John Cresson Trautwine was an American engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

, architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

, and author.

He was a consultant on numerous canal project in North and South America. His most remembered statement was that he reported in 1852 that a canal through Panama

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 would be impossible.

Railways

Between 1831 and 1836 he was an engineer on several railways and in 1836-42 was chief engineer of the Hiawassee Railway, connecting Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 and Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. He executed surveys (1850) for the Panama Railway

Panama Railway

The Panama Canal Railway Company is a railway line that links the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across Panama in Central America. It is jointly owned by the Kansas City Southern Railway and Mi-Jack Products...

, for the Lackawanna and Lanesborough Railway (1856) in Susquehanna County, Pa.

Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 42,238 people, 16,529 households, and 11,785 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 21,829 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...

, and for a railway route across Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

 (1857).

Literary works

• Method of Calculating the Cubic Contents of Excavations and Embankments (1851)
• Field Practice for Laying out Circular Curves for Railroads (1851)
• Civil engineer
  Civil engineer
  A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
  
  s pocket book, 1871 (1904 edition prepared by J. C. Trautwine III)

The "Pocketbook" was long known as the "engineer's bible" and under the editorship of John C. Trautwine 2nd and 3rd passed through many editions.

See also

• Thomas Ustick Walter, (1804–1887)
• John Cresson Trautwine, Jr. (1850–1924)
• William Strickland
  William Strickland (architect)
  William Strickland , was a noted architect in nineteenth-century Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Nashville, Tennessee.-Life and career:...
  
  , (1788–1854) (student)

External links

• http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/21603
• http://www.earlyrepublic.net/BIOG-T.htm
• http://www.picturehistory.com/find/p/20642/g/1/mcms.html (photo)