Eads, JAMES BUCHANAN

Eads, JAMES BUCHANAN, engineer, born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, 23d May 1820, early designed some useful boats for raising sunken steamers, and in 1861, when called to advise the national government, constructed within a hundred days eight ironclad steamers for use on the Mississippi and its tributaries. He afterwards built a number of other ironclads and mortar-boats, which were of considerable service to the North. His steel arch bridge (1867-74) across the Mississippi at St Louis, with its central arch embracing a clear span of 520 feet, ranks deservedly among the notable bridges of the world; his works for improving the south pass of the Mississippi delta were successfully completed in 1875-79; and his great plan for deepening the river as far as the mouth of the Ohio, by means of jetties, has been demonstrated to be entirely practicable. A later suggestion, for the construction of a ship-railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, attracted much attention. In 1884 he received the Albert Medal (q.v.) of the Society of Arts, being the first American citizen to whom this honour had been awarded. He died at Nassau, New Providence, 8th March 1887.