Skip to main content

ASCE

Term Image
Muskingum River Navigation System
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water TransportationEra: 1830-1839DateCreated: 1837Muskingum RiverZanesvilleState: OHZip: 43701Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Muskingum-River-Navigation-System/Creator: Curtis, Samuel

Most of the locks were 184 feet long and 36 feet wide, able to handle boats up to 160 feet long. The sandstone locks (along with wood miter gates, rock-filled timber-crib dams and bypass canals with guard gates) created a slackwater navigation system stretching over 90 miles.  

YearAdded:
2000
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/gb_packards (CC BY-ND 2.0)Image Caption: Muskingum River LockEra_date_from: 1837
Louisville Water Works
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water Supply & ControlEra: 1830-1839DateCreated: 1830LouisvilleState: KYZip: 40207Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/louisville-waterworks/Creator: Ledoux, Claude-Nichols

In the 18th century, French architect Claude-Nichols Ledoux was known for forging architectural beauty with industrial efficiency. One hundred years later his vision was given new life through the design of the Louisville Water Company Pumping Station.

YearAdded:
1981
Image Credit: Public Domain (Author's Choice)Image Caption: Louisville Water WorksEra_date_from: 1830
Great Western Railway
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Roads & RailsEra: 1830-1839DateCreated: 1838Temple Meads StationBristolZip: BS1Country: UKWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Great-Western-Railway/Creator: Brunel, Isambard Kingdom

In the early 1830s, the merchants of Bristol, long dissatisfied with their communication with London, began to wonder if the new railroad technology might be a solution to their problem. The Bristol Chamber of Commerce, the Merchant Adventurers and other local industrial bodies formed a committee in 1833 to discuss the ambitious proposal of laying a railway to London. Matters progressed swiftly. Money was advanced and the search for a first-class engineer to guide the effort.

 

YearAdded:
2005
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Ingy The Wingy (CC BY-ND 2.0)Image Caption: Great Western Railway lower quadrant semaphore signals; 1952Era_date_from: 1838
Lowell Waterpower System
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Power GenerationEra: 1800-1829DateCreated: 1821 National Historical ParkLowellState: MAZip: 01854Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Lowell-Waterpower-System/Creator: Francis, James B.

Much of the sophisticated system of canals, dams, gates, and tunnels built to manage water power in 19th-century Lowell is preserved today as the basis of the Lowell National Historical Park and the Lowell Heritage State Park. Pictured above is the Boott Penstock, an early channel adjacent to the Boott Mills (right).

YearAdded:
1984
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Leonora Enking (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Lowell Waterpower System: Pawtucket GatehouseEra_date_from: 1821
Great Falls Raceway and Power System
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Power GenerationEra: 1750-1799DateCreated: 1792Great FallsPatersonState: NJZip: 07522Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/great-falls-raceway---power-system/Creator: l'Enfant, Pierre Charles, Colt, Peter

Visionary Alexander Hamilton, the United States' first Secretary of the Treasury, visited the Great Falls of the Passaic River with George Washington in 1778. The 77-foot-high, 280-foot-wide waterfall inspired his dream of abundant, inexpensive energy as the means for economic independence from foreign markets.

YearAdded:
1977
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Ken Lund (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Great Falls Raceway and Power SystemEra_date_from: 1792
Prehistoric Mesa Verde Reservoirs
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water Supply & ControlEra: 0-1000DateCreated: 750-1180Mesa Verde National ParkMontezuma CountyState: COZip: 81330Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Prehistoric-Mesa-Verde-Reservoirs/Creator: Ancient Pueblo Peoples

Four prehistoric reservoirs at Mesa Verde National Park were constructed and used between AD 750 and AD 1180. They are: Morefield Reservoir (in Morefield Canyon), Far View Reservoir (on Chapin Mesa), Sagebrush Reservoir (on an unnamed mesa), and Box Elder Reservoir (in Prater Canyon). These four ancient reservoirs represent extraordinary engineering achievements by the Ancestral Puebloan people. In an arid environment with very little surface water, these prehistoric people found ways to route and capture runoff to create sustainable domestic water supply reservoirs.

YearAdded:
2004
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/McGhiever (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Prehistoric Mesa Verde ReservoirsEra_date_from: 750
Subscribe to ASCE

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.