Eads built seven gunboats, beginning' rith this one, the St. LoJlis. By JAMESV. SWIFT vage. The snagboatsdeveloped by Henry WJ Contributing Editor Miller Shrevewere just right for suchwork The Public Broadcasting System has and they becamethe fleet of submarines given a riverman-turned-engineera place that were to raise so much cargo and in history with a segmentin the ..American machineryfrom wreckson the rivers.There Experience"series. were at least seven,fiveiormer snagboats Much of James Buchanan Eads' suc- and two that Eads built. Number 7 was cesswas due to the fact that he knew the madeinto the snagboatBenton, which was river from the bottom up. His first expe- pictured in the October2 issue. rience with it was not a happy one. As he and his family were on their way to St. The War Comes Louis, the steamboaton which they were Eads'first greattriumph wasthe resultof riding blew up and burned. The Eads war. The Civil War began,and the rivers family escaped with only the clothes on figured to be an important part of it. A new their backs. Later the boat on which he conceptin fighting vesselswas conceived- was a clerk was also lost. armed gunboats.Eads signed a contractto There were plenty of wrecksand a lot of build sevenfrom a newdesign and untried cargowas lost in those days,and Eads fig- shipbuilding methods.He signedthe con- ured out a way to save this property; he tract on August 7, 1861,promising to deliv- deviseda diving bell that could be usedto er them by October 10. Was it possible? go down to the wrecks for salvage. He The first, the St. Louis, was actually could actuallywalk on the river bottom with launchedon October12; its machineryand it, and in this waybecame acquainted with boilers were in place. the idiosyncrasiesof the currents and the Four of the gunboatswere built at Caron- movementsof the sand.It would servehim delet (St. Louis)and three at Mound City, well all his life. Ill. It was quite a feat, and these vessels helped win the Civil War,breaking the Con- -From the collections of the St. Louis Mercantile The Submarines Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis federacyin two by openingthe Mississippi. The diving bellsled to a better wayof sal- -SEE EADS PAGE 13 James Buchanan Eads. Eads The televisionprogram brought out the bad blood between Eads and A. A. (CONTINUEDFROM PAGE 14) Humphrey,the Corps'leading river design- The Bridge er. Also emphasizedwas how Eads used his own money for building the gunboats Then came the structure that still stands and alsothe jetties. today as Eads' monument. Chicago had Eads also proposed building a railroad forged ahead of St. Louis in commerce, one acrossMexico to haul ships between the reason being that St. Louis was on the west Atlantic and Pacific,but he died before it side of the Mississippi River with only a was done. He actually built a good-sized ferry connection with the eastern railroads. model of the proposed railroad that was There were bridges on the Upper Missis- shown in England as well as the United sippi, but putting one across the wide river States.What has become of it? If anyone at St. Louis was something else. Eads had knows,please get in touchwith JoeVollmar. made important business connections and More information on the Eadsprogram he recognized the need for a bridge and maybe had from www.pbs.org,and copies developed the engineering skill to plan it. are availableby calling 800-PLAY-PBS. It was to be made of steel, a new prod- uct, and of course many said it couldn't be Birthday Party done. Eads went ahead and with new tech- They tried to keep it a secret, but you niques and perseverance sank the caissons know how the river works.The Association for the piers and erected the steel arches. of Retired Marine Personnel will honor He knew what he wanted in the steel forms Capt. CharlesR. Poe on his 90th birthday and he even went to Pittsburgh to person- November16 at its luncheonin the Exec- ally show the workmen at Keystone Steel utive Inn at Paducah. how to make the parts for the bridge. The editor of the association'snewsletter It was opened on July 4, 1874. (Joseph E. The Wheelwash,Capt. JackW. Clark, now Vollmar Jr. gave an interesting talk on all hasa fax machine;the numberis 270,444- this at the Sons & Daughters of Pioneer 7551. Rivermen meeting in September, and there The late Fred Leyhe washonored Octo- was a picture of the Eads Bridge in the ber 21 by being inducted into the Univer- September 25 WJ.) sity City (Mo.) High School'sHall of Fame. The third thing Eads was famous for was The former head of Eagle Marine Indus- the Mississippi River jetties at its mouth tries, and the son of Capt. William H. below New Orleans. Deep-sea shipping "Buck" Leyhe, graduated from the school was hampered by the lanes in the passesto in 1935. the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Engineers could not keep the channel deep enough through dredging, so Eads devised a way to Cumberland Dolphin Work make the river deepen itself through dikes The Nashville Engineer District reports and revetments. It worked, despite criti- that SouthernMarine Construction Com- cism, and New Orleans became the sec- pany has begun a project to construct ond-largest port in the country. mooring dolphin foundations for Metro In one survey of authoritative experts, Ready Mix Concrete on the left bank of Eads was named one of the five greatest the Cumberland River at Mile 189.9.The engineers of all time, along with Leonardo work will be performed during daylight da Vinci, Thomas Edison, James Watt and hours, Monday through Friday, through Ferdinand de Lesseps. mid-December..