Sylvester Marsh
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Sylvester Marsh (September 30, 1803,
Campton, New Hampshire Campton is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,343 at the 2020 census. Campton, which includes the villages of Blair, Campton Hollow, Lower Campton and West Campton, is home to Blair State Forest and Liverm ...
– December 30, 1884,
Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...
) was the United States engineer who designed and built the
Mount Washington Cog Railway The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known as the Cog, is the world's first mountain-climbing Rack railway, cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway). The railway climbs Mount Washington in New Hampshire, United States. It uses a Rack railway#Mars ...
.


Biography

He grew up on a farm, which he worked on, and he attended the common school in the winter. At 19, he left for
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, where he worked as a farm hand, and in 1826 he established himself there as a provision dealer. In 1828, he was engaged in
Ashtabula, Ohio Ashtabula ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, and the center of the United States micropolitan area, Ashtabula micropolitan area. It is located at the mouth of the Ashtabula River on Lake Erie, nort ...
, in supplying Boston and New York City with beef and pork. He settled in Chicago during the winter of 1833/4, and there followed a similar business until 1837, when his accumulations were swept away in the
Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...
. He began again in the grain business, and acquired a substantial fortune. Meanwhile, he worked for the advancement of Chicago. He invented many appliances that were incidental to
meat packing The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...
, especially those having reference to the use of steam. He invented the dried-meal process, and “Marsh's caloric dried meal” was long an article of commerce. In 1855 he moved to
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commu ...
, and moved back to Chicago after five years. He resided a year in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, where he was an exporter, sending much of his dried meal product to the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
. In 1864 he settled in
Littleton, New Hampshire Littleton is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,005 at the 2020 census. Situated at the northern edge of the White Mountains, Littleton is bounded on the northwest by the Connecticut River. The main vill ...
, and after 1879 made
Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...
, his residence. In 1844, he married Charlotte Bates, who died in 1850. In 1855, he married Cornelia Hoyt. She and four children survived him.


Cog Railway

While ascending
Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...
in 1852, he lost his way, and then conceived the idea of building a railroad to its summit, believing that such an enterprise could be made profitable. He obtained a charter for the road on June 25, 1858, but the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
prevented any action until May 1866. The construction of such a road was regarded as impossible, and he became known as “Crazy Marsh”; indeed, the legislature, in granting him a charter, further expressed their willingness to grant a “charter to the moon” if he wished. Notwithstanding all opposition, he persisted in building the railroad, relying chiefly on his own resources, and received little capital investment until an engine was actually running over part of the route. The peculiar form of locomotive, cog rail, and brakes used were invented by Marsh. The road was formally opened on August 14, 1868, as far as “Jacob's ladder,” and entirely completed in July 1869. During the construction of this road, it was visited by a Swiss engineer, who took away drawings of the machinery and track, from which a similar railway was built up
Mount Rigi The Rigi (or ''Mount Rigi''; also known as ''Queen of the Mountains'') is a mountain massif of the Alps, located in Central Switzerland. The whole massif is almost entirely surrounded by the water of three different bodies of water: Lake Lucerne ...
in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
(see
Rigi Railways Rigi Railways (german: Rigi Bahnen) is a railway company that operates a group of railways on the mountain Rigi, located between two of the arms of Lake Lucerne, in Switzerland. They include two standard gauge rack railways, the Vitznau–Rigi ...
).


Notes


References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Sylvester 1803 births 1884 deaths American engineers 19th-century American inventors People from Campton, New Hampshire People from Jamaica Plain