EADS
EAGxVN
EADS, James Buchanan, engineer, was born
in Laurenceburg, Ind., May 23, 1830. He re-
moved with his parents to St. Louis, Mo., in 1843,
and while en route they lost their entire household
goods by fire, which calamity made it necessary
for the boy to devote his time to lielp support- the
destitute family. He
spent his evenings in
study and acquired
a fair knowledge of
engineering without
the aid of teacliers.
While purser on a
Mississippi steamboat
he constructed the
model of a boat on the
principle of the div-
ing-bell, which in
1840 he put into prac-
tical operation in re-
covering the cargoes
of sunken freight
boats and finally in
floating the boats with
their cargo by means of- pmnps which discharged
the sand and water weighting them down. He
sold out his inventions in 1845 and erected in
St. Louis the first glassworks established in the
Mississippi valley. In this he failed to Inake
money and he resumed the wrecking bvisiness.
In 1856 he proposed to congress a scheme by
which he agreed to keep the channels of the west-
em rivers clear of wrecks, snags and other ob-
structions to navigation for a term of years. His
proposition was accepted by the house but was
not acted on by the senate. In 1861 he proposed
to the war department the practicability of em-
ploying light
draft iron-clad
gunboats in
western rivers
and withm 100
days constiaict-
ed eight such
vessels which
were accepted
by the govern-
ment and were first used by Commodore Foote in
the capture of Fort Henry, Feb. 6, 1862, over one
month before the Jlonitor encoimtered the Merri-
mac in Hampton Roads, Va. He also constructed
the monitor and gimboats with revolving turrets,
operated by steam, used in the capture of the
various forts on the banks of the Mississippi river
and in Mobile bay. He constructed the steel arch
railroad bridge across the Mississippi river at St.
Louis, 1867-74, and liis method of building by the
aid of caissons the granite pillars supporting the
central arch, which had a clear span of 520 feet,
was afterward generally adopted by bridge build-
ers. This bridge, built at a cost of $6,536,72'J.99,
was opened to the public on July 4, 1874. He
then proposed to the government the deepening
of the entrance to the Mississippi river Ijy means
of jetties. This suggestion was ridiculed by scien-
tific engineers, but congress finally made an appro-
priation for the improvement of the South Pass,
and on July 4, 1874, Eads satisfied the U.S. inspect-
ing officer that he had obtained the maximum
depth proposed. "With his theorj- thus practi-
cally demonstrated he outlined to congi-ess in
1879 the practicability of extending the deep
water channel from his jetties at South Pass to
the mouth of the Ohio, and in 1880 the Mississippi
river commission was appointed, of which he was
made a member, and an appropriation was made
for continuing the work. After extending the
improvements for a distance up the river congress
discontinued the. appropriation, but the work al-
ready done demonstrated the feasibility of the
entire project. On failing to receive the support
promised by congress ]Mr. Eads interested himself
in the projected ship railway across the isthmus
of Tehuantepec, Mexico, and secured from the
U.S. senate in 1887 favorable action on a bill to
incorporate a private company for carrying out
the project. AVhile so engaged he was employed
by the several authorities to devise and report
upon means for deepening the St. John's river,
Florida, the Sacramento river, California, the
harbor at Toronto, Canada, the harbors of Brazil,
the entrance to the ports of Vera Cruz, Mexico,
and the estuary and port of Mersey, England.
He also visited and inspected the great engineer-
ing accomplishments made to the canals and
rivers of Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1884 he
was awarded the Albert prize medal given by the
Society for the encouragement of arts, manufact-
ures and commerce, organized in 1754, the first
American so honored; was president of the St.
Louis academy of sciences, 1872-74; vice-president
of the American society of civil engineers, 1882-
83; and a member of the National academj- of
sciences from 1872. He received the honorary
degree of LL.D. from the University of the state
of Missouri in 1877. See Addresses and Papers of
James B. Eads together with a Biographical Sletch
(18S4). He died at Xassau. X.P., March 3, 1887.
EAQAN, Charles Patrick, soldier, was born
in Ireland in January, 1841. He immigrated to
the United States and settled in San Francisco,
Cal., where he was educated. He entered the
