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Show OLD MASTERS James B. Eads Bd c. c. g. YVf E all marvel at the wonders that have been vv wrought in the last century, which, in civilized civ-ilized lands have amounted almost to a re-creation. That progress has been due in great part to the application of mechanics. The steam engine was perfected by mechanical mechani-cal genius, in great measure electricity has become be-come man's servant from the same cause. It is a natural thought that certain men were raised up for certain purposes or to meet and master mas-ter some particular crisis. Grant had wearied ui the army, resigned, tried farming and failed, and had settled down as clerk in a tannery where, save for the upheaval up-heaval of 1861, he would have ended his days unknown un-known to the world, though his friends in his darkest days were settled in the conviction thav with the opportunity offered he would prove to be a great soldier. Sherman was educated as a soldier and engineer; he tried teaching and banking, bank-ing, and had finally attached himself to a street car company in St. Louis when the call rama In 1861. John Ericsson was born in Sweden, went to England as a youth, then came to America and all the time was studying problems to be solved through mechanics. James B. Eads was born in Laurenceburg, Ind., May 28, 1820, and was educated as a civil engineer. When the war came in 1861 he, like Ericsson, turned to see what could be done to Improve boats propelled by steam to make them more effective and capable of greater re sistance against attack. Ericsson's work waB for, H the sea, Eads' for river craft. Ericsson produced H the revolving turret ship, Eads built ironclads for H the rivers. Both served their purposes, but the llH principle on which "Ericsson worked was the truer H one, for it was capable of fitting any ship, no H matter how big, while Eads had limitations, jB which were controlled by the size of the craft H and the power of guns. A modern gun would H destroy an Eads ironclad with three shots, on H an Ericsson ship a few more layers of steel would H have made the shots Impotent to harm the craft. H But the ships of both served their purpose. H When the war closed Eads turned to other prob- H lems. His first great work was building th& H bridge at St. Louis. It was a marvel when com- H pleted; it remains a marvel still. H mhe best description wo ever saw of it was H a story Fold of Red Cloud, the famous Sioux war H chief. After the Sioux were finally subdued, H Red Cloud, with other chiefs, was taken to H Washington to see "the great white father," and H to be given an object lesson of what the country H that ho had been fighting so long really was. H They went via .St. Louis. On his return home H Red Cloud was asked what he saw that most im- H pressed him. His answer so the story runs H was as follows: H "Him railroad no much, plenty wagons, no H more. Him city no much, all same plenty big H wickiups, but you savie, him bridge over big H water, St. Louis, him all same spider-web. Me H look out. Me see; me no breathe." H We suspect that it would have affected old H Archimedes the same way. z H The war, so the historian says, opened the H Mississippi from its source to its mouth to com- H merce. But It did not. The difference between H the earnest politican and the Mississippi river is, H that the first often has too much mouth, the lat- H ter has too many mouths. This made it difficult H for ships to enter the river or to depart from H it, and at best permitted only ships of light draft H to enter. H Eads turned his attention to it and declared H that with the willows growing on the banks he H could make mats, then sink them, confining the river to narrower limits, which would increase H the speed of the current with the result that the M river would scour out a deeper channel for it- B self. This idea he pressed upon congress session M after session, and was answered by the few who M were familiar with the classics, with such re- M marks as: "Eads, you would fain be a second M Dido, all but your sex, would 'stand with a B willow in your hand upon the wild bank of the M Mississippi and wave your commerce to come M again to New Orleans." M But after a while permission was obtained M to try his desired experiment and the money M was appropriated to do the work. Today those M jetties are one of his monuments. H With equal zeal he undertook what he meant jM should be his greatest achievement a ship rail- H road across the isthmus of Tehauntepec. His H idea wfl to draw up loaded ships from the H water upon a cradle and over many tracks M haul the cradle carrying the ship across the H isthmus. H But the changing conditions defeated him. H Ships changed from wood to steel, then began H to be rapidly increased in length and breadth, H an 1 both congress and private capital fought shy H of his scheme. He struggled on hoping against H hope until his health broke down. He died H in St. Louis March 8th, 1887. H He was not so great an inventor, not nearly H so finished a mechanic as Ericsson, but he was a greater engineer. H He served splendidly his country, made for H himself a high name and will through all time H be remembered as one of the strong and gifted H men of his age. mk |