910 ALFRED NOBLE. 



Adjutant General's office in Washington and studies in preparation 

 for a college course at Ann Arbor, which resulted in the degree of C. E. 

 in 1870, a degree which brought honor alike to the recipient and to the 

 College which bestowed it. Alfred Noble is always looked upon by 

 the University of Michigan as one of its most distinguished sons. 



On ]\Iay 31, 1871, Mr. Noble married Miss Georgia Speechly, of 

 Ann Arbor; then came long years of hard work in the profession of his 

 adoption and the steady climb to positions of greater and greater 

 responsibility. We may only glance at his successes in connection 

 with the canal and lock at Sault St. Marie, the building of important 

 bridges both in the East and in the West, and his opening of a private 

 office in Chicago for carrying on a practice as Consulting Engineer. 



It was at this time, 1894, that he became more widely known as an 

 Engineer of remarkable ability and in many different lines of work. 

 At the same time Noble was called upon to design hydraulic works of 

 original nature in connection with the regulating works of the Chicago 

 Drainage Canal, and to give advice in structural steel work of the 

 most difficult character. He served on the Nicaragua Canal Board, 

 the U. S. Deep Water Commission and in 1899 he became a member of 

 the Isthmian Canal Commission. He visited Europe, he studied all 

 the problems which were submitted to him with the greatest care and 

 fidelity and his reputation widened so that he was called in every 

 direction to give advice on the construction of work of the greatest 

 magnitude, such as the Barge Canal of New York, the locks and dams 

 at Panama, the Thebes bridge over the Mississippi, the extensions of 

 the Pennsylvania R. R., with the difficult problems relating to the 

 tunnels under the Hudson, the N. Y. Water Supply from the Catskills 

 and man}' other important works in the United States and Canada. 

 His resources never seemed to fail ; they were the results of long years 

 of close study and experience, united with remarkable natural gifts 

 and a calm and placid disposition. 



Alfred Noble's career was a fine example of the great engineer, 

 with many specialities united in one practitioner. It is given to few 

 in any profession to excel in many directions. In the early history of 

 the country this was more often possible than at the present time, 

 but a study of Alfred Noble's life and his wonderful achievements 

 must convince a careful inquirer that, with a firm grasp of the funda- 

 mentals, and a wide practice in many branches, a splendid type of 

 engineer is developed. 



Mr. Noble was elected a member of the American Academy on 

 January 8, 1913. 



Desmond FitzGerald. 



