1839.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



95 



Uville, a Spaniard, seeing the decline of the American mines, from the 

 insufficient power of drainage in the old workt, was desirons of adopt- 

 ing the English method of pumping by steam. For this purpose he 

 came to London in 1811, but his efforts were bafHed by the difficulty 

 of transporting such cumbrous machinery over the mountain districts, 

 and the diminution of power which the atmospheric engines would 

 sustain when worked in the rarified atmosphere of the elevated mine 

 countries. When on the point of departing from England, frustrated 

 in his object, he chanced to see a finished working model of Trevithick's 

 engine, exposed for sale in the shop of Mr. Roland, in a street near 

 Fitzroy-square. This model Uville carried to Peru, and to his inex- 

 pressible joy he had the pleasure of seeing it work with success on the 

 high ridges of Pasco. Again encouraged in his favourite plan, he 

 entered into partnership with two rich merchants of Lima, and ob- 

 tained from the Viceroy of Peru the privilege of working some of the 

 neglected mines. He once move started for England, and while on his 

 voyage, talking with Mr. Teaguc, a fellow-passenger, of his anxiety to 

 discover the inventor of the model, he was most agreeably surprised to 

 hear Mr. Teague reply, " that Trevithick was his near relation, and 

 that he could bring them togetlier within a few hours of their arrival 

 at Falmouth." 



Uville continued with Trevithick for some months at Camborne, 

 profiting by his instructions ; he then made a tonr under his guidance 

 in several of the mining districts, and afterwards went to Soho to con- 

 sult Bonlton and Watt. Whether, however, it was their jealousy of 

 Trevithick, or their geiniine want of resource on the subject, they gave 

 Uville no encouragement as to the success of his enterprifc. The 

 great elevation of the mines, the difficulty of the precipitous roads, and 

 the absence of means of transporting heavy masses of machinery, ap- 

 peared to those engineers insurmountable obstacles, and disinclined 

 them to engage in such a difficult undertaking. On the refusal of these 

 capitalists to assist, Trevithick himself undertook to furnish the neces- 

 sary engines; and in September, 1814, Uville embarked at Ports- 

 month for Lima, with three Cornish miners, and nine of Trevithick's 

 engines. 



Long before this period Trevithick had married a Miss Harvey, a 

 lady of good connections; her brother subsequently acquiring a large 

 fortune. By her Trevithick had several children, and it will prove at 

 once the love he entertained for her, and his spirit of perseverance even 

 in trifles, that during his long courtship he never missed walking every 

 evening several miles to visit her. Dissensions had, however, arisen in 

 his family, and he was more prepared to engage in that distant career 

 to which he was now invited. 



Uville was received at Lima with the greatest honours and rejoicings, 

 and landed with his cargo under a royal salute. It was not until the 

 middle of 181(i that he was able to surmount the local difficulties of 

 transport, and place the first engine in operation. Trevithick, however, 

 had nobly armed him against the antagonist obstacles, and all that his 

 ingenuity could suggest h.id been put into practice. The machinery, 

 simplified to its greatest extent, was so divided as to form adequate 

 loads for the weakly llama, and the beams and boilers made in several 

 pieces were transported over precipices, where astonemay be thrown for 

 a league. The engine erected at Tauricocha, in the province of Tarma, 

 was put into operation, and in the presence of the government deputies 

 drained the first shaft of the mine of Santa Rosa, one of the Pasco 

 district. The greatest anticipations were created, and amid the profu- 

 sion of honours showered upon the projectors, nothing was wanted but 

 the presence of the meritorious inventor himself. 



Trevithick had in these latter years been fully as active in his con- 

 tributions to the cause of science, as in any previoiis portion of his 

 career. It was he who suggested the improvement on steam boats by 

 prop\ilsion at the stern, which is now the subject of experiments at 

 London and at Liverpool. He considered that a spiral wheel re- 

 volving at the stern of a vessel was preferable to the use of side paddle 

 wheels, and we believe that a vessel something on this principle is now 

 about to make the trial voyage across the Atlantic. 



Another contribution of his to steam locomotion was his revival 

 of giving motion to the engines by means of the re-action of the steam 

 made to spout against the atmosphere. 



In 181.J he effected a gieat improvement in his high pressure engines, 

 by forming the piston so that a ring of water should run all round it, 

 and render the whole air-tight ; as he found in practice that a verv 

 moderate degree of tightness in the packing produces this re.in It.* 



Trevithick was now actively engaged in ICngland preparing for his 

 departure. He had constructed several new engines, and an apparatus 

 for the Peruvian Mint ; and his attention was directed to an object of 

 the greatest importance, to remedy the growing scarcity of quicksilver, 

 by constructing furnaces for purifying the silver ore by fusion. At last, 

 in October, 1817, Trevithick, Robinson Crusoe like, gave np all his 



• Hislorical and Descriptive .Anecdotes gf the Steam Knginc, by SWart, p. 520, 



property in England, and leaving it to his wife and children, set sail 

 for Pern. 



In February, 1817, he arrived at Lima, where his presence excited 

 the utmost enthusiasm. He was received by the government and the 

 people with the greatest honours, viliile the official announcement of 

 his arrival in the Gazette created tlie highest expectations of the 

 whole population. He had immediately an audience of the Viceroy, 

 and the Lord Warden of the mines was directed to escort him with a 

 guard of honour to the seat of his future labours. The principal men 

 of the mining district cainc many days' journey to Lima to see and wel- 

 come him, and all exerted tliemsehes to testify their esteem for the 

 well-deserving Don Ricardo Trevithick. Never, perhaps, w.as Euro- 

 pean so well received in the New Indies ; it was not Las Cases coming 

 to rescue an injured population from oppression, but it was a man of 

 science who had arrived to augment their old resources, and to create 

 new mines of wealth. It was the first benefit which they had received 

 from the Old ^V'orld, and it is not surprising that an ardent people re- 

 ceived Trevithick with asgreat enthusiasm as Columbus had once awoke 

 in Spain. 



The exertions of this great man were crowned with success, and he 

 was equally rewarded by their profitable return, and the gratitude of 

 the people. The produce of the mines augmented to an unexpected 

 degree, and the coining machinery was increased six-fold ; his compa- 

 nions united in expi'essing their obligations to him, and the authorities 

 were not remiss in showing how they appreciated them. We under- 

 stand that he was invested with the title of a marquis, and was created 

 a grandee of the Spanish empire, while the Lord Warden of the mines 

 even proposed to erect his statue in massy silver. 



In these employments Trevithick was engaged for many years ; but 

 at last the political dissensions, and his own wandering disposition, in- 

 duced him to wish to leave the country. This was no easy matter : 

 for the veneration with which he was regarded as a benefactor sent t'lom 

 Heaven, made the people regard his absence as a public calamity, and 

 take every measure to prevent his departure. At last he made his 

 escape, through dangers which few, less adventurous than himself, could 

 have encountered ; and, after escaping the terrors of the mountain and 

 the desert, and the arm of the wandering savage, he again arrived safely 

 in England, where he was about the period of the great panic in 1827. 



Here he endeavoured to raise capita! to carry on some of his colossal 

 projects, but with his usual ill-success— for those who knew his skill, 

 feared the waywardness of his character ; and those who did not, were 

 repulsed by the giant nature of his enterprises. It was in vain he 

 urged his own success, and represented the boundless resources of the 

 Andean territory. He had the mortification to find his provision for 

 his ow n fortune nullified by the ignorance and timidity of those with 

 whom he sought to participate. While in America he had acquiied 

 large tracts of land, and on one estate had a mountain of copper ore, 

 which, like the hill mines of Potosi or Montserrat, it would take cen- 

 turies to exhaust. Here he proposed to construct railways, and, by 

 the aid of capital and machinery, make the shores of the Pacific as 

 great a mart for the produce of the earth, as those of his own native 

 promontory. 



Don Ricardo again returned to the New World, and resumed his 

 labours for the benefit of the American people ; for," it must be ob- 

 served, that however he may have been remunerated, and how much 

 so ever he may have desired to advance his own interests, yet the 

 apathy of his conntiymen ever prevented him from cairying out his 

 own wishes, or being any other than the great regeneiator of American 

 riches. He died, indeed, comparatively poor, and left, we believe, 

 little other inheritance to his family than the grandeur of his name 

 and the glory of his works. 



In his person and manners he seemed formed to sustain the arduous 

 contests to which he Wiis destined. The robustness of form, inured by 

 yeais of toil and fatigue, was reflected by the innate self-confidence of 

 ins disposition. Blunt, but not rude, he maintained his opinions with 

 honesty and power, and was only in fault that too frequent success 

 made him .idhere to them with pertin.icity. In his moial character he 

 maintained with propriety all the social duties. Kind to his family, he 

 was ever ready to make any sacrifice, although the meddling of others 

 may have created dissension in his domestic circle ; while as a friend 

 none, perhaps, could be more relied upon, for his feelings of confidence 

 survived repeated disappointments and betrayals. His mental powers 

 aie best appreciated by the events of his life, for we may be assured 

 that if no one be great without some divine assistance,* so few have 

 done remarkable things without having in some degree participated 

 in their "reatness. His genius was of the highest order, while those 

 difficulties which his invention could not dissolve were overcoine by his 

 perseverance. His selt'-education also allowed him to borrow little from 



• Nemo uii'inaia ina;;iiU3 fuit sine alimw afllattl diviuo.— C'lavv, 



