684 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
ficult task. As a result of these measurements and of studies 
made at that time, he made several recommendations regarding 
the method of river control, which, although considered radical 
at the time, have since proved to have been wise' and peculiarly 
foresigh ted. 
In 1883 he became professor of Civil Engineering at Wash¬ 
ington University, St. Louis, where he remained for sixteen 
years. During the years spent in this position he gained a 
world-wide reputation by his valuable contributions to engi¬ 
neering literature and by his active work in connection with 
engineering and scientific societies. Probably his greatest con¬ 
tribution to the engineering profession 1 has been his four pub¬ 
lished works on, engineering subjects, all of which he prepared 
while at St. Louis. The Index to Engineering Periodical Lit¬ 
erature, which he originated and to which he gave a large 
amount of his time, is scarcely less important. The encourage¬ 
ment of this work well illustrates one of his chief aims, which 
was, as has been well said, “the promotion, of the cause of good 
engineering in America.” During the years from 1892 to 1895 
he also carried out important investigations on the strength of 
timber for the Forestry Division of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, which have been of great value to> builders and 
engineers. The results there obtained are now quoted in all 
handbooks of engineering data. 
Professor Johnson’s greatest activities were in engineering 
education, and his reputation as an, educator was at this time 
so well established that when, he was. called to the Deanship of 
the College of Engineering of the University of Wisconsin, in 
1899, it was confidently felt by all whoi knew 1 him that the 
right man had been found for the place. And this feeling has 
been more than justified by the service he has done the Col¬ 
lege of Engineering and the University during his short admin¬ 
istration. The large growth in the attendance in the College, 
the increase in equipment, and the construction of the new 
Engineering Building, are the more evident signs of progress 
which have been in great measure due to- his labor. But it is 
not too much to say that Professor Johnson’s greatest service 
to the University was in the influence he exerted in broadening 
the spirit of the Engineering College and in cultivating a 
healthy esprit de corps among the student body. His attitude 
towards engineering education was of the broadest, and he fre- 
