Alfred Barrett (died 18 July 1849) was born in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. He was an engineer by training. In about 1818, Barrett began working on the engineering staff that was constructing the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

in New York State. He rapidly gained experience and was an accredited engineer by 1821. The project was completed in 1825. In 1824, the Erie project was visited by

William Hamilton Merritt William Hamilton Merritt (July 3, 1793July 5, 1862) was a businessman and politician in the Niagara Peninsula of Upper Canada in the early 19th century. Although he was born in the United States, his family was Loyalist and eventually settled ...

and he likely recruited Barrett as resident superintending engineer of the Welland Canal. Over the course of his career, he worked on a variety of important projects including the Lachine Canal improvements and resident engineer on the Erie. His professional achievements were of high importance to the development of the economy of this North American area. His early death cut short a highly productive and important engineering career. He died in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

of cholera.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
Canadian engineers 1849 deaths American canal engineers Year of birth unknown Erie Canal Welland Canal {{Civil-engineering-stub