Lindon Wallace Bates (1858–1924) was an American

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

Early years and education

Bates was born at

Marshfield, Vermont Marshfield is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,583 at the 2020 census. History The town was named for Captain Isaac Marsh, who bought the original town site. Geography According to the United States C ...

on November 19, 1858, and educated at

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

Career

After the completion of engineering studies he was appointed assistant engineer for the

Northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference The Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) was an NCAA Division I conference that only sponsored women’s fiel ...

and Oregon Pacific railways, and subsequently was contracting engineer or manager of a number of important contracts in connection with the building of transcontinental railways. His advisory services were employed by the governments of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, and

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in such large undertakings as the improvement of the port of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, the enlargement of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

, and the increasing of

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

harbor efficiency. For the authorities of Queensland, South Australia, and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

he designed a number of harbors and planned the regulation of several rivers. A scheme for the improvement of the port of

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

was also prepared by him, working in cooperation with other engineers of international reputation. In the United States one of Bates's big contracts was the raising of the grade of

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

after the flood there, and it was he who designed the "three-lake" plan for the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

. In 1900 the French government conferred on him a ''Grand Prix'' and decoration for "distinguished services to science"; and he was chosen to membership in various foreign as well as American engineering societies. He wrote: * ''The Navigation Interests of Nations in Ports and Waterways'' (1900; French translation, 1900) * ''The Panama Canal'' (1905) * ''Retrieval at Panama'' (1907) Bates was chairman of the Engineering Committee of the Submarine Defense Association in 1917.

Personal life

Bates married Josephine White in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

on April 6, 1881, and they had two sons. One was Lindon Wallace Bates, Jr. (1883–1915), a renowned engineer who wrote several books on technical and economic subjects and perished in the sinking of the RMS ''Lusitania''. Lindon Wallace Bates died at

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on April 22, 1924.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Lindon Wallace 1858 births 1924 deaths American science writers People from Marshfield, Vermont American civil engineers Yale College alumni