Background

Johnson was born on May 23, 1803, in Essex, Vermont, the son of John and Rachel (Ferry) Johnson. When he was six, the family moved to Burlington, Vermont, where Edwin studied Latin with the Unitarian minister, and was taught land surveying, his father's profession, by his father. In 1818 the father was a member of the northeastern boundary commission, and Edwin, though only fifteen, assisted him.

Education

Johnson attended Alden Partridge’s American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy in its earliest years. He trained under Partridge from approximately 1823 to 1825. Though the academy was not granting degrees at that time, in 1836 he received an honorary Master of Arts in recognition of his work.

Career

After five years of surveying experience with his father, Johnson entered the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy at Middletown, Connecticut, the forerunner of Norwich University. There he was successively student and tutor, 1823-1825, instructor in mathematics and assistant professor of natural history, 1825-1826, and professor of mathematics and civil engineering, 1826-1829. In his engineering courses he included discussions of railroad construction and railroad economics as early as 1825. In 1829, the institution was moved to Vermont, and after conducting a small school for a brief time at Middletown, Johnson gave up teaching. He was in charge of land surveys for the Erie Canal, 1829, the Champlain Canal, 1830-1831, and the Morris Canal, 1831. Shortly thereafter he made his first active connection with railroad work as assistant engineer in charge of surveys for the Catskill & Canajoharie Railroad, 1831. His record from 1833 to 1861 is practically a review of the transportation facilities that were constructed during that period. He was engaged as chief engineer or principal assistant in the location of fourteen railroads, including the New York & Erie, the New York & Boston, the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac (now part of the Chicago & Northwestern), and of four canals, one of which was the Ontario & Hudson Ship Canal. He designed and directed the construction of three important bridges, and was for several years the president of the Stevens Association at Hoboken, New Jersey, which operated a railroad and steamship lines. He also supplied specifications and estimates to the federal government for the construction of a bridge over the Potomac River at Washington, 1832, designed a waterworks and sewerage system for Middletown, Connecticut, surveyed, and compiled a new city charter for that city.

In 1861 his services were sought by the government in the prosecution of the Civil War. He declined a commission as brigadier-general and later declined the position of assistant secretary of war, but at the request of the War Department prepared a "Report upon the Defences of Maine, " and a Report of a General Plan of Operations to the Secretary of War, which he published as a pamphlet in 1863. In 1864 he conducted a cabinet and congressional party over the northeastern boundary. He had wide business connections beyond the field of railroads and, though he refused many political offices, served two years as mayor of Middletown, 1856-1857, and as a state senator in 1856.

His successful railroad service and his numerous writings, established him as one of the foremost railroad engineers of his day. Starting with his Review of the Project for a Great Western Railway (1831), in which he advocated an extensive system of railroads to the Mississippi River, he continued to press the subject of great national railroads. In 1854 he wrote The Railroad to the Pacific, Northern Route, Its General Character, Relative Merits, Etc. , and on June 14, 1867, he was appointed chief engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He held this position four years, after which he was consulting engineer to the road until his death, which occured on April 12, 1872, in Burlington, Vermont.

Achievements

• Johnson was known for his projects as civil engineer. The Northern Pacific is constructed upon practically the lines that he advocated in his work of 1854. He was the inventor of an improvement for canal locks, a screw-power press, a six-wheeled locomotive truck, and an eight-wheeled locomotive.

Works

More photos

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  • Railroad to the Pacific: Northern Route. Its General Character, Relative Merits, Etc

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The navigation of the lakes and navigable communications therefrom to the seaboard, and to the Mississippi River and relation of the former to the lines of railway leading to the Pacific

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Words for the People

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Railroad to the Pacific: Northern Route. Its General Character, Relative Merits, Etc

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• General W. Milnor Roberts, who succeeded Johnson as chief engineer, said, "The Northern Pacific Railroad and the American people are indebted more to the intelligent forecast and untiring energy of Edwin F. Johnson than to any other individual. "

Connections

Johnson married, September 7, 1830, Charlotte Shaler of New York and Middletown, by whom he had eight children.

Father:

John Johnson

Mother:

Rachel Ferry

Spouse:

Charlotte Shaler

Daughter:

Louisa Johnson

Daughter:

Elizabeth Johnson

Daughter:

Lucy Johnson Pattison

Son:

Charles Shaler Johnson

Son:

Edwin A Johnson

Son:

Joseph Allen Johnson

Son:

William Shaler Johnson

Son:

Frederick Allen Johnson

References

• Norwich University, 1819-1911: Her History, Her Graduates, Her Roll of Honor, Vol. 1 of 3 (Classic Reprint)
• New York & Boston Railroad Company: Report of Edwin F. Johnson to the Central Committee, August 1847.
• Memoir of Edwin Ferry Johnson : Civil Engineer
• History of the Northern Pacific Railroad (1883)
• History of Middlesex County, Connecticut, With Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men