The next public work of Mr. Scowden was the extension and enlargement of the canal around the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville, which comprises a new work, as very little of the old was used. The engineering of the work was done under the direction of a board of directors, the president of which was James Guthrie, former Secretary of the Treasury under Pierce, and late United States Senator.
The locks in these works are the largest in the known world for width, length, and lift, not excepting the Suez Canal. There are two locks of thirteen feet lift, and containing fifty-two thousand yards of masonry. The canal is crossed by iron swing bridges. The work has been inspected by the United States topographical engineers, and General Wietzel, now in charge of the work, has pronounced it unsurpassed by anything within the range of his knowledge, and, what is more remarkable, a like tribute to the skill of our fellow citizen has been accorded by French, English and German engineers, and also by the president of the board.
This was his last and greatest triumph of engineering skill; and being a national work, and he a civilian, he may well feel proud of his achievement.
After completing the last mentioned work, Mr. Scowden returned to Cleveland and engaged in the iron trade, constructing a rolling mill at Newburg, for the American sheet and boiler plate company, with which he is still connected.
As an engineer, Mr. Scowden stands high. He never was baffled, though established principles failed, for he had resources of his own from which to draw. Without an exception, every great public work undertaken by him has been not only completed, but has proved entirely successful.
As a man he enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens. His manner is affable and unassuming, and his disposition kindly. Constant application for twenty-five years has had its effect upon him, but with care, he may yet be spared many years to enjoy the fruits of his labors.
John H. Sargent.
John H. Sargent has been, and is, so intimately connected with the construction and management of some of the most important public improvements of the city, and notably so with the sewerage system and water works management, that it is eminently proper he should be noticed here as a representative man in the department of City Improvements.
[Illustration: Yours with Respect, J. H. Sargent]
Mr. Sargent was born March 7, 1814, at Carthage, near Rochester, New York. His parents were but recent emigrants from New Hampshire, and when he was but three years old they removed again toward the land of the setting sun, taking up their residence in what is now the city of Monroe, Michigan, but which was then known as River Raisin. In that place they remained but a year, at the end of which time they removed to Cleveland. Levi Sargent, the father of the subject of this sketch, was by trade a blacksmith, and was at one time a partner in that business with Abraham Hickox, then, and long after, familiarly known to every one in the neighborhood as "Uncle Abram." He soon removed to the west side of the river, and thence to Brooklyn, where he built him one of the first houses erected on that side, on top of the hill. Hard knocks upon the anvil could barely enable him to support his family, so the boy, at the age of nine, was sent to the Granite State, where for ten years he enjoyed, during the Winter months, the advantages of a New England district school, and worked and delved among the rocks upon a farm the remainder of the year. At the age of nineteen, with a freedom suit of satinet, and barely money enough to bring him home, he returned to Cleveland.