Excerpt:
A self-made man and one of America’s greatest engineers, James Buchanan Eads led a life inextricably intertwined with the nation’s most important waterway, the Mississippi River. He explored the river bottom in a diving bell of his own design; made a fortune salvaging wrecks; in the 1870s built the world's first steel bridge over the Mississippi at St. Louis; then deepened the river at its mouth, turning New Orleans into the second largest port in the nation. By the time of his death in 1887, Eads was widely acknowledged to be one of the most influential men of his day.
Annotation:
This PBS website, made for the program "The American Experience," is a tome of material relating to the life and career of engineer James Eads. Material includes a transcript of the television show; a list of further reading on Eads; a Flash demonstration of how to build a bridge pier; letters from the Eads family; a gallery of architectural drawings; links to descriptions of the people and events discussed in the program; and a brief section on the Mississippi River jetties today. The site is likely the most extensive archive any researcher will find on Eads, and it is an indispensible resource for anyone looking for information on the Mississippi River engineer.