Elnathan Sweet | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1837-11-20)November 20, 1837 |
| Died | January 26, 1903(1903-01-26) (aged 65) |
| Education | Union College (1859) |
| Title | New York State Engineer and Surveyor |
| Term | 1884–1887 |
Elnathan Sweet (November 20, 1837 – January 26, 1903) was an Americancivil engineer and politician fromNew York. He wasNew York State Engineer and Surveyor from 1884 to 1887.[1][2] He is credited with constructing the firstcantileverarch bridge.[3]
He was born on November 20, 1837, inCheshire, Massachusetts. His family moved toStephentown, New York, in 1842.[1][2][4]
He graduated with a degree incivil engineering fromUnion College in 1859, and began work as Deputy Surveyor underWard B. Burnet, Surveyor General of theKansas andNebraska Territories. He soon returned to New York and was employed as Assistant Engineer in various railway companies. From 1864 to 1868, he was atFranklin, Pennsylvania, engaged in the engineering development of oil wells and coal mines. In 1869, he removed to Chicago, and became Chief Engineer of the Rock Island and Quincy Railroad, later a part of theChicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. In 1871, he became also Consulting Engineer for theRockford Central Railroad and theCairo and St. Louis Railroad, and engaged in railway construction with his partner James R. Young.
In 1875, he was a member of theTilden Commission which investigated alleged canal frauds. He was appointed Division Engineer of the Eastern Division of the New York State Canals in 1876. He resigned in 1880, and resumed his railway construction business with his former partner, James R. Young.
He wasNew York State Engineer and Surveyor from 1884 to 1887, elected on theDemocratic ticket in1883 and1885. Upon retiring from public office, he returned to private practice where, as president of the Hilton Bridge Construction Company, his company landed a State contract to design and construct what would become theHawk Street Viaduct inAlbany.[3] He was also, for a time, president of theCanton Bridge Company.
In 1897 he was appointed as receiver for theLebanon Springs Railroad following the death of William V. V. Reynolds.[5]
In 1900, he was President of the Advisory Commission of Engineers, appointed by State EngineerEdward A. Bond to advise in the conduct of surveys for a thousand-ton barge canal. Later he was a member of the New York Water Storage Commission.
He died fromheart disease at theFort Orange Club inAlbany, New York, on January 26, 1903, at age 65.[6]
Of those engineering projects with which Sweet was directly involved, theHawk Street Viaduct may have had the most lasting and widespread impact. Sweet's novel design, likely the firstcantilever arch bridge, was replicated across America and Europe.[3] In the years following its completion, major cantilever arch bridges were erected over theSeine andViaur inFrance, theElbe–Lübeck Canal atMölln inGermany, and on railways inAlaska andCosta Rica.[7]
His principal contribution to engineering science was the determination of the laws that govern the propulsion of vessels in narrow channels, an account of which he published in 1880 in theTransactions of theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers of which organization he was elected a member in 1878.
Elnathan Sweet, the subject of this memoir, was about five years old when his parents removed to Stephentown, and there he grew up strong and healthy in the midst of a beautiful, bold and striking scenery. ...
Elnathan Sweet, the candidate for State Engineer, was born in Cheshire, Mass., on Nov. 20, 1837. He removed to Stephentown, Rensselaer County, in 1842. ...
Justice Fursman has appointed Elnathan Sweet receiver of the Lebanon Springs Railroad Company, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William V. V. Reynolds ...
Elnathan Sweet, a well known engineer ...
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | New York State Engineer and Surveyor 1884 – 1887 | Succeeded by |
