Access to water played a critical role in the development of Los Angeles into one of the country’s largest cities. In 1900, it covered 61 square miles and had 102,000 residents.
This 1919 cover shows dozens of workers erecting wooden forms for various concrete pours for segments of Dry Dock No. 4 at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia.
During the 19th century, Chicago’s sewage got dumped into the Chicago River and flowed into Lake Michigan. Because the city’s drinking water was, and still is, drawn from the lake via two mile-long tunnels, officials feared that the sewage would endanger the water supply.
This 1927 cover depicts the tallest timber bridge in the world. Standing 204.5 ft high and 893 ft long, it was part of a rail line that hauled logs for the Pacific States Lumber Co. from its mill at Selleck, Wash., to Tacoma.
A workhorse with showhorse trappings as well, the $289-million Sixth Street Viaduct in Los Angeles features a series of technical innovations that sets a new threshold for seismic safety.
More art than science, earthwork engineering relied heavily on local custom in 1904 when Karl Terzaghi (1883-1963) earned an engineering degree in Austria.
