1882.] Zyjl. [Fraley. 



common road bridge, which crossed the Susquehanna river at Ilarrisburg. 

 From 1837 to 1841 he tilled the office of chief engineer on the Mononga- 

 hela river improvements, the Pennsylvania State canal construction works, 

 the Erie canal, and the Ohio river improvements. In 1841-42 he was a 

 contractor on the Welland canal (Canada) enlargement. In 1843-44 he 

 was chief engineer for the Erie canal company, and from 1845 to 1847 he 

 was chief engineer and trustees' agent for the Sandy and Beaver canal 

 company, of Ohio. In 1848 he was appointed by the Legislature of Penn- 

 sj'lvania to make a survey to avoid, if possible, the Schuylkill (Philadel- 

 phia) inclined plane. In 1849 he declined the chief eugineership of the 

 first projected railroad in South America, to accept that of the Bellefon- 

 taine and Indiana railroad, of Ohio, where he remained until 1851. From 

 1852 to 1854 he was chief engineer of the Allegheny Valley railroad, con- 

 sulting engmeer for the Atlantic and Mississippi railroad, contractor for 

 the wliole of the Iron Mountain railroad, of Missouri, and chairman of a 

 commission of three appointed by the Pennsylvania Legislature to examine 

 and report upon routes for avoiding the inclined planes of the old Alle- 

 gheny Portage railroad. From 1855 to 1857 he was contractor for the en- 

 tire Keokuk, Des Moines and Minnesota railroad, consulting engineer (or 

 the Pittsburgh and Erie, and Terre Haute, VandaMa and St. Louis railroads, 

 and chief engineer of the Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant and Muscatine railroad. 



In December, 1857, Mr. Koberts sailed for Brazil to examine the route 

 of the Dom Pedro II railway with the purpose of bidding for its construc- 

 tion. In 1858, as the senior member of a firm of American contractors, he 

 concluded a formal contract in the United States with the Brazilian minis- 

 ter, Sr. Carvalho de Borges, for the construction of this road, and in the 

 following year he returned to BrazU and took active charge of the work. 

 He remained on the work, which exhibits some of the finest railway engi- 

 neering and construction in the world, until the completion of the con- 

 tracted work in 1864. During the remainder of 1864 and a part of 1865 he 

 visited various railways and public works in Brazil and the Platine repub- 

 lics, returning to the United States in the latter part of 1865. 



Soon after his arrival in the United States Mr. Roberts took charge of 

 the surveys for the Atlantic and Great Western railroad, which he com- 

 pleted in April, 1866. After some miscellaneous work in the West, he 

 was appointed in 1866 by the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, as 

 United States civil engineer-in-charge of the Ohio river improvement, 

 which position he held until 1870, when he resigned to accept the chief 

 eugineership of the Northern Pacific railroad. In 1868-69 he held, also, 

 the position of associate chief engineer of the great bridge over the Missis- 

 sippi at St. Louis. He retained the position of chief engineer of the North- 

 ern Pacific until his departure for Brazil in January, 1879. During his 

 occupation of this last position he examined and reported upon several 

 railways and the water supply of the cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. 

 In 1874 he was appointed by the President of the United States as a mem- 

 ber of a commission of civil and military engineers to examine and report 



