![[logo]](http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/logos/vmi.jpg)
Virginia Military Institute Archives
Virginia Military Institute Archives© 2001 Virginia Military Institute
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Diane B. Jacob
There are no restrictions.
There are no restrictions.
Sydney B. Williamson Papers, MS 0206, Virginia Military Institute Archives, Lexington, Virginia.
The collection was donated to VMI in 1979 by Sydney W. Smith.
Chronology |
||
| 1865 April 15 | Sydney Bacon Williamson born at Lexington, Virginia | |
| 1884 | Graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a degree in Civil Engineering | |
| 1884-1886 | Mathematics instructor at Kings Mountain (North Carolina) military school | |
| 1886-1887 | Served in the engineering departments of St. Paul and Duluth Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway; designed and constructed railroad terminals and bridges | |
| 1887-1890 | In general engineering practice with Williamson and Earl in Montgomery, Alabama; street paving, sanitary sewers for Montgomery and Columbus, Ga. | |
| 1890 May 20 | Married Helen Cecilia Davis | |
| 1892 | Assistant Engineer to Gen. George W. Goethals; in charge of improvements on the Tennessee River; included a canal lock at Riverton, Ala., and Muscle Shoals Canal | |
| 1898 | Served as Captain, Third Vol. Engineers under Gen. John R. Brooke in Puerto Rico | |
| 1901-1903 | Engineer of fortifications at Newport, R. I. under Goethals | |
| 1903-1907 | Consulting engineer in Baltimore and for Jamestown (N.Y.) Exposition | |
| 1906-1914 | Division Engineer of Pacific Division of Panama Canal under Goethals; responsible for wet and dry excavation of Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks; also designed and constructed Pacific Terminal docks, water supply, sewers, road and streets for the towns of the division including the city of Panama | |
| 1914-1916 | Became Chief of Construction for J.G. White and Co., Ltd. of London; worked on power station and street railway for Brazil, water supply for Genoa, Italy, additions to street railway in Buenos Aires; Chief of Construction of U.S. Reclamation Service; supervised work of Central Office in Denver involving dams, reservoirs, power plants, canals | |
| 1916-1924 | Consulting Engineer for Guggenheim Brothers in New York; worked on Chile Copper Co."s plant and Braden Copper Co.'s plant; increased mining, milling, leaching, smelting, and power plants; also constructed houses for employees; water and sewer systems | |
| 1918 | World War I service. Leave of absence to serve as Lt. Col. of Engineers in France; Section Engineer of Intermediate Section West; built barracks, hospitals, warehouses, remount stations, ammunition dumps, water supplies; Nov. 4, promoted to Colonel | |
| 1919 | Discharged from army and returned to Guggenheim Brothers | |
| 1924-1929 | Civil engineering practice at Birmingham, Alabama, and Charlottesville, Virginia | |
| 1926-1928 | Consulting Engineer with Goethals at Port of Palm Beach, Florida; also consulted on water supplies for several towns in Virginia and Hollywood, FL | |
| 1928 | Employed by U.S. District Engineer at Philadelphia; worked on dikes to control Delaware River | |
| 1929 | Principal Engineer, U.S. Engineering Dept.; investigated feasibility of Nicaragua Canal | |
| 1931 | Appointed member of Interoceanic Canal Board by President Herbert Hoover; served until retirement in 1935 | |
| 1933-1935 | Engaged by U.S. Army corps of engineers to determine damages done by Mississippi flood control program and to testify before courts | |
| 1939 January 13 | Died at Lexington, Virginia | |
The bulk of the collection documents Williamson's engineering assignments in Panama, South America, and the United States, and his service on the Interoceanic Canal Board. The collection consists of the following series: Biographical and historical materials; Correspondence; Project and Planning Files; Engineering Drawings and Specifications; Reports, Papers and Speeches; Photographs; Printed Materials and Miscellaneous. The sizable group of drawings and specifications for the Panama Canal construction is of particular importance. Also of interest in the Photographs series is a Panama Album which includes photos of President William H. Taft's tour of the Panama Canal construction site, as well as photos recording in detail the massive task of constructing the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks; many of these photographs are unpublished.
Notes on work with State of Alabama; Front Royal, Va. Storage Dam Lexington, Va. Storage Dam; Lake Worth Inlet Terminal
"Comparison of Floodway Crossings as Proposed by the Yazoo and Miss. Valley Ry. and the U. S."
Notes
Lock Gates and machinery on them; Gate recess covers; Gate operating machinery.
Lighting material, panel boards, reflectors, lamps, etc.
Upper guard gate valve machines
Chain fenders
Transformer Room equipment
Structural steel for Gatun hydro electric
Towing locomotives and tracks for same
Spillway footbridges
Spillway Caissons
Spillway Gates
Spillway Gate machinery
Stoney Sluice machinery, Stoney Gates; bulkheads, screens and intakes.
Misc. electrical wiring for power and control wiring
Snubbing posts; buffer castings
Cylindrical valve machinery; culvert drainage pumps; machinery chambers and layouts; numbering system; S. B. Williamson
Auxiliary electrical equipment for Gatun hydro electric station
Extra contract prices
Canal Engineers; social life in Panama; living quarters
Visit of United States President William H. Taft to Panama to view canal construction
Visit of United States President William H. Taft to Panama to view canal construction
Construction of the Pedro Miguel Lock
Construction of the Pedro Miguel Lock
Construction of the Pedro Miguel Lock
Construction of the Miraflores Lock
Construction of the Miraflores Lock
Construction of the Miraflores Lock
Construction of the Miraflores Lock and Balboa Terminals