Copy of resignation letter from John F. Stevens to President Theodore Roosevelt Auteur(s) : Stevens, John F. (John Frank), 1853-1943 ( Author, Primary ) Résumé : (Biographical) From Wikipedia: John Frank Stevens (25 April 1853 – 2 June 1943) was an American engineer who built the Great Northern Railway in the United States and was chief engineer on the Panama Canal between 1905 and 1907. Biography: Stevens was born in rural Maine, near West Gardiner to John Stevens, a tanner and farmer, and Harriet Leslie French. He attended Maine State Normal School (now the University of Maine at Farmington) for two years. At the conclusion of his schooling in 1873, bleak economic conditions held little promise of a job, and he chose to go west. Entry into the field of civil engineering evolved from his experience in the Minneapolis city engineer's office. For two years he carried out a variety of engineering tasks, including surveying and building railroads, and at the same time gained experience and an understanding of the subject. He became a practical engineer, self-taught and driven by a self-described "bull-dog tenacity of purpose." In 1878 Stevens married Harriet T. O'Brien. They had five children, two of whom died in infancy.
By the age of 33, in 1886, Stevens was principal assistant engineer for the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway, and in charge of building the line from Duluth, Minnesota to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Although a large part of his work involved surveying, he assisted in all phases of railroading: reconnaissance, locating, organizing, and construction.
In 1889, Stevens was hired by James J. Hill as a locating engineer for the Great Northern Railway.
Stevens earned wide acclaim in 1889 when he explored Marias Pass, Montana, and determined its practicability for a railroad. Stevens was an efficient administrator with remarkable technical skills and imagination. He discovered Stevens Pass through the Cascade Mountains, set railroad construction standards in the Mesabi Range of northern Minnesota, and supervised construction of the Oregon Trunk Line. Hill promoted him to chief engineer in 1895, and later to general manager. During his time at the Great Northern, Stevens built over a thousand miles of railroad, including the original Cascade Tunnel. Stevens Pass in the Cascade Range was named for him. (Most other Pacific Northwest landmarks with the word "Stevens" are named after Isaac Stevens, who is of no relation.)
Panama Canal:
Stevens left the Great Northern in 1903 for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, where he was promoted to vice-president. Then, in 1905, at Hill's recommendation, he was hired by Theodore Roosevelt as chief engineer on the Panama Canal.
Stevens' primary achievement in Panama was to build the infrastructure needed for the completion of the canal. "The digging," he said, "is the least thing of all." He proceeded immediately to build warehouses, machine shops, and piers. Communities for the personnel were planned and built to include housing, schools, hospitals, churches, and hotels. He authorized extensive sanitation and mosquito-control programs that eliminated yellow fever and other diseases from the Isthmus. Reflecting his background, he saw the early stage of the canal project itself as primarily a problem in railroad engineering, which included rebuilding the Panama Railway and devising a rail-based system for disposing of the soil from the excavations. Stevens argued the case against a sea level canal like the French had tried to build. He successfully convinced Theodore Roosevelt of the necessity of a high-level canal built with dams and locks.
Resignation:
Stevens resigned suddenly from the Canal project in 1907 to Roosevelt's great annoyance, as the focus of the work turned to construction of the canal itself. As a railroad engineer, Stevens had little expertise in building locks and dams, and probably realized he was no longer the best person for the remainder of the job. Stevens would also have been aware that the original great Cascade Tunnel, for which he was responsible, was in hindsight built in error too close to the ruling grade and was perhaps turning from a credit to a debit. The true reasons for his resignation have never been known.
Subsequent career:
Following the collapse of Imperial Russia in 1917, leaders of the provisional government appealed to President Wilson for help with their transportation systems. Stevens was selected to chair a board of prominent U.S. railroad experts sent to Russia to rationalize and manage a system that was in disarray; among his work was on the Trans-Siberian Railway. After the overthrow of the provisional government, the board's work ceased. Stevens remained in Allied-occupied Manchuria and in 1919 headed the Inter-Allied Technical Board charged with the administration and operation of the Chinese Eastern and Siberian railways. He remained in an advisory capacity until occupying Allied troops were withdrawn; he finally left in 1923. After his return to the United States Stevens continued to work as a consulting engineer, ending his career in Baltimore in the early 1930s. He was awarded the Franklin Institute's Franklin Medal in 1930. He then retired to Southern Pines, North Carolina, where he died at the age of 90 in 1943. Digital version only, no paper copy in collection archives. Droits : This item is presumed to be in the public domain. The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions may require permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact Digital Services (UFDC@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide. http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00029596/00001 | Partager |
Seasonal dynamics of sea surface salinity off Panama: The Far Eastern Pacific fresh pool Auteur(s) : Alory, Gael Maes, Christophe Delcroix, Thierry Reul, Nicolas Illig, Serena Éditeur(s) : Amer Geophysical Union Résumé : The freshest surface waters in the tropical Pacific are found at its eastern boundary. Using in situ observations, we depict the quasi-permanent presence of a far eastern Pacific fresh pool with Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) lower than 33, which is confined between Panama's west coast and 85W in December and extends westward to 95W in April. Strong SSS fronts are found at the outer edge of this fresh pool. We investigate the seasonal dynamics of the fresh pool using complementary satellite wind, rain, sea level and in situ oceanic current data at the surface, along with hydrographic profiles. The fresh pool appears off Panama due to the strong summer rains associated with the northward migration of the ITCZ over Central America in June. During the second half of the year, the eastward-flowing North Equatorial Counter Current keeps it trapped to the coast and strengthens the SSS front on its western edge. During winter, as the ITCZ moves southward, the north-easterly Panama gap wind creates a south-westward jet-like current in its path with a dipole of Ekman pumping/eddies on its flanks. As a result, upwelling in the Panama Bight brings to the surface cold and salty waters which erode the fresh pool on its eastern side while both the jet current and the enhanced South Equatorial Current stretch the fresh pool westward until it nearly disappears in May. New SMOS satellite SSS data proves able to capture the main seasonal features of the fresh pool and monitor its spatial extent. Journal Of Geophysical Research-oceans (0148-0227) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2012-04 , Vol. 117 , P. - Droits : 2012 AGU http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00072/18311/16581.pdf DOI:10.1029/2011JC007802 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00072/18311/ | Partager |
Late Quaternary variability of sedimentary nitrogen isotopes in the eastern South Pacific Ocean Auteur(s) : De Pol-Holz, R. Ulloa, O. Lamy, F. Dezileau, Laurent Sabatier, Pierre Hebbeln, D. Auteurs secondaires : Departamento de Oceanografía [Concepción] ; Universidad de Concepción [Chile] GeoForschungsZentrum - Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam (GFZ) Géosciences Montpellier ; Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG) - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS) - Université de Montpellier (UM) - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Bremen ; Université du Québec Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Résumé : We present high-resolution bulk sedimentary δ 15N data from the southern edge of the present-day oxygen minimum zone of the eastern South Pacific. The record is interpreted as representing changes in water column nitrogen removal during the last 70,000 years. We found significant fluctuations in the isotopic signal that suggest major reorganizations of the oxygen minimum zone at millennial timescales. These fluctuations were not related to other millennial-scale changes like the Northern Hemisphere's Dansgaard-Oeschger climate swings or local changes in primary productivity, so appear to be dictated by the Southern Hemisphere's climate rhythm. This is preliminarily corroborated by an overall agreement between our δ 15N data and the sedimentary proxy of ice sheet dynamics in Patagonia, which is in turn correlated with surface water properties at the midlatitude subduction region of the eastern South Pacific intermediate waters. Finally, potential implications on late Quaternary changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations are discussed. Paleoceanography / PALEOECEANOGRAPHY hal-00407260 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407260 DOI : 10.1029/2006PA001308 | Partager |
Distribution et taxonomie des Howella (Perciformes, percichthyidae) de l'Atlantique Auteur(s) : Post, A Éditeur(s) : Société Française d'Ichtyologie Résumé : On the basis of geographical distribution and morphological analysis of the Atlantic Howella , two subspecies of H. brodiei have been established, H. brodiei brodiei for the IndoPacific and H. brodiei atlanlica for the tropical and boreal Atlantic. H. sherborni has been recognized as a separate species, probably distributed circumglobally in southern Ocean but presently recorded only from the South Atlantic, the central South Pacific and from off southern and south-eastern Australia respectively. H. b. atlanlica and H. b. brodiei are distinct by having 3 scale rows between the lateral line and the origin of the second dorsal fin, while H. sherborni has 4 scale rows there. H. sherborni is in geographical contact with the two subspecies while H. b. brodiei and H. b. atlantica are geographically isolated from each other. The new subspecies, H. b. atlantica occurs in the North Atlantic and the tropical South Atlantic. Specimens from 75 mm SL and longer, predominantly occur in the boreal areas, while specimens less than that length occur in the tropical areas respectively. A day and night bathymetric distribution and a size-depth stratification have been observed. NOT CONTROLLED OCR L'étude de la distribution et l'analyse des caractères méristiques des Howella de l'Atlantique montre la présence dans les régions tempérées nord et tropicales d'une sous-espèce nouvelle, H. brodiei atlantica, et dans la zone tempérée sud de H. sherborni. H. sherborni, caractérisé par 4 rangées d'écailles entre la ligne latérale et l'origine de la seconde dorsale, est au contact, dans l'Atlantique, de H. b. atlantica et, dans les Océans Indien et Pacifique de H. b. brodiei; ces deux sous-espèces, isolées géographiquement, possèdent 3 rangées d'écailles entre la ligne latérale et l'origine de la seconde dorsale. Les exemplaires d'H. b. atlanlica mesurant 75 mm LS ou plus ont été capturés dans la zone tempérée de l'Atlantique nord et ceux de moins de 75 mm principalement dans l'Atlantique tropical et subtropical nord. Les différences de distribution bathymétrique, le jour et la nuit et selon les tailles, sont étudiées chez H. b. atlanlica et H. sherborni. OCR NON CONTRÔLE Cybium (Société Française d'Ichtyologie), 1991-02 , Vol. 15 , N. 2 , P. 111-128 Droits : 1991 Société Française d'Ichtyologie http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/1991/publication-3769.pdf http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/3769/ | Partager |