James Buchanan Eads

As suggested by covector:

James Buchanan Eads

James Buchanan Eads was born May 23, 1820 in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. James was named after his mother's cousin, the Congressman and later President, James Buchanan. As a child James moved from city to city as his father pursued many failed business ventures. James early education consisted of reading the books of his first employer, a dry-goods merchant in St. Louis. Later, James would work as a purser of a steamboat where he came to learn the dangers of steamboats on the Mississippi and the fortune to be made in salvage their wrecks.

Inspired, James invented a boat equipped with a diving bell that allowed him to walk on the river bottom. James accumulated a sizable fortune over the next 12 years salvaging steamboats from the bottom of the Mississippi which he used to start a glass manufacturing plant in the West, but was ruined by the Mexican War. James moved back east and started salvaging again, slowly improving salvage technology and increasing the size of his fleet of salvage boats.

During the Civil War, James employed 4000 men to build the U.S. ironclad armada. The first of these ironclads was launched just 45 days after production started. The eight total ironclads were produced within 100 days. After the war the expansion into the west was in full swing and a large bridge across the Mississippi that could handle people and trains was necessary. James designed and built a triple-arch steel bridge, each span 500 feet in length and resting on piers that rested on bedrock 100 feet below the river bottom. The Eads Bridge was opened in 1874 and was considered a major engineering accomplishment. The bridge was the first to use steel and cantilevered construction and cost over $10 million dollars.

For the rest of his life, James traveled the world, often acting as a consultant for water transportation issues. James died on March 8, 1887 at Nassau, Bahama Islands.

Reference Links:
http://bridgepros.com/projects/eads/

http://www.riverweb.uiuc.edu/TECH/TECH20.htm

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