JERVIS, JOHN BLOOMFIELD

born Dec. 14, 1795, Huntington, N.Y., U.S. died Jan. 12, 1885, Rome, N.Y. American civil engineer who made outstanding contributions in construction of U.S. canals, railroads, and water-supply systems. Jervis worked as an axman on the survey for the Erie Canal and earned rapid promotion on that project thereafter, serving as chief engineer from 1821 to 1825. In 1827 he became chief engineer for the Delaware & Hudson Canal project, which was designed to carry coal from Pennsylvania to the Hudson River and thence to New York City. This project consisted of a 108-mile- (174-kilometre-) long canal and a 16-mile- (26-kilometre-) long railway and involved the construction of numerous bridges and inclines in the mountains. Jervis planned and designed every facet of the railway and drew up the specifications for its locomotive, the Stourbridge Lion, which was the first functioning locomotive in the United States. He next became chief engineer of the Mohawk & Hudson Railway, New York state's first railroad. In this post he designed the Experiment (1832), the first locomotive to have four of its six wheels mounted on a swiveling truck. This radical innovation enabled the Experiment to travel at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour (96 km/h), making it the fastest locomotive in the world. From 1833 to 1836 Jervis was chief engineer of the Chenango Canal in New York, which was the first canal to use artificial reservoirs as part of its water supply. In 1836 he took charge of construction of the Croton Aqueduct, New York City's first water-supply system, and directed the construction of the Croton Dam and Reservoir as well as the Aqueduct Bridge, which was built on 15 stone arches and crossed the Harlem River. From 1846 until his retirement in 1864 Jervis directed the construction of three more railroads in New York state and the Midwest.