominent part in the life of a man, the Mississippi did in that of +Eads; for it became the opportunity for three of his chief works, and +from it he learned perhaps more of the laws of science than from all +the books he ever read. To understand his life, one must have some idea +of the huge river, which seems to flow sluggishly or rapidly through +his whole career. + +The Mississippi River, with its branches, drains the larger part of the +whole United States,--that is, from the Alleghanies on the east to the +Rockies on the west. The main stream, 4200 miles long, and in some +places over a mile wide, flows along with tremendous force, ceaselessly +eating away its yellow clay banks. The water, full of sediment, is of a +thick dull brown color. The clay that it washes off in the bends it +deposits on the juts of land, thus forming greater and greater curves; +so that often the distance between two points is very much less by land +than by water. Sometimes there are only a few yards across the neck of +a peninsula, around which the channel distance is many miles; and on +one side the level of the river is several feet higher than on the +other. Gradually the water keeps eating its way, until it forces a +passage through the neck, and then the torrent rushes through in a +cascade, with a roar that can be heard for miles. The banks dissolve +like sugar, and the next day steamboats can cross where the day before +were fields and may be houses. Besides this, the current is constantly +washing away and building up not only hidden bars on the river bottom, +but even islands above its surface. In the fall and in the spring it +rises with such terrifying rapidity that some years it quickly +overflows its banks in certain reaches till it is sixty miles wide. +Houses and trees torn from their places, and wrecks of boats, float or +protrude from the bottom of this brown lake. And when the flood +subsides, the current often chooses a new and changed channel. Amid the +ever-varying dangers of such a river the only safety for steamboats is +in a race of pilots so learned and so alert as to have the shifting +bars and courses always in their minds. In 1839, when steamboats were +the only means of rapid transit in the West, when there were more of +them in the harbor of the little town of Saint Louis than to-day when +it is a great city, this class of pilots was a large and a very +respectable one. Much of their knowledge of the river was what young +Eads learned while he was a clerk among them; and as time went on, he +came to realize that although the Mississippi seems so capricious in +its terrible games that one would think them the result of chance, yet +in truth, they "are controlled by laws as immutable as the Creator." + +Despite all care that could be used, steamboats were every week sunk +and wrecked, and with their valuable engines, boilers, and cargoes were +often left where they lay in the ceaseless brown current. After he had +been for three years on the river, Eads gave up his clerkship to go +into the business of raising these boats, their machinery, and their +freight. In 1842, at the age of twenty-two, he formed a partnership +with Case & Nelson, boat-builders. His first appearance in the new +business was an experience that well shows his quick inventive genius, +his persistency, and his courage. While his diving-bell boat was +building, a barge loaded with pig-lead sank in the rapids at Keokuk, +212 miles from Saint Louis. A contract having been made with its +owners, Eads hurried up there to rescue the freight from fifteen feet +of water. He had no knowledge himself of diving-armor; but he had +engaged a skilled diver from the Great Lakes, who brought his own +apparatus. They set out in a barge and anchored over the wreck; but, +once there, they soon discovered that the current was so exceedingly +rapid that the diver could do nothing in it. Eads at once returned to +Keokuk, and, buying a forty-gallon whiskey hogshead, took it out to the +wreck; and having knocked out one head, he slung pigs of lead round his +improvised diving-bell, made a seat inside it, rigged it to his derrick +and air-pumps, and then asked the diver to go down in it. The diver +having very naturally refused, Eads on the spot set himself a precedent +which, during his after life, he never broke,--saying that he would not +ask an employee to go where he would not trust himself, he got inside +his hogshead and was lowered into the river. His assistants were unused +to managing diving-bells, and when they came to haul him up the derrick +got out of order. By main force they were able to raise the hogshead to +the surface, but not above it. As the air-pump continued to work all +the while, Eads, though wondering what was amiss, sat patiently in his +place, till finally he saw a hand appear under the rim of the hogshead. +Seizing this, he ducked under and got out. Although the rough +diving-bell worked thus awkwardly at first, it served well enough, and +finally all of the lost freight was saved. + +A young man so fearless, so energetic, and so able to invent mechanical +devices at sudden need, was bound to succeed in a business like this. +And young Eads did succeed. "Fortune," he believed, "favors the brave;" +and his motto was, "Drive on!" + +The insurance companies were willing to give the wreckers a large +interest, sometimes as much as a half, of the rescued cargoes; and +there was a law by which a vessel or freight that had been wrecked for +five years belonged to whoever could get it up. Eads and his partners +worked up and down the river for hundreds of miles. The first +diving-bell boat was followed by a larger one, provided with machinery +for pumping out sand, and for raising whole hulls. While in this +hazardous business Eads invented many new appliances for use in its +various branches. Because he was in charge of a boat people began to +call the young wrecker Captain Eads, and that was the only reason for a +title which clung to him always. He grew now to know the river as few +have ever known it,--his operations extended from Galena, Illinois, to +the Balize at the river's very mouth, and even into the tributaries of +the Mississippi,--and he used to say that there was not a stretch of +fifty miles in the twelve hundred between Saint Louis and New Orleans +in which he had not stood on the bottom under his diving-bell. + +With the same devotion to his parents as when he peddled the apples in +the street, Eads now bought them a farm in Iowa, and provided in every +way he could for their comfort. But beyond the ordinary desire of +making a fortune for them, for himself, and for a new interest that was +coming into his life, it does not appear that there were in his mind +any unusual ambitions, any of the dreams of genius. As yet he was only +a hard-working, earnest young man, extraordinarily clever to be sure, +but founding on that cleverness no visions of great renown in the +future. Perhaps this was because he had enough to dream of in the +present, enough hopes of purely domestic happiness to look towards. For +he had fallen in love with a Miss Martha Dillon, a young lady of about +his own age, daughter of a rich man in Saint Louis. The father +disapproved of the match, not only because he thought the suitor too +young, too poor, too unknown, but because he wished to keep his +daughter with him, and for other less reasonable causes. + +The letters between the engaged couple show Eads at twenty-five as a +keen, experienced, and yet an unsophisticated young man; generous, +proud, brave, and courteous; a lover of Nature, of poetry, of people, +and of good books; an inveterate early riser; reverend in religion, and +yet, while nominally a Catholic, really a free-thinker; sentimental in +his feelings almost as if he had lived a century sooner, and at the +same time controlling his true and deep emotions, and showing his +strong love only to those he loved. + +At last Eads and Miss Dillon were married, he being over twenty-five at +the time, she nearly twenty-four. Eads then sold out his wrecking +business and left the river. He probably made this change because he +hoped thereby not only to be more with his wife, but also to support +her in the comfort she had been used to, and to show her father that he +could do so. The new enterprise, into which at least one of his old +partners entered with him, and into which he put all his money, was the +manufacture of glass; and they built the first glass factory west of +the Ohio River. He had to go to Pittsburg--then a long journey by boat, +stage, and rail--to get trained workmen and to learn the process +himself. Almost all of the necessary ingredients and apparatus had to +be sent for to Pittsburg, to Cleveland, or to New York; and they were +often slow in arriving and thereby made matters drag considerably. +Still there was always something to do, and Eads, the only one of the +partners who understood the trade, was forced to work extraordinarily +hard. With his usual persistence he stuck to it pluckily, often staying +up late into the night and rising the next day before dawn to oversee +operations. He was also indispensable for his faculty of managing men; +and a letter to his wife written on his twenty-seventh birthday (1847) +shows how strong the man already was in that power of getting the most +from a workman, which was afterwards to count for so much in his best +work. An employer, he says, must "have constant control of his temper, +and be able to speak pleasantly to one man the next moment after having +spoken in the harshest manner to another, and even to give the same man +a pleasant reply a few minutes after having corrected him. Self must be +left out of the matter entirely, and a man or boy spoken to only as +concerns his conduct; and the authority which the controller has over +the controlled, used only when absolutely necessary, and then with the +utmost promptness." + +However, despite all his firmness and perseverance, the difficulties of +the glassworks became greater and greater; and at last, after having +been run two years, they were shut down. Eads was left with debts of +$25,000. The very unusual action of his creditors in this crisis shows +what confidence they had in his integrity and in his ability; for they +advanced him $1500 with which to go back into the wrecking business, +and he at once rejoined his former partners. He now worked harder, if +possible, than ever; for he felt, as he wrote to his wife, that "with a +man in debt it cannot be said that his time is his own." Powerful as he +was physically, his health was not good, but even in sickness he +scarcely ceased to toil during the first year or two; and at the end of +ten years, not only had all his debts been long since paid, but his +firm was worth half a million dollars. + +Work, however, was to him only a means to an end. The real dignity of +character he knew to lie in culture. To a small boy he sends, in one of +his letters, the message that he should "be a good boy and study hard, +as that is the only way to be respected when he is grown." Even in his +amusements his mind sought occupation: we find him at night on the +diving-bell boat playing chess, and in later years he had become +unusually adept at that game. + +The wrecking business was full of life and action. Here and there, up +and down the river, and into its branches, wherever a boat was wrecked +or burned or run aground, the Submarine hurried off to reach the spot +before other wreckers. Under their bell the divers got at the engines, +boilers, and freight, while the pumps, worked from above, cleared away +the sand; and sometimes by means of great chains and derricks the very +hull itself would be lifted and towed ashore. But on that huge river, +which at times would suddenly rise three feet in a single night, and +whose strong current played such giant pranks as turning over a wreck +in the chains that were raising it, there was need of eternal vigilance +and agility. However, Eads was more on his own ground on the river than +on the shore, and his business so increased that he was soon running +four diving-bell boats. In 1849 twenty-nine boats were burned at the +levee in Saint Louis in one big fire, and most of their remains were +removed by him. Winter as well as summer the work went on; and the task +of cutting out a vessel wrecked in an ice-gorge, or of raising one from +beneath the ice, must have been as trying as walking the river bottom +in search of a wreck. Eads himself, years later, thus describes one of +his many experiences: "Five miles below Cairo, I searched the river +bottom for the wreck of the Neptune, for more than sixty days, and in a +distance of three miles. My boat was held by a long anchor line, and +was swung from side to side of the channel, over a distance of 500 +feet, by side anchor lines, while I walked on the river bottom under +the bell across the channel. The boat was then dropped twenty feet +farther down stream, and I then walked back again as she was hauled +towards the other shore. In this way I walked on the bottom four hours +at least, every day (Sundays excepted) during that time." For a day's +work the city of Saint Louis gave him $80, out of which he paid his own +workmen. He was so prosperous that, as he wrote to his wife, there was +no need for him to join the rush to California to get gold; and his +success caused much envy among his rivals. He began to clear the +channel of the Mississippi from some of its obstructions and to improve +the harbor of Saint Louis. + +In 1856 he knew his work so well that he went to Washington and +proposed to Congress to remove all the snags and wrecks from the +Western rivers,--the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Arkansas, and the +Ohio,--and to keep their channels open for a term of years. A bill to +that purpose passed the House, but in the Senate it was defeated by +Jefferson Davis and others. The next year, on account of poor health, +Eads retired from business, but he carried with him a fortune. He had +not succeeded in his purpose at Washington, but his name was known +there and remembered. + +Meanwhile his wife had died, and two years later he had married the +widow of a first cousin. With his second wife he made his first trip to +Europe,--the first of very many he was destined to make. In 1857, being +thirty-seven years old, he retired, as I have said, from business. + +His youthful hopes, the ordinary ambitions of men, were realized. He +had been a poor boy: at only thirty-seven he was rich,--very rich for +the times and for the place. From his proposals to the government, we +may imagine that he now had broader dreams of usefulness. But his first +proposition toward river improvement had been checked. He had bought a +large house and grounds. He made for himself a rose-arbor, and for four +years he was as much unoccupied as his lively mind permitted. He was at +any rate what is called a man of leisure. + +Then, four years being passed, he received from Washington, from his +friend Attorney-General Bates, a letter written three days after the +surrender of Fort Sumter, which said: "Be not surprised if you are +called here suddenly by telegram. If called, come instantly. In a +certain contingency it will be necessary to have the aid of the most +thorough knowledge of our Western rivers, and the use of steam on them, +and in that event I advised that you should be consulted." + +The government was thinking of placing gunboats to occupy and to defend +the Western waters. + + + + +II + +THE GUNBOATS + + +At the beginning of the Civil War the State of Missouri and the city of +Saint Louis were in a very confused condition. A border slave State, +Missouri contained a great many persons of Southern birth and Southern +sympathies; and besides a good many strong Northern men, Saint Louis +had also a considerable German population, all stanch Unionists. But +excepting the Germans and one or two dauntless clear-seeing men, who +read the future, few persons in either party wished to fight if +fighting could possibly be avoided. The governor, a Southern man, while +hesitating at actual secession, wished and tried to control the power +of the State so that at need it might help the South; and while +professing loyalty, he did all he could to prove his disloyalty to the +Union. The legislature, however, would not pass a bill to arm the +State, thereby, says an historian, causing the South to sustain "a +defeat more disastrous to its independence than any which thereafter +befell its arms, down to the fall of Vicksburg." In response to +Lincoln's call for troops, the governor refused to send any from +Missouri. An extraordinary state convention, called in this crisis, +voted against secession. Seeing that the governor, notwithstanding +this, was covertly aiming at throwing himself and the State, so far as +he could, in with the Confederacy, young Frank Blair and General +Nathaniel Lyon, carrying things with a high hand, seized and dispersed +the state militia encamped in Saint Louis, got control of almost all +the Federal arms in the State, and with outside aid and help from the +regular army, chased the governor from the capital, and held him at bay +long enough for the convention to depose him and the General Assembly, +and to establish a state government loyal to the Union. + +During all these lively events Saint Louis was in confusion. There were +many minds in the town--secessionists, conditional and unconditional +unionists, submissionists: some who wanted war, some who wanted only to +preserve peace so that they might keep their homes and fortunes safe, +even on condition of abandoning slavery. + +James B. Eads did not own a slave, nor did he approve of slavery, but +among his friends and associates there were many who did own them, and +many secessionists. It is curious to observe how little a difference of +opinion on these points, that had become so vital, was able to put +personal enmity among men who were true friends. Of course, among mere +acquaintances there were many instances of bitterness and taunting. +Through it all, Eads, with his rare tact and his exquisite manners, +steered without collision, offending none of those who were not on his +side. And yet we are presently to see what a deep interest his side had +for him, and how much he was able and willing to do for it. + +Between the election and the inauguration of Lincoln, Eads and three +other prominent citizens of Saint Louis wrote a letter to him, +expressing their fears that an attempt at secession would be made, and +urging the policy of having a secretary of state from one of the slave +States. And they recommended, for "purity of character, stern +integrity, exalted patriotism, and enlightened statesmanship," Edward +Bates, born in Virginia, married into a South Carolina family, and long +resident in Missouri. A first draught of this letter is in Eads's +handwriting. When the new cabinet was formed, Bates, a personal friend +of Lincoln's as well as of Eads's, was given a position in it, that of +attorney-general. It was he who, three days after Sumter was fired on, +wrote the letter, already quoted, telling Eads to expect a telegram +calling him to Washington for consultation on the best method of +defending and occupying the Western rivers. Eads himself was by this +time no believer in a defensive policy for the government. After Sumter +he had already written to Bates advocating determined and vigorous +measures. So, when the telegram soon followed the letter, he was glad +to hasten to Washington in order to be of use. There he was introduced +to the Secretary and to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. + +The importance of controlling the Mississippi River was well seen by +the great strategist, Lincoln, who called it "the backbone of the +rebellion"--"the key to the whole situation." If it could be held by +the government, the Confederacy could neither move its troops up and +down it, nor--thus cut in half--could it bring over from Texas and +Arkansas the many men and the quantities of food greatly needed by its +armies east of the river. Realizing this, the Confederacy was already +beginning to fortify the Mississippi and the Ohio with its branches. To +dislodge the rebels Bates proposed a fleet of gunboats. The Secretary +of War, however, thinking this idea of gunboats either useless or +impracticable, showed at first no interest in the plan. But at the +request of the Secretary of the Navy, who realized the importance of +the subject, Eads prepared a statement of his views, embodying Bates's +project. In it he also suggested, besides the best kind of boats for +the service, batteries, to be erected at several points. Commodore +Paulding, on reading this statement, at once reported in favor of it. +Suddenly, the Secretary of War, when he saw that the scheme was coming +to something, claimed jurisdiction over the whole matter, but finally +he agreed to order the same officer already appointed for the purpose +by the Navy to go west with Eads and purchase vessels to be armed. All +necessary approvals having been made, the two went to Cairo, where they +examined the Benton, one of the former snag-boat fleet. Afterwards Eads +proposed the strong and swift Missouri River steamboats. But neither of +these suited his colleague, who at last went to Cincinnati, and buying +three boats there, armed them himself: and very useful boats they were. + +The gunboat scheme had been first proposed in April; it was now June, +and excepting these three wooden boats, nothing seemed to have come of +it. So in July the quartermaster-general advertised for bids for +ironclad gunboats. In 1861 ironclads were a rather new thing. France +and England had a few of them, but at the time the Merrimac was begun +no ironclad had been finished in America. On August 5, when the bids +were opened, that of Eads was found not only to be the lowest, but to +promise the quickest work. On August 7 the contract was signed for +seven gunboats to be delivered at Cairo on October 10,--sixty-four days +later. This contract, it has been said, would under ordinary +circumstances have been thought by most men impossible to fulfill. And +the circumstances then were anything but ordinary: it was a time of +great financial distress; in the border slave States the pursuits of +peace were interrupted; all was in turmoil and confusion; +rolling-mills, machine-shops, foundries, forges, and sawmills were all +idle, and many of the mechanics had gone to the war. The timber for the +boats was still growing in the forests; the iron was not yet +manufactured. And so short was the time that two or three factories +alone, no matter how well equipped they might be, were not to be +depended upon. Yet Eads had undertaken to start up the factories, to +gather the materials, and to build his boats in two months. Never were +the self-reliance and the energy of the man better exhibited; but his +keen business sense might have hesitated, had not his patriotism shown +him that the Union needed the boats quickly. + +Most of the machine-shops and foundries of Saint Louis were at once set +to work night and day; and for hours at a time the telegraph wires to +Pittsburg and to Cincinnati were in use. Twenty-one steam-engines and +thirty-five boilers were needed. Prepared timber was brought from eight +different States, and the first iron plating used in the war was rolled +not only in Saint Louis and Cincinnati, but in small towns in Ohio and +Kentucky. Within two weeks 4000 men were at work in places miles +apart,--working by night and seven days a week. To the workmen on the +hulls who should stick to the task till it was done Eads promised a +"handsome bonus;" and in this way gratuitously paid out thousands of +dollars. The building of this little fleet has been called "a triumph +of sagacity, pluck, and executive ability unsurpassed by any exploit in +the military or civil history of the times." + +To be sure, the seven boats were not finished at the time called for. +That they were all launched within a hundred days of the signing of the +contract is amazing enough, but if they had been built after designs of +Eads's own, so that he would not have been delayed by sudden changes +necessitated when he found weaknesses in the plans furnished him, or +when the designer changed the specifications, and if the government, +harassed and driven as it then was, had been able to pay him according +to its part of the contract, there is little doubt that he would have +had the vessels finished in time according to his agreement. Even as it +was, it was legally decided later that he was not at fault. When he +entered into the contract he was a rich man; and as he was not to +receive his first payment from the government for twenty days, probably +only a rich man could have had the credit necessary to put so much +machinery into motion. As it proved subsequently, the government was so +lax in its payment, and demanded work so much more expensive than the +specifications called for, that before the work was finished Eads was +in a hard way financially. He had been much worried and distracted in +obtaining funds: after exhausting his own fortune he had sought the aid +of patriotic friends, and it was principally in order to pay them back +that he made his appeal to the government. By the terms of his contract +he might have delayed the work until his payments were received, and +might thus have saved himself great distress and worry, but, as I have +said, he realized how much the Union needed the boats. He himself said +that it was "of the utmost importance that these boats should be made +as effective as possible, without reference to how I was to be affected +by delays, ... and that their completion should be pushed with the +utmost energy, whether the government failed in its part of the bargain +or not." Their rapid completion then was a proof not only of Eads's +masterful energy, but of his self-sacrificing patriotism as well. +Ultimately he was paid most of the money for the gunboats, and as a +result of his patriotism won back the fortune he had risked; but at the +time of course it hampered him intolerably to be without funds. He had, +besides, other difficulties to contend with. At least one of his +sub-contractors or head-workmen was a disappointed bidder for the +gunboat contract, and was on a salary which ran till the boats were +finished; and while Eads would not mention such a suspicion in public, +he suggested in a private letter that this had been an additional cause +of delay. + +After all, the seven boats had been launched and were ready to be put +into commission by Flag-Officer Foote, before he had more than one +third of the necessary crews ready for them. + +These seven, the Saint Louis (afterwards De Kalb), the Cairo, +Carondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, and Pittsburg, were all +alike. The Saint Louis, as Eads wrote to Lincoln, when he sent him a +photograph of her, "was the first ironclad built in America.... She was +the first armored vessel against which the _fire of a hostile battery_ +was directed on this continent; and, so far as I can ascertain, she was +the first ironclad that ever _engaged a naval force_ in the world." In +reading the descriptions of them, and in reading in the naval histories +of their undeniable faults, it must be remembered that Eads "had no +part in the modeling of these boats, and is therefore relieved of all +responsibility as to their imperfections." They were 175 feet long, +51-1/2 feet beam. Their flat sides sloped upward and inward at an angle +of about 35 deg., and the front and rear casemates corresponded with the +sides, the stern-wheel being entirely covered by the rear casemate. It +was a large paddle-wheel, placed forward of the stern so as to be +protected. The whole thing was like a tremendous uncovered box, with +its sides sloping up and in, and containing the battery, the machinery, +and the paddle-wheel, while the smoke-stacks and the conical +pilot-house stuck up out of the top. Captain Mahan says that they +looked like gigantic turtles. Underneath the water, they were simply +like flat-bottomed scows. As they were intended always to fight bows +on, they were built with that in view. In front they were accordingly +armored two and a half inches over two feet of solid oak. The only +other armor they carried was abreast of the boiler and engines. The +stern, therefore, and the greater part of the sides were decidedly +vulnerable. Their armament consisted of three guns forward, four on +each broadside, and two at the stern. + +When Eads was given a chance to alter a boat from his own designs, he +made it a much better one than these. It was a boat ordered by General +Fremont in September, 1861, in excess of the government appropriation +for the river fleet. This was the same snag-boat which three months +before had been suggested for alteration by Eads, and refused by the +army's agent. In this case, as in so many afterwards when Eads knew +himself to be right, he stuck persistently to his own opinion; and out +of the heavy old boat, despised and objected to by so many persons, he +fashioned the "old war-horse," the Benton, which, slow as she was, +Spears, the naval historian, calls the most powerful warship afloat at +that date. As a snag-boat, formerly used by Eads, she had "had two +hulls so joined and strengthened that she could get the largest kind of +a cottonwood tree between them, hoist it out of the mud, and drag it +clear of the channel." These hulls were now joined together; and while +the boat was armored on the same general plan as the seven contract +gunboats, she was so much more completely iron clad as to avoid the +danger that they were exposed to of having their boilers burst and +great damage and death caused thereby. Her tonnage was twice that of +the others; her size about 200 by 75 feet. She was entirely iron clad. +In her gun-deck casemate the twenty inches of timber under the plating +had "its grain running up from the water instead of horizontally, by +which means [wrote Eads] a ball will strike, as it were, _with +the_ grain, and then be more readily deflected. On the same principle +that a minie ball will penetrate five inches of oak, crossing the +grain, while it will not enter one inch if fired at the end of the +timber." This detail illustrates the care and interest with which Eads +built his boats. + +The eight of them, Captain Mahan says, "formed the backbone of the +river fleet throughout the war," and "may be fairly called the ships of +the line of battle on the Western waters." He speaks also of their +"very important services." This is milder praise than has been given +them. Commander Stembel said that he had heard them called equal to +5000 men each; Boynton, the naval historian, goes so far as to say that +the permanent occupation of the South was rendered possible by the +ironclad navy of the Western waters. Though the naval battles in the +Atlantic were perhaps more brilliant, he says, none, unless that +between the Merrimac and the Monitor, had more important results. Eads +has been called as potent as a great general in clearing the upper +Mississippi. He did not, to be sure, build the entire gunboat fleet, +but he did build, as Captain Mahan says, the backbone of it; and that +the praises for that fleet, which I have quoted, are not altogether +extravagant, is further shown by the comments of Mr. John Fiske. He +says, "While it was seldom that they ["these formidable gunboats"] +could capture fortified places without the aid of a land force, at the +same time this combination of strength with speed made them an +auxiliary without which the greater operations of the war could hardly +have been undertaken." + +These eight boats figured in many a fight on the great river and its +branches. They "were ever where danger was." A month and more before +the Merrimac and the Monitor were finished, the important capture of +Fort Henry "was a victory exclusively for the gunboats." It was the +Carondelet that ran the gauntlet past Island Number 10, a feat as full +of romance and daring as any that the Civil War tells us of. And these +things were done with vessels still unpaid for and the personal +property of their builder. Their usefulness was a great satisfaction to +Eads, and he rejoiced, as he wrote to Foote, with "the prideful +pleasure of the poor armorer who forged the sword that in gallant hands +struck down the foe." + +When the Benton left her dock for Cairo, Foote requested Eads to see +her there in safety. Eads, who was so deeply interested in his boats +that on another occasion he was narrowly prevented from going into +action with one of them, gladly agreed. Before long the Benton +grounded. As Eads was merely a guest, and as there were naval officers +aboard, he did not feel called upon to interfere with any suggestions. +But after the officers and crew had labored all night trying to float +her, then with his aptitude for emergencies he used his scientific +knowledge to suggest another scheme. The captain at once gave him leave +to command the entire crew, and by means of hawsers tied to trees +ashore and then strongly tightened, the vessel was floated. In this +case the old river man knew more than the naval officers. + +In April, 1862, the Navy Department called Eads to Washington to make +designs for more ironclads,--or rather boats made wholly of iron. These +were to be of very light draught and turreted. He submitted plans for +boats drawing five feet. The department insisted on lighter draught, +but still on heavy plating. So he revised his designs once, and then +once more. Finally the draught was reduced to only three and a half +feet. Eads has himself described his going back to his room in the +hotel, and in a few hours making over his designs. When these boats +were finished they were found to draw even less than had been +contracted for, so that extra armor was ordered for them, and three of +them exceeded the contract speed. At first two boats were ordered, +later four others. For the turrets Eads submitted designs of his own, +but as it was then only a month after the Monitor's fight, Ericsson's +turrets were insisted on for the first two boats, although +modifications were allowed. As the other four had two turrets each, +Eads was allowed on two of them to try one turret of his own, with the +guns worked by steam, on condition of replacing them at his own cost +with Ericsson's in case of failure. This was the first manipulation of +heavy artillery by steam. The guns were fired every forty-five seconds, +or seven times as fast as in Ericsson's turrets. + +In addition to the fourteen gunboats, Eads also converted seven +transports into musket-proof "tinclads," and built four mortarboats. +"Such men," says Boynton, "deserve a place in history by the side of +those who fought our battles." + +The career of some of the gunboats subsequent to the war is +interesting. In 1880 the Chickasaw and the Winnebago, which were two of +the six iron boats, and both of which took part in the naval campaign +at Mobile, had come into the hands of Peru; and old as they were, they +were used very effectively against some of the larger and more modern +boats of the Chileans. + +During those trying war times all of Eads's tremendous energy had by no +means been exhausted by the gunboats. In more ways than one he had been +showing himself a good citizen and a kind-hearted man. Much as his +fortune had been drained by the boats, he still found money to give to +the sufferers in the war. Out of a belated partial payment on the +Benton he at once sent money to Foote for use in relief work, and with +characteristic persistence he sent several letters and telegrams to +make sure of the money's arriving. A month or so later he sent a check +from Washington to Saint Louis to the Sanitary Commission, asking that +its receipt might not be made public. In the letter sent with this he +speaks of the war as "an accursed contest between brothers," but adds +that the "cause is most worthy of the sacrifice." From the niece of the +Secretary of the Navy we also find a letter of acknowledgment of money +to be used in relief. But it was not only to the soldiers that he +showed his tenderness: to Foote, the gallant "Christian commander" of +his fleet, he sent various friendly gifts when that brave man lay +dying,--grapes from his own vines, a portrait he had had painted of his +friend. And even to those on the other side he showed an unusual +consideration. Towards the end of the war there seemed to be no means +of feeding the many refugees in Saint Louis but by levying a tax upon +Southern sympathizers. Eads, who foresaw what bitterness such a course +would produce, offered, in the name of a bank in which he was a +director, $1000 to start a subscription to be used instead, and the +invidious assessment was never levied again. + +To his personal friends he was always generous and thoughtful, sending +them many presents, defending them from misrepresentation, and helping +them in their chosen careers. By means of his influence and tact he +procured the release of an indiscreet person who had talked himself +into McDowell's College prison as a suspected enemy to the government. +Giving to others seemed a trait in Eads's character which afforded him +an intense pleasure; and though a man of great dignity, he used with +his intimate friends a charming playfulness and affection. He could be +extremely mild in correcting faults; and while he was inclined to bear +with others, he could be stern. His manners were rather those one +expects in a European gentleman of leisure and high breeding, than in a +former steamboat clerk and a man who had worked hard most of his life. +His hospitality was princely. In his large house in the suburbs of +Saint Louis he received not only the young friends of his five +daughters and his own friends, but also officers of the river fleet and +of the army, officers sent west on inspection duty, and foreign +officers following the course of the war and of the improvements in +gunboat building. + +His mind was as active as his heart was generous, and the course of his +life mirrored that activity. Now he was at home, now in Washington, now +at Cairo visiting the gunboats to see how they worked under fire. In +Washington he was busy with plans and projects. An intimate associate +said of him in his later life that he was always inventing some new gun +or gun-carriage; and we may be sure that if he ever was doing so, he +was in those war times. Besides inventing his own, he was also busy +examining Ericsson's inventions, in making improvements on them, in +applying steam in novel ways to the working of artillery and to the +rotating and raising of turrets; in sending models of his inventions +here and there, at home and abroad, to Germany, where the Prussian +minister, a friend with whom he often dined, "wished they could get +some of his boats on the Rhine;" having his turrets explained at a +Russian dinner in New York or Washington; and receiving from the Navy +Department an appointment as special agent to visit the navy yards in +Europe. At home he was just as busy. With his house so full of company, +he nevertheless found time somewhere for solid reading apart from his +work--the Attorney-General sent him Cicero's letters, and he lent the +Attorney-General King Alfred's works. There is a curious interest in +knowing what two men so engrossed, and upon such necessary duties, were +reading at such a time. While he was building the second batch of +gunboats, he wrote to Bates in a personal letter that he believed he +had the most complete and convenient works in the country for iron +boat-building; that there and in other places he had as many as seventy +blacksmith fires at work for him, and that his men were all sheltered +from sun and rain. After those boats were finished, he went on planning +others, and we have a letter from Farragut in which the admiral asks if +some of them are not for his use at Mobile. + +Eads, by this period in his strenuous life, knew a great many men, all +of whom he treated with a uniform dignity and courtesy, even when they +were unfriendly, and a few of whom he was on the most intimate terms +with. Among all of them he was admired; perhaps already he was as +prominent a citizen as there was in Saint Louis, and as it was still in +the good old times when the mayoralty there was a high honor to the +best men, it was suggested to him that he hold the office. Nor was this +the first honor offered to be thrust upon him; early in the war Bates +had wanted him appointed commissary of subsistence at Saint Louis, and +though it was unusual to appoint a civilian to that position, Lincoln +had been willing to do it to oblige Bates,--but Eads had not wished it. +More than a year later he was given a commission of lieutenant-colonel +by the governor, but he was never sworn in. Like all men in those +troublous times, he took a peculiar interest in politics; and on being +asked privately in a joint letter from the editors of three Saint Louis +papers (two of them German) exactly what his politics were, he replied +that he was as strongly in favor of emancipation as he was opposed to +slavery, and that he believed in no "kid-glove policy;" but he remarked +incidentally that if he were to be offered the mayoralty he should +refuse it. + +His work was for the whole country. While he was still too much +engrossed with his turrets and his plans for new boats, he fell very +ill. Indeed there can be no question that he sacrificed his health to +build the gunboats. Never very robust, he was now so ill that eight +doctors gave him up. His indomitable spirit pulled him through, but he +was ordered away from his workshop to Europe, he and his family. His +overburden of labor had crushed him,--before this his eyes had been +tired out. Bates charged him to take care of himself; "the country +can't spare you," he said "and I can't spare you." + +Unless Bates was a prophet, we may well think the first of these +statements unduly strong. To be sure, when in a crucial moment the +gunboats were needed, and needed quickly, Eads's unparalleled haste in +building them certainly did an inestimable service to the country. But +so far in his career,--and he was over forty,--while he had shown a +marked inventive talent, he had not as yet made clear his signal genius +for engineering. And although he had exhibited wonderful executive +ability and such true patriotism as made him a valued citizen, he had +still to render himself indispensable to the development of the nation. + + + + +III + +THE BRIDGE + + +Eads was bred to the Mississippi. He had mastered its secrets by hard +experience; he had worked in successful opposition to its great wayward +forces. But he was not to be content till he had tamed it, till he had +saddled it, and, wild as it will always be, had made it nevertheless +subservient to him. To his quietly stubborn spirit there was a +delightful invigoration in using his brain to conquer the brute force +of this capricious monster. For the river is the grandest power between +our two oceans. Niagara is more sublime; but Niagara is constant, and +therefore its immense strength has been easily set to a task. The +Mississippi is so irregular that one tends unconsciously to personify +it by calling it tricky. To find the causes of its sudden changes one +must go back hundreds of miles to the mountains east and west. Seeming +to delight in destruction, it tears down or eats away the checks that +are put upon it. Only a mind never discouraged, a mind capable of +discovering and comprehending the laws that after all underlie the +apparently blind and brutal jests of this untiring giant, can, by the +use of those very laws, tame it. And such a mind Eads had. "That +everlasting brain of yours will wear out three bodies," said one +friend. + +Though indeed his body was strong, with iron muscles and a fierce +nervous energy, yet it was not a big body, and his health was weak. +Again and again he worked beyond his strength, and only on the absolute +order of his doctors would he go away from his work and rest. But he +could not entirely rest. His brain would work. In his health tours to +Europe he was always open to new ideas, always studying new methods to +carry back to his task. "Your recreation," some one wrote him, "is +Monitor discussions with Captain Ericsson." Another recreation was +chess. Had he not elected to be the leading engineer of his day, he +might have been the chess champion. This game, never one for the +slothful and unthinking, he made even more exacting than usual. He +would play several games at the same time; or, without seeing the board +which his opponent used, he would carry the game in his head. Though it +was his nature not to like to be beaten, yet he was as kindly as he was +set in his purpose; and it was also his nature to take defeat +gracefully: defeat seldom came. "Never let even a pawn be taken," he +gave me, a small boy, as a rule for the game. Even in little things he +liked thoroughness,--a capacity for painstaking which is, I think, +characteristic of the "thoroughbred." + +His appearance showed his traits. Not tall, and rather slight, he was +always dignified. His wide and thin-lipped mouth shut so emphatically +that it made plain his intention to do, in spite of all, what he +believed could and should be done. Some one said that it was a hundred +horse-power mouth. It admitted no trifling. When it spoke seriously, it +spoke finally. But his eyes, with their merry twinkle, showed that he +could also speak humorously. He was indeed a famous story-teller, fond +of all sorts of riddles and jests, and remembering all of them he +heard. He used often to point his arguments with an anecdote, always a +fresh one. Believing with Lamb that a man should enjoy his own stories, +he would laugh at his in a most infectious way, till he was red in the +face. Indeed, he was the larger half of his stories. His face was +thoughtful and stern. Though he seldom found fault, he never did more +than once; but he was by no means violent. His mildness was more +forcible than anger. He wore a full beard, but no mustache, thus +exhibiting his long, determined lip. At forty he was already bald, and +after he was sixty he always wore indoors a black skull-cap. +Scrupulously cleanly, in his dress he was point-device. Without the +least ostentation, his clothes were invariably faultless. From young +manhood he had thought that it is due to one's self and to one's +friends to look one's best; and he had also realized the practical +value of a good appearance. Often impressing this on his wife and +daughters, he would have them at all times well dressed. Really he +seems to have been a point too precise. He was just the opposite to +those geniuses whose great brain shows itself by a sloppy exterior. +Eads was never sloppy, even at home. + +His great brain showed itself in its restless activity, in its grasp of +laws and of details, in its fight to help and to better the country and +the world. For it was not only the lusty pleasure of battling with +Nature that made him long for another struggle with the Mississippi: he +saw the value there was in it to commerce and to civilization. Before +the war he had long contended with stubborn currents, and with ice, and +by his energy and his talent for inventing new devices he had become +the most successful wrecker on the river. Abandoning the peaceful but +lively triumphs of snatching hulls and cargoes from the maw of the +stream, he had offered the government to cleanse its course and thereby +to increase its safety and usefulness. In war times, owing to his +knowledge of the waterways and of science, he had been able to build, +with a speed fairly romantic, a gunboat fleet to patrol the +Mississippi. Already now greater schemes for improving this central +highway of our country were in his mind, but as yet the fullness of the +time was not come. Still, he was no longer merely the careful son and +father striving to protect his beloved ones and with no dreams of +broader duties; he was no longer contented with rose-arbors for an +occupation. The grim war had roused him; his years of rest were over; +he was the well-known boat-builder,--engineer, perhaps some persons +already called him,--and his mind was teeming with schemes of +helpfulness. Yet his ambition was not for fame, but to do in the +perfect way the work that only he could do. + +In 1867 a grand convention for the improvement of the Mississippi and +its tributaries met in Saint Louis. Even then people were beginning to +see vaguely that the Mississippi Valley is destined to be the ruling +section of the country. Eads in his speech showed that he foresaw it +plainly. He urged the convention to persuade the government to take +steps to improve the river; showing that for less money than was paid +by the river boats in three years for insurance against obstructions, +those obstructions could be removed. There was not one of them, he +said, that engineering skill and cunning could not master. + +Two years later he urged upon the commercial convention at New Orleans +by letter the importance of introducing iron boats on the Mississippi; +saying that it was the fault of the tariff on iron that the saving they +would effect was not taken note of. Thirty years later this scheme has +again been brought up. Perhaps Eads was before his time in advocating +it. But it shows how he had the interests of commerce at heart. + +His convention speech is a good sample of his style. He was so +painstaking that even in private letters he would insert words and +change sentences and sometimes rewrite. There are first draughts with +excisions of whole half pages, for he sought conciseness. He sought +also a certain rhythm or grace or forcefulness, it is hard to tell +exactly what, since in his letters it often resulted in a rather +self-conscious formality or a stiff playfulness, and in his speeches in +a prettiness or a floweriness of style. He sought too carefully. +Probably in delivery the speeches sounded better than we should +imagine. In reading them, they seem florid. That was, however, the +favorite style of the time. And while, by overdoing it, he often seems +to lose force, he is almost always clear and always entirely logical. +In contrast to his speeches his professional reports are models: simple +and complete, written not faultlessly perhaps, but with a limpidity +which makes one interested even in dry technical details. One of his +most marked talents, often noted, was the ability to explain an +abstruse subject so that it would be quite clear to anybody. And this +he did nearly as well in writing as by word of mouth. + +He thus made clear his remarkable plans for the bridge; for in 1867 the +long talked of bridge at Saint Louis was at last begun. + +In 1833, when Eads had arrived at the town, it had about 10,000 +inhabitants. Though already seventy years old, it had not advanced very +far beyond its original state of a French trading-post. With the +introduction of steam and the waking up of the country, the growth of +Saint Louis was rapid. In 1867 it had about 100,000 people. Despite a +commanding situation, it could be seen that a struggle would have to be +made for it to maintain the leadership among the river towns. As early +as 1839 there had been a project for a highway bridge; and we are told +that "the city fathers stood aghast" at an estimated cost of $736,600. +In the following years there were several more abortive schemes for +bridging, one of which, it is even said, would have been carried out, +had not its projector died. Perhaps it is as well that he never lived +to try it, for until Eads no one seems to have realized how enormous +the undertaking was. Probably few others, realizing it, would have +dared to go on. + +In the winter of 1865-66 a bill was brought up in Congress to authorize +the bridging of the Mississippi at Saint Louis. Dependence on ferries +had become intolerable to the people, and often when the river was +frozen even the ferries were blocked. A bridge was felt to be +absolutely indispensable. However, the antagonism of rival commercial +routes was so powerful that the bill was allowed to pass only after it +had been so amended that it was supposed to require an impracticability. +It declared that the central span of the contemplated bridge must be no +less than 500 feet long, nor its elevation above the city directrix +less than fifty feet. It was said at the time "that the genius did not +exist in the country capable of erecting such a structure." + +Still, a span of over 500 feet had been built in Holland; and the fact +that there was not a total doubt as to the practicability of doing as +well in the Mississippi Valley is shown by the inauguration of two +rival bridge companies about a year after the passage of the bill. One +of these, which was located in Illinois, after calling a convention of +engineers, who considered the question for ten days, without an +examination of Eads's plans, adopted a plan for a truss bridge. The +other, the Saint Louis company, from the first had Eads as its chief +engineer. For another year there was a sharp contest carried on between +these two companies, confined, however, principally to the courts and +the newspapers, until finally the Illinois company sold out to the +Saint Louis company. Had the truss bridge been built, there is no +knowing how long it might have stood, for the engineer who designed it +did not arrange to base the foundations on the bed-rock of the river. +Afterwards it was shown how necessary it was to do this; but at the +time many people thought it quite superfluous, and on that, as well as +on many other points, Eads met with opposition. + +In every case it turned out that he had been right. No one else knew so +well as he the immense power and the waywardness of the Mississippi. +Good engineers supposed that the greatest imaginable scour at the river +bottom in extreme high water would not remove over twenty-two feet of +sand, and it was believed that there were perhaps one hundred feet of +it along the east shore. But Eads had been sixty-five feet below the +river's surface at Cairo, and there he had found the river bottom to be +a moving mass at least three feet deep; and in cutting through the +frozen river to liberate his diving-bell boats, he had found that the +floating ice which goes underneath solid ice, as well as the rising or +"backing-up" of the water above ice-gorges, forces the undercurrents +lower than even a flood does; and he had found on cutting a wreck out +of the ice that she had been held up by the gorged ice underneath her, +which must therefore have been packed to the bottom. Knowing all this +and much more about what goes on under the turbid surface of the river, +he did not doubt that even beneath 100 feet of sand the bed-rock might +at times be laid bare, and he was absolutely convinced that his bridge +must be founded on it. + +Moreover, he saw that on account of the exceptional force of the +current in its rather narrow bed at Saint Louis, the masonry piers of +his bridge must be made unusually big and strong to withstand it. Since +they must be so big and sunk so very deep, it was evident that they +would be so costly that the fewer there need be of them the better. The +central span was required to be 500 feet; with three spans about that +length the river could be crossed, and three spans would require only +four piers. Steel trusses 500 feet long would have to be made extremely +heavy; but Eads showed that a steel arch the same length, while quite +as strong, would be lighter and consequently much cheaper. When his +opponents objected that there was no engineering precedent for such +spans, while he pointed out their mistake, at the same time he +expressed his conviction that engineering precedents had nothing to do +with the question of length of span; that it was altogether a money +question. Therefore, since the cheapest method was to be carefully +sought, he determined upon arches,--two abutment piers, two river +piers, and three arches of respectively 502, 520, and 502 feet long. + +There were many opponents to this plan; some of them people who would +have opposed any bridge, as, for example, the ferry and the transfer +companies. To his own company he explained away every objection that +came up, as he was bound to do, in view of their confidence in him. He +made the clearest of explanations of the theories involved; and even +such absurd predictions as that his superstructure would crush his huge +stone piers, he took the trouble to blast sarcastically. To an +engineering journal he wrote three letters correcting mistakes in its +accounts of his work. But he seems to have wasted little of his energy +in arguing with the newspaper public. It was a question only of time +till everybody should be convinced. + +The most extraordinary care and pains were expended in every direction. +The stone, granite, and steel were both hunted up and tested by +experts, and by machines specially devised in the bridge works, though +not by Eads himself. For his assistants he chose men who were of real +ability and well trained, and to them he invariably gave great credit +for their part in the work. The plans, after being figured out in +detail by them, were gone over by the mathematician Chauvenet, then +chancellor of Washington University, who found not one single error in +them. Most of the big work, such as the masonry and steel, was given +out on contract; and, as was natural, delays by the contractors often +greatly delayed the progress of the bridge. The whole work occupied +seven years. + +While Eads had promised the company to prove by careful experiment, so +far as was possible, everything connected with the bridge that had not +already been fully demonstrated in practice, he did not pretend that in +his main outlines he was without some examples. It was in his +development of known ideas and his expedients for simplification that +his genius perhaps most strikingly showed itself. Again and again he +contrived some device so simple that, like a great many strokes of +genius, it seemed that anybody should have thought of it. The massive +piers were sunk to the bed-rock by means of metal caissons. These were +adapted in design from some he had seen in use in France, and had +examined during a trip his doctors ordered him to make in 1868. Eads +himself compared them to inverted pans. They were open at the bottom, +but perfectly air-tight everywhere else. They had several important +features which were entirely original. Such caissons, sunk to the +bottom, have the masonry of the pier built on top of them even while +they are sinking; and workmen inside them keep removing the sand from +underneath, and throwing it under the mouths of pipes which suck it up +to the surface of the river. Evidently the caissons must be filled with +compressed air to equalize the external pressure, which is constantly +increasing as ever deeper water is reached; they must also have an +opening connecting with the surface; and to admit of passing from the +ordinary atmosphere to the denser one, there must be an air-lock. +Before this bridge was built, the air-lock had always been placed at +the top of the entrance shaft, where, as the caisson sank and the shaft +was lengthened, it had to be constantly moved up. Eads placed it in the +air-chamber of the caisson itself, where it never had to be moved; and +thus, as the shaft was not filled with compressed air, less was needed, +and there was less danger of leaks. Another of his useful innovations +was to build his shaft of wood, and another was to put a spiral +stairway into it. Indeed, in the last pier he put an elevator into the +shaft. Moreover, he was the first person to run his pipes for +discharging the sand, not through the shaft, but through the masonry +itself; and he invented a very simple and effectual new sand-pump, +which was worked by natural forces without machinery. All these +improvements and various others seem to have been thought of so easily, +that we are inclined to wonder why clumsier methods had ever been in +use. He described them all in his reports and his letters about the +bridge in a style which is not only clear but actually fascinating even +to a person who has scant scientific knowledge or taste. + +One of the piers was sunk 110 feet below the surface of the river, +through ninety feet of gravel and sand. Eads's theories were justified +by finding the bed-rock so smooth and water-worn as to show that at +times it had been uncovered. This was the deepest submarine work that +had ever been done, and Eads tells us in his reports many interesting +experiments he made in the air-chambers. In their dense atmosphere a +candle when blown out would at once light again. This was before the +days of electric lighting: otherwise we may be sure that that would +have been used, as so many other modern inventions were. For the first +time in any such work, the last pier sunk had telegraphic +communications with the offices on shore; which must have been +comforting to workmen starting out to their labor in the dead of winter +with two weeks' provisions. The dense air of the chambers caused not +only discomfort to the ears, but also in the case of some of the +workmen a partial paralysis. There was no previous experience to go by, +but every precaution seen to be necessary was taken; the hours of work +were made very short, the elevator was provided, medical attendance and +hospital care were given free. After the first disasters no man was +allowed to work in the air-chambers without a doctor's permit. And it +is known that in helping the sufferers with his private means, Eads was +as charitable as ever. Out of 352 men employed in the various +air-chambers, 12 died. Eads, with his wonted generosity of praise, +printed in his yearly report the names of all the men who worked in the +deepest pier from its beginning till it touched bed-rock. It is +interesting to note in passing that of all the workmen in the +blacksmith's yard only the head smith himself could lift a greater +weight than the designer of the bridge. + +The superstructure consisted mainly of three steel arches, by far the +longest that had ever been constructed; the first to dispense with +spandrel bracing; and the first to be built of cast-steel. The +"Encyclopaedia Britannica" called them "the finest example of a metal +arch yet erected." They were built out from the piers from both ends to +meet in the middle; and were put into place entirely without staging +from below,--once again, the first instance of such a proceeding. All +the necessary working platforms and machinery were suspended from +temporary towers built on the piers; and thus while the arches were +being put up, navigation below was not interfered with. This throwing +across of the 500-foot arches without the use of false works has been +ranked with the sinking of the piers "through a hundred feet of +shifting quicksands," as producing "some of the most difficult problems +ever attempted by an engineer." One problem, caused by the fault of the +contractors, presented itself when they came to insert the central +tubes to close the arches. The tubes were found to be two and a half +inches too long to go in, although they would be only the required +length when they were in. It was left for Eads to insert them. +Shortening them would of course have lowered the arch. Eads, who was +just starting for London on financial business of the bridge, cut the +tubes in half, joining them by a plug with a right and left screw. Then +he cut off their ends, for the plug would make them any required length +by inserting or withdrawing the screws a little. Then he went away. As +it would have been much cheaper not to use this device, his assistants +tried for hours to shrink the tubing by ice applications, and thus to +get the arches closed; and there is a popular tradition in Saint Louis +that they succeeded; but it was excessively hot weather, and they did +not succeed. The screw-plug tubes, of course, were easily put in. Any +part of this steel work can be at any time safely removed and +replaced,--another structural feature original in this bridge. + +Although Eads took care to protect his special innovations by patent, +he was most willing to explain them with care to other engineers and to +have others profit by his improvements; and several of the mechanical +novelties of his bridge are now in the commonest use, and have been +taken advantage of even in such famous structures as the Brooklyn +Bridge. + +During the building of the bridge Eads spent many months in enforced +absence, but while in Europe he always had his labor in mind, and, as I +have said, brought home from France one of his most useful appliances. +During his absence he left absolutely trustworthy and efficient +engineers in charge of the work, and before leaving home he provided +for accidents that might occur. So much work was done in the winter +that great barriers had to be built to keep it clear of floating ice. +One curious detail connected with the bridge is that the Milwaukee, one +of the double-turreted gunboats which Eads had built from his own +plans, and which had been with Farragut at Mobile, was bought now from +a wrecking company, and her iron hull used in making the caissons; so +that her usefulness still continued in peace as in war. + +It has been said of Eads that he grappled with great problems in +engineering, and solved them as easily as a boy subtracts two from six. +While this is true, it must not be forgotten that he had not the +school-training of an engineer. Nothing is more untrue than the +statement that he was, like de Lesseps, only a contractor. He was a +very unusually brilliant engineer, and his ignorance of the higher +mathematics served to show his brilliancy the more clearly. Some +persons have said that his chief talent was in explaining abstruse +reasonings simply; but an engineer has told me that he thought Eads's +chief talent was his ability to arrive by some rough means at a certain +conclusion to a given problem, which conclusion would in every instance +be approximately the same that better trained mathematicians would +reach by mathematics. + +By the time the bridge was finished, indeed from the time (1868) when +his first report for it made a decided stir in the scientific world, +both at home and abroad, Eads was a very well-known engineer. In that +same year a visit to Europe for his health's sake gave him the +opportunity to interview a French steel company, through whom he met a +famous bridge-builder, and was led to examine the piers of the bridge +then being constructed at Vichy; and it was there that he found his new +ideas for caissons. Going home, by way of England, he explained his +plans to the engineers there, and was by them proposed as a member of +the Royal Society. Even at home, in his own adopted State, he was not +without recognition; for in 1872 the University of Missouri conferred +upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. From the general of engineers he +received a request for suggestions for improvements in guns; and from +his work on the subject of Naval Defenses it is plain that his mind +still found time to run on this favorite topic. + +In 1874 the bridge was finished. After it had satisfactorily stood the +severe tests put upon it, it was formally opened on the 4th of July. +The celebrations of that day were the first public outburst of approval +given to Eads's work. And to-day the strong and graceful bridge stands +as his most beautiful and lasting monument. And as even the great +tornado of 1896 was unable to do the piers any serious damage, they are +likely to last indefinitely, and thus make the bridge "endure," as its +builder said, "as long as it is useful to man." + +To Saint Louis it has been so useful that while on the one hand the +growth of the city was the cause of its being built, on the other it +has been one great cause of the continued growth and prosperity of the +city. But it had even broader results than that. "It made a radical +change in the conditions of transportation East and West, and it made +possible the Memphis bridge and the future New Orleans bridge." + +And in another direction yet it is peculiarly important. In +bridge-building it marks an era, not only because of its strength and +beauty and the daring of its design, but also because of its many +labor-saving devices, the inventions of a thoroughly practical mind. A +distinguished engineer calls it "a great pioneer in the art of sinking +deep foundations and building spans over wide stretches of space, that +astonished in its construction the entire civilized world." London +"Engineering" chose it, while building, as preeminently the "most +highly developed type of bridge;" and says, "In that work the alliance +between the theorist and the practical man is complete." In Eads it +finds its long-sighed-for dream, combining the highest powers of modern +analysis with the ingenuity of the builder. + + + + +IV + +THE JETTIES + + +The Mississippi River is a great antimonopolist. As more and more +railways have been built it has been less and less used. And yet, +because it drains almost every corner of a valley which comprises over +one third of the whole United States, it affords means of +transportation to an immense area; and since it cannot be controlled by +any one company or group of companies, its freight rates can hardly be +arbitrarily fixed. Still, so long as there are impediments to its free +navigation in the shape of floods and bars, it cannot be depended on +for shipping, and the magnificent opportunities it should offer to +commerce are lessened. The vastest river system in the world, it shows +in its various parts great contrasts. One large tributary flowing from +the Alleghanies, one from the Rockies, one from the north, others from +the southwestern plains, are each able to contribute their various +products of grain, lumber, cattle, cotton, fruits, and so on. Some +branches freeze every winter; others never do. Some are clear, others +silt-bearing. From about Cairo it flows southward through the greater +delta, or land built up by its own action in ages past, and in all this +part of its course both banks and bottom are of yielding alluvion. For +some hundreds of miles "the crookedest of great rivers," it varies +frequently in width and velocity and is full of shoals; then for +hundreds more, though uniform in width, it often rises higher than its +shores, and is confined in artificial levees, which it continually +breaks down. Finally, below New Orleans, growing more sluggish, and +dividing into several mouths, or "passes," it wanders through tracts of +waste marsh-lands into the gulf, which it colors brown for miles +around. Blocking the end of each shallow mouth there was formerly a +sand-bar; and these obstructions to navigation were the despair of the +river commerce, and no less the despair of the government in its +attempts to remove them. + +Every one interested in trade or shipping realized what a very serious +hindrance to the usefulness of the Mississippi these choked-up mouths +were, but no one realized it better than Eads. Understanding that the +great valley is capable of supporting 400,000,000 people, and intent on +doing all in his power for good, even before he had completed the +bridge he was studying the problem of opening the river. Its +improvement and the welfare of its millions of people were cherished +objects of his life. For some men one great undertaking at a time is +enough, but Eads's energies were such that his works overlapped one +another. It is hard to see how one man can have time, even if he has +brains, to do all he did. But apparently he never lived an idle day. +The bridge, with its many extraordinary solutions of new problems, made +its builder's permanent reputation. At the particular request of West +Point he had supplied that institution with writings, diagrams, and +models. And so far afield had his fame spread that on one of his many +trips abroad, he made plans, at the request of the Sultan's grand +vizier, for an iron bridge over the Bosphorus. A change in viziers, +however, prevented its being built. + +It seems as if the river-mouth problem had not always been so +difficult. Still, Eads showed that the bars were inevitable; and it is +probably only because, with the growing population and trade of the +central States, the need for an outlet was greater, that the problem +seemed more complicated. Moreover, ocean vessels were increasing in +size and draught, which also made an adequate channel more desirable. +Although the blockade had forced the construction of several expensive +lines of railway, yet it was impossible to carry all the products of +the valley by rail. Millions of dollars' worth of merchandise were +delayed at the bars. As early as 1726 attempts had been made to deepen +the channels through the river's mouths by harrowing. But the first +government effort was in 1837, when an appropriation was made for a +survey and for dredging with buckets. Again in 1852 another +appropriation was made; and a board, appointed by the War Department, +recommended,-- + + 1. Stirring up the bottom. + + 2. Dredging. + + 3. If both these methods failed, the construction of parallel + jetties "five miles in length, at the mouth of the South West Pass, + to be extended into the gulf annually, as experience should show to + be necessary." + + 4. "Should it then be needed, the lateral outlets should be + closed." + + 5. Should all these fail, a ship canal might be made. + +Dredging by stirring the bottom was tried, and produced a depth of +eighteen feet. Three years later this depth had entirely disappeared. +In 1856 an appropriation was entered into, but the jetties were never +completed. Later than that dredging was tried again. Up to 1875 more +than eighteen feet of depth had never been obtained, and even that +could not be steadily preserved. Channels, opened in low water, were +quickly filled up with sediment in high water, and sometimes a severe +storm would wash in enough sand from the gulf to undo the result of +months of dredging. + +As early as 1832 a ship canal near Fort Saint Philip, which should cut +through the river bank out to the gulf, had been planned, and this +solution had been approved of by the Louisiana legislature. That idea +had been revived from time to time. And there had also more than once +been new recommendations made for jetties, which by narrowing the +channel should deepen it. Finally Congress ordered surveys and plans +for the canal, and then appointed a board not only to report on them, +but also to ascertain the feasibility of improving the channel of one +of the natural outlets of the river. In 1874 this board reported in +favor of the canal, and against the idea of jetties, which, in its +opinion, could hardly be built, could not be maintained, and would be +excessively costly. + +This, then, was the situation when Eads appeared on the scene: +"scratching and scraping" were going on in South West Pass, but were +doing little real and no lasting good; the government engineers had +declared themselves in favor of a canal; and though in some quarters +jetties had been advocated, scarcely any one thought they could be +built, or that if they were they would last, or that they would do any +good. Eads, however, understood the river like a book, and he had +studied this particular subject. He now came forward publicly, offering +not only to build and to maintain jetties which would insure a +twenty-eight foot channel, but to do all this for less than half the +cost the board had estimated, and on a contract which should provide +for his being paid only in case he succeeded. From this remarkable +offer his own confidence in his plans may be inferred. A purpose which +he had reasoned out as practical became an inspiration to him which +nothing could shake, for his courage equaled his convictions. + +But so bold was his proposition that he was considered a wild +enthusiast. Never at a loss to solve any problem, again, as when he +planned the bridge, he undertook to do what was commonly held to be +impossible. Of course, all the backers of the canal scheme opposed him +bitterly. New Orleans was of that faction. Saint Louis, on the other +hand, upheld him because of his personal popularity and his signal +success with the bridge. The army engineers were against him as a civil +engineer. Thus the controversy was sectional, personal, and +professional. Up to this time the government had invariably intrusted +all works of river and harbor improvement to the military engineers; +and to hand over the most important one it had ever undertaken to a +private citizen, and to permit him to apply a method that had just been +condemned in a report signed by six out of seven of the most +distinguished army engineers, met with decided opposition. So the +government hesitated. Certainly this was a proposal to make them +consider, promising, as it did, an open river mouth, at a cost much +lower than that of the canal, and in case of failure leaving the total +loss to fall upon the contractor. Besides, several eminent civil +engineers supported Eads's theory. The House, nevertheless, passed the +canal bill; but the Senate, more thorough, after calling Eads and two +of his principal opponents to state their views before a committee, +passed a bill appointing a commission to reconsider the entire subject +once more. The discussion before the Senate committee was one of the +crises in Eads's life. The fate of the jetty enterprise hung on the +outcome of it. Fortunately for himself and for the good of the country, +he was a most magnetic and persuasive man. His theories and arguments +were sound and logical, his experience of the river was vast; and +beyond his aptitude for making technical reasoning simple and clear, +his skill as a diplomatist was equal to his ability as an engineer. + +So the commission was appointed; and, ultimately, on account of the +far-reaching importance of the question of river-mouth improvement, its +members decided to go to Europe to inquire into the matter. About the +same time, and for the same purpose, Eads also went abroad, and while +there he made a careful study of the works at the mouths of the Danube, +the Rhone, and several other European rivers. What he saw there served +only to strengthen his confidence in his own plans. When he returned +home, there had been a noteworthy change in public sentiment. Though +there still remained many either prejudiced or honest enemies to his +plan, and although the newspapers were still noisy with their cheap and +ignorant opposition, the country at large and Congress were inclined to +accept the offer, which promised them so much at no risk at all. + +The commission, returning too from Europe, where it had made as careful +investigations as those of Eads, reported, by a majority of six to one, +in favor of trying jetties in the South Pass. This pass, the smallest +of the three mouths, had a depth of only eight feet on its bar, and had +besides a shoal at its head. The South West Pass, the one which Eads +had proposed to use, is not only two or three times as big, both in +width and in volume of water, but it had fourteen feet on the bar, and +no shoal at its head. Eads argued and implored with all his strength to +be allowed to use the larger pass, as the only one adequate to the +demands of commerce; and so convincing were his reasons that the House +passed a bill which called for jetties in the larger pass. But the +Senate, again more conservative, was cautious in this experiment, and +insisted on the small pass. Finally, the bill went through, and the +grant was made for the improvement of South Pass. And notwithstanding +the considerable difference in size, as well as preliminary conditions +altogether less promising than in the pass Eads had asked for, still, +the depth of thirty feet was to be obtained,--the same result under +harder circumstances. The payment promised, however, was not increased +with the difficulty; but on the contrary was to be a good deal less +than the estimate of the commission. The terms, which required certain +specified depths and widths of channel to be obtained and then +maintained during twenty years, were so arranged that Eads should not +receive any part of his payment till after the work covered by that +part had been finished and approved. + +Hard as these conditions were, they were based on his own proposal, and +he was glad even on such terms to undertake the great work he had +longed to do. He at once busied himself in raising money for beginning +the Jetties, and here again his peculiar talents helped him. One of his +friends has said, "His powers of persuasion, his charm of address, and +the magnetism of his personality opened the hearts and purses of +whomever he pleaded with in support of his engineering devices. He was +a most lovable man." Moreover, he was an excellent business man. He had +indeed a marvelous faculty for obtaining funds with which to carry on +his works; and in that time of financial distress such a faculty was +very necessary. + +The theory on which he based his jetties was really extremely simple. +He said that, other things being equal, the amount of sediment which a +river can carry is in direct proportion to its velocity. When, for any +reason, the current becomes slower at any special place, it drops part +of its burden of sediment at that place, and when it becomes faster +again it picks up more. Now, one thing that makes a river slower is an +increase of its width, because then there is more frictional surface; +and contrariwise, one of the things that make it faster is a narrowing +of its width. Narrow the Mississippi then, at its mouth, said Eads, and +it will become swifter there, and consequently it will remove its soft +bottom by picking up the sediment (of which it will then hold much +more), and by carrying it out to the gulf, to be lost in deep water and +swept away by currents; and thus, he said, you will have your deep +channel. In other words, if you give the river some assistance by +keeping its current together, it will do all the necessary labor and +scour out its own bottom. + +Today, since this theory has been proved, it seems as simple as A B C. +And it is almost impossible to believe what opposition it then aroused. +People were not only set on blocking the undertaking, but they were +actually ignorant enough to deny that the velocity of water had any +connection with its sediment-carrying power. Even if the narrowing +process should happen to give a channel through the present bar, they +said, a new one would presently form beyond, and so the jetties would +have to be extended every year. + +However, Eads had his contract and his backers and his ideas and his +faith in them; and he set to work on the little pass. The actual delta +of the Mississippi consists of nothing but water, marsh, and some sandy +soil bearing willows. At the sea end of South Pass Eads extended the +low banks out over the bar, by driving rows of guide-piles and sinking +willow mattresses close alongside them on the riverside. The mattresses +were sunk in tiers, and each tier was weighted well with rock, put in +as soon as each mattress was in position. As usual he invented many of +the requisite mechanical appliances and contrivances himself, and +generally such good ones that his methods came to take the place of +earlier ones. The South Pass was not only the smallest and shallowest +of the mouths, but it was besides more difficult than the other two in +having a bar at its head as well as at its sea end. And although by his +contract Eads was not required to remove that bar, by the exigencies of +the case he was. Like the other it had to be attacked with water, +guided by dikes and dams, which were similar in construction to the two +parallel banks, the jetties proper. The scheme was always to force the +river itself to do all the real work; and though there was, to be sure, +a good deal of planning and building, the main idea, as already +explained, is exceedingly simple. Eads never pretended to have +originated this idea. He had studied many jetties in Europe. He had had +the eye to see that they could be adapted to the Mississippi, and the +skill to adapt them. For simple as the bald theory is, there was need +of the nicest appreciation of laws and forces in applying it, and the +result has been called the greatest engineering feat ever accomplished. +The problem of making the quantity of water needed run _up_ into the +smallest pass "through a narrow, artificially contracted channel, +located immediately between two great natural outlets,"--this problem +being complicated by many "occult conditions,"--has been called, by no +mean engineer, perhaps the most difficult problem ever dealt with +successfully. "There is no instance, indeed, in the world where such a +vast volume of water is placed under such absolute and permanent +control of the engineer, through methods so economic and simple." + +To the non-mechanical mind the control of such a multitude of abstruse, +minute, and exact details as combine in the making of a bridge seems +perhaps more marvelous than the mere bending of nature's forces to +serve the ends of man. In Eads the power to do both existed. + +On piles in the marsh houses were built for the engineers and the +workmen, and the Jetties were begun. Eads was not able to be there in +person all the time, but as usual his choice of competent and faithful +lieutenants was noteworthy. His plans were approved by an advisory +board of very eminent engineers; and by the end of one year the value +of the work began to show. As yet it was not very strong or solid, but +it had deepened the water on the bar from nine to sixteen feet. + +None the less the storm of detraction continued. There were enough +difficulties to meet without this, but none of them was met more +forcibly. It was never Eads's way to attack other people in a malicious +spirit, for he was never jealous; nor did he often deign to answer +purely personal attacks. But in defense of his undertakings, to protect +them and the people who had put money into them, he was ready to fight. +His defense commonly took the form of criticism of his critics, and in +such writing his pen was decidedly trenchant. Probably no man ever +incurred more foolish criticism, and probably none ever pointed out +more plainly how foolish it was. Even "the ablest of his adversaries +confessed themselves afraid of his pen." Besides this parrying of +attack, he was continually writing and talking to show the simplicity +and feasibility of his method; and one man phrased what it is likely +many exemplified, that a few minutes' conversation with Eads had done +more to convert him to the Jetties than any amount of writing and of +talking with other people could have done. Always modest and +unassuming, he was so thoroughly in earnest that he convinced others by +his own conviction. + +Never was a man less afraid to work. Years before, in the diving-bell +days, he had set himself the precedent of never asking an employee to +do what he himself would fear to do. And, on the other hand, he did not +hesitate to ask an employee to do as much work as he himself would have +done. His former confidential clerk has told me that sometimes, after +evenings of discussion, Eads on starting to bed, perhaps at midnight, +would say to him, "Now, have that figured out for me in the morning," +which meant three or four hours of scrupulous figuring or writing to be +done by eight the next morning. + +Undoubtedly he could not have worked so hard as he did himself had he +not been able to throw aside his cares and problems when he was not +actively engaged with them. A very sociable man, he liked not only to +be with people, but to be making them enjoy themselves. Thus he was +both generous and jovial. No one loved more to give presents; no one +knew more droll stories and more poetry. Nor was his joviality by any +means a descent; for not only before royalty was he dignified, but in +the most democratic assembly. His was not, however, a forbidding +dignity. Simple-hearted as a child, he was fond of children, and they +were fond of him. + +Of course, he kept up his miscellaneous reading. He was specially +devoted to poetry; and loved not only to recite verse upon verse aloud, +but also to read to his friends and associates. As usual, his +enthusiasm spread to others. One old lady has told me that she never +had thought much of poetry till she heard him read it. Burns and Edwin +Arnold and Tennyson were favorites; and there is a letter written by +Eads to Tennyson, apparently to send him a clipping in which the one +was described reciting from the other's poems. Eads excuses himself for +intruding with his tribute, and remarks that both of them have built +works destined to outlive their authors. He says it quite modestly and +candidly, "as equal comes to equal; throne to throne." + +Yet despite the confidence of their builder, despite his cheerfulness, +the Jetties were not getting along well. To be sure, they were steadily +deepening the channel, and thereby proving to all ingenuous persons who +were undeceived that jetties were what had long been needed, and that +they should be helped along and finished. But the Jetties were situated +far off in a remote marshland where few people saw them; consequently +nearly everybody was either deceived or was disingenuous. People who +had no business to interfere did interfere. Every hitch was shouted +abroad, every success was concealed or twisted. Concrete difficulties +were enormous. Sudden storms at just the wrong time delayed and undid +the work. The need for more money was pressing, and it could be +borrowed only at exorbitant rates of interest. The newspapers were +clamoring that the rash experiment was a failure; and though, of +course, it was not a failure, still it might have fallen through, when +one day the Cromwell liner, Hudson, drawing over fourteen feet of +water, came in through the Jetties, and they were saved. + +Although the prestige of the undertaking was thus established, Eads +realized that his contract with the government was too severe. Not that +he asked to be paid beforehand for his work, but he did ask to be paid +as the work was actually done. So evident were his energy, skill, and +good faith that Congress promptly voted him an advance of a million +dollars. It also sent a commission to inspect and to report on the +progress and efficiency of the works. This commission, while reporting +favorably, advised against any further advance payments. But Congress, +nevertheless, voted him three-quarters of a million more. It is said +that this is the only instance where the government has voted money to +an individual in advance of the specific terms of his agreement. +Moreover, his contract was re-arranged so as to be less oppressive. + +It has been said that if Eads had failed with the Jetties he would not +only have destroyed his reputation, but he would have been a +beggar,--though, some one added, he would still have deserved +everlasting gratitude for his efforts and sacrifices. And now he had +already succeeded in changing the little pass into a grand channel of +commerce sufficient for the largest shipping that visited New Orleans. +Yet the violent opposition and the calumnies still continued. There was +a wonderful persistency in the false reports which came from bitter +opponents who would not be convinced. The foolishness and ignorance of +their arguments are almost incredible. But however foolish, they had to +be disproved; and Eads set himself patiently to work to point out the +errors in logic and in physics; and in doing so he wrote what those who +know call one of the greatest works on river hydraulics. + +While there were so many men's hands against Eads, it is pleasant to +record that there were also many for him. It was the "Scientific +American" which first suggested his name for the presidency. It +advocated him as a fearless, honest, and forceful man; but the peculiar +compliment in it was that this was a technical paper that upheld him. +The proposal was repeated in many newspapers, but Eads had no more +intention now than ever of going into politics. He knew in what line he +could do most for his country, and had an ambition rather to be a +supremely useful engineer than to be president. + +Another of his admirers was the late Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro II., +who, after a visit to the Jetties, first tried to persuade Eads to go +to Brazil to do some very important work for him, and who then, failing +that, sent him a personal letter asking him to recommend an engineer. +And he engaged the one whom Eads recommended. + +In 1879, a little over four years from the time the Jetties were begun, +the United States inspecting officer there reported the maximum depth +of thirty feet and the required width and depths throughout the +channel. Thereupon all the remainder of the price agreed was paid over +to Eads, excepting a million dollars, which was kept, at interest, as a +guarantee, during twenty years' actual maintenance of the channel. +Omitting from the count every day of deficient channel, these twenty +years are now (1900) almost over; the results in the channel and in the +part of the gulf just beyond the Jetties have been precisely and +entirely what the projector of the works predicted when he began them. +The bar has never formed again. The Jetties themselves, so far from +having to be lengthened, are shorter than they were originally +designed. In a word, the sole legitimate objection that can be made to +them is that they do not furnish a great enough depth. Of course they +furnish the required depth, and as great a depth undoubtedly as can +possibly be had in the little South Pass. Ships, however, now draw more +water than they did twenty-five years ago, and a still deeper channel +is needed. The best proof of the success of the present one is that the +government is preparing to apply the same plan to the big South West +Pass, which Eads begged to open and was not allowed to. It is said that +in that pass he would have produced thirty feet in one year. But +nothing is more useless to discuss than what might have been. What Eads +has accomplished with his Jetties is certain. + +One result of his achievement was a quick improvement in prices. Every +acre, mill, farmhouse in the whole of the Mississippi Valley was +increased in value by the impetus which the open river-mouth gave to +commerce. New Orleans rose from the eleventh to the second export city +in the country. Consequently there was a great increase in the number +of lines of ships going there, and in their tonnage. And as a result of +that there was a rapid increase in railway facilities. In twenty years +from the commencement of the Jetties there was a gain of one hundred +per cent. in the total commerce of New Orleans, nearly all of it due to +these works. This boom has, despite the marvelous multiplication of +railways, preserved the river traffic; and the river traffic, as +always, has by competition lowered freight rates. The effect has spread +to remote districts; and by this reduction in rates and prices there is +no doubt that the Jetties have made living cheaper on the Atlantic +seaboard as well as in the Mississippi Valley. + +Even more: in another way they have made living cheaper. The +half-rail-and-half-water route from the Pacific coast to New York via +New Orleans, which the Jetties first made possible, forced the +transcontinental railways to cut down their time for shipping freight +over one half. The tonnage by this newer route has increased +enormously, and its competition has affected commerce by reducing all +rates from the Mississippi Valley and the West and the Pacific slope to +the Atlantic seaboard and to Europe. As a consequence bread has been +made cheaper to all the great populations that require the food +products of the central zone and the Pacific slope. + +Another very different but curious change is probably largely due to +the Jetties. Before their construction only very light-draught ships +could safely reach New Orleans; but it was so favorite a cotton port +that many owners would build vessels of unusually light draught, in +order that they might make one trip a year to New Orleans with them, +although the rest of the time they sailed to deeper ports. As soon as +it became known over the shipping world that New Orleans was now open +to deep-draught vessels, a great many new ones were built. Thus the +Jetties, as much as any other cause, brought in the era of great ships. + +It has been calculated from statistics, which it is not necessary to +give here, that the annual saving to producers of the Mississippi +Valley brought about by the fall of rates, the saving in marine +insurance, and the saving in time, due to the Jetties, is $5,000,000; +and it is furthermore calculated that the annual money value of the +Jetties to the people of the country at large is, by a very +conservative estimate, $25,000,000. + +Even the Jetties, however, were not the end of Eads's efforts toward +the improvement of the Mississippi. For several years before their +completion he had been delivering addresses urging the application of +the same system to the entire alluvial basin of the river from the gulf +to Cairo. People were in despair as to what to do to prevent the +breaking of the levees (the results of which are as "terrible to the +dwellers on those flats as the avalanche to people who live on the +sides of steep mountains"), and the distress and prostration created by +the awful spring floods. Most people thought there were two possible +remedies,--to build more and higher levees, and to drain off some of +the volume of the river through the Louisiana bayous. But Eads insisted +that the requisite move was to reduce the excessive width of certain +stretches of the river with willow mattresses; by uniformity of width +to produce uniformity of depth, and consequently uniformity of current. +This would facilitate the discharge of floods, and would tend to lessen +the need of any levees, whereas drawing off any of the volume of water, +he said, would increase the elevation of its surface slope, and thus +necessitate higher levees. + +His arguments on the question are clear and forcible; and it is likely +that his plan, if carried out, would solve the important question of +the Mississippi. But enough money to try it thoroughly has never been +appropriated; and so little effect has patching had, that at this very +day there are still advocates of the scheme of drawing off some of the +water,--a scheme which Eads blasted years ago. + +In 1879 the Mississippi River Commission was created, consisting of one +civilian and six military and civil engineers, of whom Eads was one. +But for him the government would not have undertaken, at any rate at +that time, its very comprehensive system of river improvement, founded +primarily on his theory. Besides giving a regular, deepened channel, +and putting an end to overflows, he contended that his system would +reclaim about 30,000 square miles of rich alluvial lands subject to +inundation. For two years he served on this commission: for many years +before he had been working and fighting for the same grand +result,--grand though almost fruitless. "He had no selfish interest to +subserve" in this; "no contract to execute; nothing himself to gain." +But when, on returning from a trip to Europe, he found that the work +was no longer being carried on as he thought it should be, he resigned +from the commission. Deploring the wrong methods used, he still was +most deeply interested in this great work up to the time of his death. +If, some day, the Mississippi is conquered, it will doubtless be +through the means he pointed out. + + + + +V + +THE SHIP-RAILWAY + + +When the Jetties were finished and paid for, Eads found himself in a +very good situation. Not only was his bold scheme proved to be a +complete success, but it had in the end paid him well; and he was +promised still further payment for maintaining his works twenty years +longer. His reputation was world-wide. He was now fifty-nine years old. +Five years later, in 1884, he went to live in New York. It is not hard +to imagine why so busy a man wished to be more in the centre of things, +though, for that matter, he had not for some years past spent much of +his time at home. There was too much to make him travel. Besides the +frequent voyages which he was ordered to take for the sake of his +health,--and which, as he was a very bad sailor, he said were real +medicine,--he was in demand here and there, in places miles apart, for +professional services; and then, too, he visited many engineering works +in various remote lands,--river improvements, docks, the Suez Canal. It +was not alone that his curiosity was always healthy, but also that his +education--the broad, useful education that he gave himself--was never +ended. + +We have seen how he refused to go to Brazil. He was also wanted at +Jacksonville, Florida, where the citizens called him in 1878 to examine +the mouth of the Saint John's River, and to report on the practicability +of deepening the channel through the bar with jetties. He went there, +and, after a personal examination, presented a very elaborate report. +In 1880 the governor of California had requested him to act as +consulting engineer of that State, and he accordingly visited the +Sacramento River, and reported upon the plans for the preservation of +its channel and the arrest of debris from the mines. In 1881 he was +consulted by the Canadian Minister of Public Works on the improvement +of the harbor of Toronto, which he also examined. This was the first +instance in which the Canadian government had ever employed an American +engineer. When he was in Mexico, the government there asked him for +reports on the harbors of Vera Cruz and Tampico and suggestions for +their improvement. Although he did not examine these two harbors +personally, he drew up plans on surveys furnished by engineers whom he +sent there; and the work which has since been carried out after his +instructions has proved eminently satisfactory. Again, it was the +people of Vicksburg who sent for him to tell them how to better their +harbor; and at another time he was consulted about the Columbia River +in Oregon and about Humboldt Bay. In 1885 the Brazilian Emperor made a +second attempt to secure his services for an examination of the Rio +Grande del Sul, but ill health and pressing business prevented his +acceptance of the offer; nor was he able to undertake the examination +of the harbor of Oporto requested by the Portuguese government. It +seems superfluous to say that all the reports he did make "were +exhaustive and eminently instructive in their treatment of the subjects +discussed." + +Perhaps the two most important professional cases submitted to him were +those in 1884 on the estuary and bar of the Mersey River and on +Galveston Harbor. In the case of the Mersey he was called in, at the +solicitation of the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board of Liverpool, to +settle a dispute. Appearing before a committee of the House of Lords, +he gave his testimony as to the effect which the proposed terminal +works of the Manchester ship canal would have upon the estuary of the +Mersey and the bar at Liverpool. "He brought to the solution of this +question that same keen insight into hydraulics and the same close +application that had made him so successful in this country." He showed +so plainly what would inevitably be the deleterious results of the +proposed plans that the committee decided against them. Subsequently +they were changed to conform to his suggestions. For this report he +received L3500, said to have been the largest fee ever paid to a +consulting engineer. + +In the Galveston case, the same year, he was requested, not only by the +city but by the state legislature, to formulate a plan and to take a +contract from the United States government for improving that harbor. +The government had already been carrying on works there for several +years and accomplishing nothing. Indeed, it was the jetty method--by +this time more highly thought of than ten years before--which was being +attempted, but not in proper form. Eads, after long and careful study +of the situation, made a plan, which he offered to carry out on +conditions very similar to those adopted in the case of the Mississippi +Jetties, but Congress was not willing to grant the contract. Since +then, however, the works there have been altered according to his +suggestions, and have consequently been more successful. + +For a good many years, owing to the weakness of his lungs and to other +illness, Eads had not only had to travel much for his health, but to +take special care of himself generally; and yet, to judge from the +following account, in the first person, of how he had spent the year +1880, it seems that his wondrous energy had not failed: "I inspected +the River Danube about 800 miles of its course; and investigated the +cause and extent of the frightful inundation at Szegedin, in Hungary, +which involved an examination of 150 miles of the Theiss River. I also +examined the Suez Canal, to familiarize myself more thoroughly with the +question of a ship canal across the American isthmus, having previously +visited the Amsterdam ship canal and the one at the mouth of the River +Rhone. As a member of the Mississippi River Commission I also aided in +perfecting the plans for the improvement of that river, and the +preparation of its report now under consideration before Congress. As +consulting engineer of the State of California I made a thorough +inspection of the Sacramento River, to consider the best method of +repairing the injury to its navigation caused by the hydraulic mining +operations there, and submitted a lengthy report upon it. On my way +back I visited the wonders of the Yellowstone Park, crossing the Rocky +Mountains in that excursion six different times. Within this time I +have thrice visited the Jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi, +besides my visit to the city of Mexico, Tehuantepec, and Yucatan.... I +have also, at the request of the mayor and council of Vicksburg, twice +visited that city during the last year, to examine its harbor with a +view to its improvement." + +In 1884 Eads received perhaps the most distinguished honor of his +career--the award of the Albert Medal. As it came only two or three +months after the report on the Mersey, it was undoubtedly due to that +as its immediate cause, although the Jetties were almost specifically +named as the reason for this honor,--and Eads had not by any means +lacked even earlier appreciation in England. Three years before, at a +meeting of the British Association, he had been urged, nay pressed, to +deliver an impromptu address on his works, both completed and +projected. Nevertheless, it was not until after the Mersey report that +the Albert Medal was conferred upon him. This medal, founded in 1862 in +memory of the Prince Consort, is awarded annually by the Society for +the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. It was in Eads's +case awarded "as a token of their appreciation of the services he had +rendered to the science of engineering," to the engineer "whose works +have been of such great service in improving the water communications +of North America, and have thereby rendered valuable aid to the +commerce of the world." He was the second American citizen and the +first native-born American to receive this medal. + +Of course he belonged to many scientific organizations. He was a member +of the Engineers Club of Saint Louis, and for two years president of +the Academy of Science there; he was also a member of the American +Geographical Society, of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great +Britain, and of the British Association, and of the Society for the +Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce; a fellow of the +American Association for the Advancement of Science; and a member, +fellow, and for a year vice-president of the American Society of Civil +Engineers. + +He was now a person whose return from Europe, with plans for river +improvement, and news about a fresh engineering scheme, was an item in +the small as well as the large newspapers. For, since the Jetties were +finished, he had a new scheme,--a decidedly new one it seemed to most +people,--though, as formerly, he made no pretense of having originated +the idea. Instead of resting content, now that he was almost +sixty,--rich, and honored, and frail,--instead of resting content on +his laurels of the gunboats, the Bridge, the Jetties, he was as active +as ever, with the hope of opening more roads to commerce and +prosperity. The publication of the proceedings of De Lesseps's +Interoceanic Canal Congress in 1879 gave Eads an opportunity to +propose, in a letter to the New York "Tribune," his own project for +spanning the isthmus. The Tehuantepec route from the Gulf of Mexico to +the Pacific would be, in the general lines of travel, about 2000 miles +shorter than the Panama route, or 1500 miles shorter than the +Nicaragua. And it was at Tehuantepec that Eads proposed building, not a +canal, but a ship-railway. The proposition was astounding. It certainly +suggested very picturesque visions of transportation; but at first +sight it did not sound very practicable. However, Eads held that it +presented six great and purely practical advantages: First, it could be +built for much less than the cost of a canal. Secondly, it could be +built in one quarter of the time. Thirdly, it could, with absolute +safety, transport ships more rapidly. Fourthly, its actual cost could +be more accurately foretold. Fifthly, the expense of maintaining it +would be less than for a canal. Sixthly, its capacity could be easily +increased to meet future requirements. + +In 1880 he appeared before a committee of the House, and in reply to De +Lesseps, who was advocating the Panama Canal, he stated his plan for +the ship-railway. A few months later he went to Mexico, where the +government gave him, besides a very valuable concession for building +the ship-railway, its cordial assistance in his surveys. It was at this +time that Mexico requested his aid in improving its two harbors, and +when he returned home, sent him in the Mexican man-of-war, the +Independencia. The next year he proposed to Congress to build the +ship-railway at his own risk, and to give the United States special +privileges, which had been arranged for in his Mexican charter, +provided the government would, as he proved the practicability of his +plan by actual construction and operation, guarantee part of the +ship-railway's dividends. Although this arrangement would have laid as +little risk on the government as the jetty arrangement had, it was not +accepted. + +Strange and even unnatural as the idea itself appeared, it was adapted +from perfectly simple ship-railways already in existence and in +satisfactory use. Science, he said, could do anything, however +tremendous, if it had enough money. In the magnified form contemplated, +the plan provided for a single track of a dozen parallel rails, and a +car with 1500 wheels. On this car was to be a huge cradle into which +any ship might be floated and carefully propped. The car having then +been hauled up a very slight incline out of the water, and monster, +double-headed locomotives hitched to it, by gentle grades it and the +ship were to be drawn across to the other ocean a hundred miles away, +where the ship could be floated again. To obviate any chance of +straining the ships, all curves were to be avoided by the use of +turn-tables. + +Nevertheless, many people believed that such a journey would strain a +ship so much that it would never float afterwards. On the other hand, +there is so imposing an array of names of distinguished engineers, +shipbuilders, and seamen, who declared that the plan was feasible in +every particular, that it is hard to think they could all have been +mistaken in thus supporting the leading engineer of the day. It may +easily be supposed that every other imaginable and unimaginable +objection was raised, but to one and all Eads gave an answer that +sounded conclusive. + +As usual he was willing to back up his ideas with money, and he had the +most elaborate surveys made, and remarkable models prepared to show the +working of the ship-railway. He preached this new crusade of science +with his customary vigor. So many men were financially interested in +the project, or were ready to be, that it would at all events have been +tested, had not its leading spirit, the very life of it, died. + +Even though he was at the same time engaged in investigations so +important as those at the Mersey and at Galveston, Eads devoted the +last six years of his life mainly to this daring and tremendous +enterprise. In 1885, after obtaining from the Mexican government a +modification of his concession, guaranteeing one third of the net +revenue per annum, he had a bill introduced in Congress, whereby, when +the ship-railway should be entirely finished and in operation, the +United States was to guarantee the other two thirds. Though this bill +was favorably reported, Eads finally decided to withdraw it, and to ask +after all for a simple charter, which would doubtless have been +granted. During those six years there was perhaps not another man in +the country who was so able to persuade others of the scientific, +financial, commercial soundness of his projects. If, more than any one +else, he could make a scheme appeal, it was not that it was in any +sinister sense a scheme, but because his tact and his address were +pleasing, his reputation firmly grounded for honesty and common-sense +as well as for thorough scientific knowledge, so that his enthusiasm +was contagious. His enemies might call him a lobbyist, but his sole +means of persuasion were the soundness of his views, the clearness of +his arguments, and the fervor of his wish to benefit his country. + +For this undertaking, as for his previous ones, Eads invented many +devices. All in all he held nearly fifty patents from the United States +and England for useful inventions in naval warfare, bridge foundations +and superstructure, dredging machines, navigation, river and harbor +works, and ship-railway construction. + +In January, 1887, when his bill was to come up, he went to Washington. +He was in such poor health that he was not able to remain there, but on +his doctor's advice he went with his wife and one daughter to Nassau. +While sick there, he was still at work on improvements for his +ship-railway. He was wont to say to his intimate friends, "I shall not +die until I accomplish this work, and see with my own eyes great ships +pass from ocean to ocean over the land." But in Nassau it was soon +known that he was dying; and still he said, "I cannot die; I have not +finished my work." + +He died March 8, 1887, not quite sixty-seven years of age. No one has +finished his work. + + * * * * * + +In any career there are three main elements of success: talent, +education, work. Eads's life, like that of so many other self-made men, +seems to show us that education is less important than the other two. +But while it is true that he had not the formal education of an +engineer, he had a certain very broad training gained in experience, +and had read hard. Education, after all, is nothing but a summary +method of teaching the lessons of life; therefore, while less +insistent, it is often swifter than practical experience. And there is +no doubt that a man like Eads would be the first to deplore a young +man's failing to appreciate its value. When he himself was young, he +never supposed that he was a genius; but if he had thought this, he +would have striven to be the best-read and the best-equipped of +geniuses; believing that though he might be mistaken about his talent +he could make sure of his culture. + + +The Riverside Press + +_Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.._ +_Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of James B. Eads, by Louis How + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAMES B. EADS *** + +***** This file should be named 26052.txt or 26052.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/5/26052/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |