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James Brindley, American Canal Engineer

Abstract The James Brindley of this paper is the nephew of the eponymous builder of the Duke of Bridgewater's canals. He worked in England with his uncle until the latter's death and then emigrated to America, in 1774. In America he worked on most of the early canals constructed in the eighteenth century: the Susquehanna Canal, the Conewago Canal, the Potomac Canal, the Santee Canal, the James River Canal, the Harper's Ferry power canal and others. Unlike the better-known English canal engineer William Weston, who also came to America at this time, Brindley worked on more canals and completed most of them. George Washington, an ardent proponent of canals, knew Brindley and spoke well of him. The paper provides a coherent picture of Brindley's life and the early development of American canals before the construction of the Erie, using sources including Brindley's papers when he was chief engineer of the Conewago Canal.