Canvass White (September 8, 1790 – December 18, 1834) was an American
engineer and
inventor. He was chief engineer at the
Delaware and Raritan Canal and he patented
Rosendale cement, which became the dominant cement in the United States until 1900.
Early life and education
White was born on September 8, 1790, in
Whitestown, New York to Hugh White, Jr. (January 16, 1763 - April 7, 1827) and Tryphena Lawrence White (July 4, 1768 - March 30, 1800, a native of Canaan, Connecticut).[1][2]
White's first job as an engineer was on the
Erie Canal in 1816, working for chief engineer Judge
Benjamin Wright. In the autumn of 1817, he traveled to
England to study their canal system. When he returned he patented a type of natural cement,
Rosendale cement which was used to build some of the major works in the US including the
Delaware and Hudson Canal and
Brooklyn Bridge.[3] He continued his work in
New York until 1824.
From 1824 until the summer of 1826, he was chief engineer on the
Union Canal in Pennsylvania. He was appointed Chief Engineer of the
Delaware and Raritan Canal in 1825 and of the
Lehigh Canal in 1827. He was also a consulting engineer for the
Schuylkill Navigation Company and for the
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. He became president of the Cohoes Company when it was incorporated on March 28, 1826. He was also highly involved in the design of the
Croton Aqueduct though the position of chief engineer eventually went to
John B. Jervis.[4]
Of White, author
Bill Bryson writes, "the great unsung Canvass White didn't just make New York rich; more profoundly, he helped make America."[5]
Lehigh Canal: eastern section, Glendon and Abbott Street industrial sites, Lehigh River from Hopeville to confluence of Lehigh and
Delaware Rivers in
Easton, Pennsylvania, NRHP-listed[6]
^Oneida historical society, U. (1885). "The Whitestown country." 1784-1884. Utica, N.Y.
^Hughes, T. P., and F. Munsell. "American ancestry, giving the name and descent in the male line, of Americans whose ancestors settled in the United States of America previous to the declaration of independence, AD. 1776 (Vol. VII).", page 30 Albany: Joel Munsell’s Sons (1892).
Accessed[permanent dead link] on June 15, 2016.
Lists biographical information was obtained from the following sources: Charles B. Stuart, Lives and Works of Civil and Military Engineers in America (New York, 1871); William P. White, "Canvass White's Services" in Buffalo Historical Society Publications, Vol. 13 (Buffalo, 1909), 353:66; and the American Society of Civil Engineers, A Biographical Dictionary of American Civil Engineers (New York, 1972), 126-27.
Further reading
Whitford's History of New York Canals, (1906), Vol II, page 1170
William Pierrepont White; Canvass White's Services Buffalo Historical Society (1909) volume 13, page 352-366
Albert C. Jensen; Engineering Clinton's Ditch; Civil Engineering, volume 33, September 1963, pages 48–50
Bastoni, Gerald Robert. "Canvass White, Esquire (1790-1834): Civil Engineer." (1983). Accessed at Lehigh University
digital resources on June 15, 2016.