Octave Chanute, November 2001- June 2002

COMING TO AMERICA

Octave Alexandre Chanut was born on 18 February 1832 in Paris, France. When his father Joseph Chanut accepted a position as Vice-president and History Professor at Jefferson College, just north of New Orleans in the fall of 1838, he took his son along to the New World [Young, 1963 #5].

In 1854 he became an American Citizen, Americanized his name by adding the letter "e" to his family name and dropping his middle name. He became Octave Chanute.

Photo: Octave Chanute, 1856.

ENGINEERING

In 1846, while still a boy, Octave Chanute and his father moved to New York City. This month long steamship voyage, (along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers through the state owned Canal-Railroad System across Pennsylvania to New York), left a lasting impression on the youngster. He was fascinated with modern technology and engineering.

While Joseph Chanut was engaged in literary pursuits, the young Chanute received his education in a New York boarding school. Engineers earned their "C.E." (Civil Engineer) in the field, so in 1848 the teenager applied for a job with the Hudson River Railroad. When his application was turned down, he offered to work for free. A few weeks later he was hired as a Chainman, the lowest paid position at the railroad.

Later, Chanute had a long and distinguished career as a civil engineer in the transportation field. He worked for many of the major railroad companies, always looking to improve systems, always generating fresh ideas.

On display courtesy of Simine Short.
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On display courtesy of Simine Short.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• A pioneer builder and modern thinker of the American railroad system, Chanute surveyed, built and upgraded railroad lines, as well as designed and constructed two major stock yards, in Chicago and Kansas City.
  
  
• A structural engineer, first built wood, then iron trestle bridges with foundations over some of the most difficult natural barriers, like the Mississippi River at Kansas City, the Illinois River at Peoria, and the Genesee River Gorge near Portageville, NY.
  
  
• An urban planner who plotted villages along newly established railroad lines (Fairbury, IL and Chanute, KS), developed and implemented sanitary water supplies (and returns!) to homes and stock yards. He researched and co-authored a developmental study on the elevated railway system (i.e. rapid transit in New York), a system that was built many years later.
  
  
• An environmentalist and chemist to whom forest preservation was important. He and his partner (later on Chanute's own son became his partner), started a wood preservation company in timber used for railroad tie and bridge construction. Later he introduced the railroad "date nail" to the United States, there making it possible to record the age and viability of preserved railroad ties.
  
  
• Among the major authorities on aeronautical research and engineering at the turn of the century. As a practical aeronautical engineer, he designed the world's most successful heavier-than-air aircraft prior to the Wright's inventions of 1902 and 1903.

Kansas City Bridge.

Looking north along the bridge, showing left to right: George Morrison, Assistant Engineer; Octave Chanute, Chief Engineer; Joseph Tomkinson, Superintendent of Superconstruction.

Picture photocopied from Octave Chanute’s book Kansas City Bridge with an account of the regimen of the Missouri River, and a description of the methods used for founding in that river. Published in 1870.

Chanute entered a competition early in 1865 to design the Chicago Union Stock Yards (pictured on the left). He won with his design and the yards were built later in 1865.

The Kansas City Stockyards were designed and built by Chanute in 1871.

Map showing the Toledo, Peoria, & Warsaw Railway and its connections. G.W. & C.B. Colton & Co., 1867. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Sectional map of the state of Illinois, 1861 showing Northern Illinois, including Chicago and the Joliet to Indiana cut-off railroad surveyed by Chanute in 1854.

Chanute bought some land along the Chicago-Alton Railroad line, just south of Dwight, IL.

What are date nails? A “date nail is a nail with the date stamped in its head. For example, a nail with a "41" is from 1941. They are usually 2 1/2" long, with 1/4" shanks. Date nails were driven into railroad ties, bridge timbers, utility poles, mine props, and other wooden structures for record keeping purposes.” Jeff Oaks http://facstaff.uindy.edu/%7Eoaks/DateNailInfo.htm

Nails on display courtesy of Charles Sebesta.

Above: Number 4 and 5 date nails are from the Chicago and Eastern Illinois RR, made by the C.C. and E.P. Townsend Co. of Ellwood City, PA.

The Chanute-Crerar Connection.

A letter written by Octave Chanute to the Crerar (John Crerar)-Adams and Co., Chicago, IL, 1900.

AERONAUTICS

In the late 1880s, Chanute rekindled his interest in aeronautical matters. Flying had fascinated him since the late 1850s, and Chanute kept pamphlets and articles as they were published [Chanute, 1860 - 1910 (+) #5]. After officially retiring and with time and a steady income, he became serious about the engineering problem of "artificial flight."

In his typical approach of any new interest, he contacted everyone who had done any aeronautical research, successful or unsuccessful. He gave talks at Universities, spoke to Civil Engineering groups, and sponsored "aeronautical" discussions at major engineering conferences. "My general idea is to pass in review what has hitherto been experimented with a view to accounting for the failures, clearing away the rubbish, and pointing out some of the elements of success, if I can" (letter from Octave Chanute to Wenham, 13 Sep 1892 [Chanute, 1860-1910 #6]).

The results of his inquiries were published first as an article series, "Progress in Aviation" by his friend, Matthias N. Forney in "The Railroad and Engineering Journal" [Chanute, 1890 - 1895 #7], and then as a book in 1894 [Chanute, 1894 #2]. This book became the most important work available at the time to every would-be pioneer engineer.