STEVENS, JOHN FRANK

born April 25, 1853, near West Gardiner, Maine, U.S. died June 2, 1943, Southern Pines, N.C. American civil engineer and railroad executive who, as chief engineer of the Panama Canal from late 1905 to April 1907, laid the basis for that project's successful completion. Stevens became an engineer and in 1875 began working for various railroads. By 1895 he had become chief engineer for the Great Northern Railway and had overseen the laying of thousands of miles of track over difficult terrain. In 1905 he was appointed chief engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission and thus became responsible for both the engineering and construction of the Panama Canal. At the time of Stevens' appointment, the canal-building project was a shambles. Stevens quickly created orderly planning, began a program to eradicate the yellow-fever mosquito in the area, greatly expanded the network of railways serving the project, improved the food supply, and generally made the Canal Zone livable for the American work force. Most importantly, he was instrumental in persuading President Theodore Roosevelt of the feasibility of a canal using a combination of locks and a dammed lake instead of the sea-level canal favoured by a majority of the Isthmian Canal Commission's members. Roosevelt's approval of the locked-canal plan ensured the successful building of the Panama Canal (the alternative, sea-level design would have entailed the moving of much greater quantities of soil and rock than were technically feasible). Stevens had laid the canal project on a firm basis, but he grew frustrated by his strenuous and demanding post and resigned it in April 1907. He was succeeded by George W. Goethals. Stevens subsequently served as an executive for several American railroads and was an engineering consultant for them.