C. Shaler Smith

Abstract

Smith was one of the premier bridge builders of the post-Civil War period. He started his bridge building career under Albert Fink on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. During the Civil War, he designed and built a powder factory for the Confederacy at Augusta, Ga. After the war, he formed Smith and Latrobe Co. and later The Baltimore Bridge Company with Benjamin and C. H. Latrobe. He worked closely with James Eads on the St. Louis Bridge and designed and built the long iron easterly approach to the bridge. He designed and built some of the major viaducts, swing, and fixed span bridges in the United States, Australia, and Peru, and finally innovative cantilever bridges over the Kentucky, Mississippi, and St. Lawrence Rivers.