User:Risk Engineer/Totten

Col George M Totten the well known engineer died at his residence No 13 East Thirty second Street on Saturday 17th inst He was born in 1809 in New Haven Conn He was graduated from Capt Partridge's Military Academy at Middletown Conn and began his career as a civil engineer on the Farmington Canal which is now part of the road bed of the New Haven and Northampton Railroad He then went to Pennsylvania and was there engaged on the Juniata Canal In 1831 he became one of the engineers of the Delaware and Raritan Canal in New Jersey and in 1835 he was employed in building the railroad from Reading to Port Clinton The following three years he spent in building railroads first in Virginia and then in Pennsylvania where he constructed the Sunbury and Danville Railroad Subsequently he built the Gaston and Raleigh Railroad in North Carolina and in 1843 he was appointed Engineer in Chief of the Canal of Digue that connects the Magdalena River with the harbor of Carthagena in Colombia

At the conclusion of this work John Traut wine and he took the contract for the construction of the Panama Railroad In 1860 he was appointed Engineer in Chief of the work and remained there for 25 years Here he endured great sufferings and privations being often compelled to work almost all day up to the neck in water occasionally coming out to dry himself on some rock in the sun The nights he spent on board an old vessel where he was tortured by the myriads of ferocious mosquitoes that infest the country In 1879 M de Lesseps invited him to accept a position on the commission that went to the isthmus to decide upon the canal project and he was made chief of de Lesseps staff He was the only American engineer on that commission which was composed of eminent French and Dutch engineers Afterwards he went to Venezuela to survey a railroad and later on he was appointed Consulting Engineer of the Panama Canal As an engineer Col Totten was highly esteemed both at home and abroad and he was frequently called upon by capitalists who had full confidence in his ability and integrity to decide upon the practicability of projected railroads or canals He received many testimonials from foreign powers among them a gold ring from Napoleon III and a decoration and gold medal from President Guzman Blanco of Venezuela Age hard work and exposure finally undermined his strength and a lew weeks ago he suffered an attack of paralysis from which he never rallied He leaves behind him a widow and two daughters one of whom is Mrs George Putnam Smith

Engineering News, Volume 11 G.H. Frost, 1884 - Engineering