Claudius Crozet
Encyclopedia
Benoit Claudius Crozet was an educator and civil engineer
.
Crozet was born in France
. After serving in the French military, in 1816, he immigrated to the United States
. He taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York
, and helped found the Virginia Military Institute
at Lexington, Virginia
. Crozet was Principal Engineer for the Virginia Board of Public Works
and oversaw the planning and construction of canal
s, turnpikes, bridge
s and railroads in Virginia
, including the area which is now West Virginia
. He became widely known as the "Pathfinder of the Blue Ridge."
on December 31, 1789. He attended a special engineering school, the École Polytechnique
and graduated as sub-lieutenant on October 1, 1807. Crozet studied bridge building, and graduated from the Imperial Artillery School as a second lieutenant on June 9, 1809. Crozet resigned from military duty on April 11, 1816.
On June 7, 1816, in Paris
, Crozet married Agathe Decamp.
. Almost immediately after arriving, Crozet began work as a professor of engineering at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York
.
While at West Point, Crozet is credited by some as being the first to use the chalkboard as an instructional tool. He used the "Elementary Course of Civil Engineering", translated from the course of M. J. Sganzin at the École Polytechnique
. He also designed several of the buildings at West Point. Thomas Jefferson
referred to Claudius Crozet as "by far the best mathematician in the United States."
. He resigned from his duties at West Point, and brought his wife and two children (a boy and a girl) with him to live in Richmond, Virginia
.
Virginia's Board of Public Works was very active in promoting the development of canals, roads, and railroads. His work included approving various proposals and determining their engineering feasibility. At the time, Virginia extended all the way from the Atlantic Ocean
to the Ohio River
and was the largest state east of the Mississippi River
. It included what is now the State of West Virginia
. Crozet worked on hundreds of transportation projects, such as the Northwestern Turnpike
.
Typical of his many projects of this nature was the Chesterfield Railroad
, the first in Virginia, the plans of which he examined before Board of Public Works funds were approved. It began operations in 1831.
In 1832, Crozet left Virginia to work in Louisiana
. However, he returned to his old job in Virginia in 1837 to work on roads, canals, railroads and other points of necessity for the state. By this time, some railroads were already under construction and the canal system had reached its potential. He left office in 1843 after losing support of canal owners when he correctly forecast the future advantages railroads would hold for Virginia. Authoring textbooks on highway, railroad and aqueduct design, his 1848 map of the entire state was the first since the one prepared by Peter Jefferson
, father of Thomas Jefferson, over a century earlier.
Crozet was one of the founders of Virginia Military Institute
(VMI) at Lexington, Virginia
, a major training institution for engineers and militia officers for Virginia and the South. When VMI opened in 1839, Crozet was the architect of the college's academic program and military organization. At its first meeting, the members of the VMI Board of Visitors elected Crozet president of the Board, a position he held for six years (while remaining the state's Chief Engineer).
and determined that the best way to allow the Blue Ridge Railroad, an extension of the Virginia Central Railroad
, to cross the mountain would be through a series of four tunnel
s near Rockfish Gap
at Afton Mountain. The 4273 feet (1,302.4 m) long Blue Ridge Tunnel was opened in 1856, although rail service did not begin until April 1858. At that time, it was the longest tunnel in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Dug a decade before the invention of dynamite
it was considered to be an "engineering wonder of the world" and was less than a half-foot (15.2 centimetres) off perfect alignment, as construction had proceeded from either end. Upon completion of the tunnels in 1858, the Blue Ridge Railroad ceased to exist, becoming a part of the Virginia Central Railroad.
During the American Civil War
, Confederate General Thomas Stonewall Jackson, a former instructor at VMI, used Crozet's tunnel to transfer his "foot cavalry
" (in modern times, this would be known as a rapid deployment force) from the Shenandoah Valley
to the east side of the Blue Ridge quickly, to the puzzlement and consternation of Union military leaders.
In 1868, the Virginia Central Railroad was merged with the Covington and Ohio Railroad
to create the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
; the original tunnel served until it was replaced with a different alignment in 1944. Perhaps as mute testament to Crozet's extraordinary skills, despite advances in technology from the 1850s, the "new" mid 20th century tunnel was 4 feet (121.9 cm) off-center, in comparison with only 6 inches in Crozet's earlier project.
.
The town of Crozet, Virginia
was named in his honor. The original Blue Ridge Tunnel
is now proposed for a "rails-to-trails
" project sponsored by Nelson County. When completed, it will be the third-longest pedestrian tunnel in the nation.
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
.
Crozet was born in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. After serving in the French military, in 1816, he immigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York
West Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...
, and helped found the Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
at Lexington, Virginia
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
. Crozet was Principal Engineer for the Virginia Board of Public Works
Virginia Board of Public Works
The Virginia Board of Public Works was a governmental agency which oversaw and helped finance the development of Virginia's internal transportation improvements during the 19th century. In that era, it was customary to invest public funds in private companies, which were the forerunners of the...
and oversaw the planning and construction of canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s, turnpikes, bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s and railroads in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, including the area which is now West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. He became widely known as the "Pathfinder of the Blue Ridge."
Early life, family
Claudius Crozet was born in VillefrancheVillefranche-sur-Saône
Villefranche-sur-Saône is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France.It lies 1 mile west of the Saône River, and is around north of Lyon...
on December 31, 1789. He attended a special engineering school, the École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
and graduated as sub-lieutenant on October 1, 1807. Crozet studied bridge building, and graduated from the Imperial Artillery School as a second lieutenant on June 9, 1809. Crozet resigned from military duty on April 11, 1816.
On June 7, 1816, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Crozet married Agathe Decamp.
Immigration to United States
Late in fall of 1816, Crozet and his bride headed for the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Almost immediately after arriving, Crozet began work as a professor of engineering at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York
West Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...
.
While at West Point, Crozet is credited by some as being the first to use the chalkboard as an instructional tool. He used the "Elementary Course of Civil Engineering", translated from the course of M. J. Sganzin at the École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
. He also designed several of the buildings at West Point. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
referred to Claudius Crozet as "by far the best mathematician in the United States."
Virginia Board of Public Works
In 1823, Crozet was elected Principal Engineer and Surveyor for the Virginia Board of Public WorksVirginia Board of Public Works
The Virginia Board of Public Works was a governmental agency which oversaw and helped finance the development of Virginia's internal transportation improvements during the 19th century. In that era, it was customary to invest public funds in private companies, which were the forerunners of the...
. He resigned from his duties at West Point, and brought his wife and two children (a boy and a girl) with him to live in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
.
Virginia's Board of Public Works was very active in promoting the development of canals, roads, and railroads. His work included approving various proposals and determining their engineering feasibility. At the time, Virginia extended all the way from the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
to the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
and was the largest state east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. It included what is now the State of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. Crozet worked on hundreds of transportation projects, such as the Northwestern Turnpike
Northwestern Turnpike
The Northwestern Turnpike is a historic road in West Virginia , important for being historically one of the major roads crossing the Appalachians, financed by the Virginia Board of Public Works in the 1830s. In modern times, west of Winchester, Virginia, U.S...
.
Typical of his many projects of this nature was the Chesterfield Railroad
Chesterfield Railroad
The Chesterfield Railroad was located in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It was a 13-mile long mule-and-gravity powered line that connected the Midlothian coal mines with wharves that were located at the head of navigation on the James River just below the fall line at Manchester...
, the first in Virginia, the plans of which he examined before Board of Public Works funds were approved. It began operations in 1831.
In 1832, Crozet left Virginia to work in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. However, he returned to his old job in Virginia in 1837 to work on roads, canals, railroads and other points of necessity for the state. By this time, some railroads were already under construction and the canal system had reached its potential. He left office in 1843 after losing support of canal owners when he correctly forecast the future advantages railroads would hold for Virginia. Authoring textbooks on highway, railroad and aqueduct design, his 1848 map of the entire state was the first since the one prepared by Peter Jefferson
Peter Jefferson
Peter Jefferson was the father of American President Thomas Jefferson . A surveyor and cartographer, his Fry-Jefferson Map of 1751 accurately depicted the Allegheny Mountains for the first time and showed the route of "The Great Road from the Yadkin River thro Virginia to Philadelphia distant 455...
, father of Thomas Jefferson, over a century earlier.
Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
(VMI) at Lexington, Virginia
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
, a major training institution for engineers and militia officers for Virginia and the South. When VMI opened in 1839, Crozet was the architect of the college's academic program and military organization. At its first meeting, the members of the VMI Board of Visitors elected Crozet president of the Board, a position he held for six years (while remaining the state's Chief Engineer).
Blue Ridge Tunnels
In 1839, Crozet surveyed the Blue Ridge MountainsBlue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
and determined that the best way to allow the Blue Ridge Railroad, an extension of the Virginia Central Railroad
Virginia Central Railroad
Virginia Central Railroad was chartered as the Louisa Railroad in 1836 by the Virginia Board of Public Works and had its name changed to Virginia Central Railroad in 1850. It connected Richmond with the Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Gordonsville in 1854, and had expanded westward past the Blue...
, to cross the mountain would be through a series of four tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
s near Rockfish Gap
Rockfish Gap
Rockfish Gap is a wind gap located in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlottesville and Waynesboro, Virginia, United States, through Afton Mountain, which is frequently used to refer to the gap....
at Afton Mountain. The 4273 feet (1,302.4 m) long Blue Ridge Tunnel was opened in 1856, although rail service did not begin until April 1858. At that time, it was the longest tunnel in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Dug a decade before the invention of dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
it was considered to be an "engineering wonder of the world" and was less than a half-foot (15.2 centimetres) off perfect alignment, as construction had proceeded from either end. Upon completion of the tunnels in 1858, the Blue Ridge Railroad ceased to exist, becoming a part of the Virginia Central Railroad.
During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Confederate General Thomas Stonewall Jackson, a former instructor at VMI, used Crozet's tunnel to transfer his "foot cavalry
Foot cavalry
Foot cavalry was an oxymoron coined to describe the rapid movements of infantry troops serving under Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson during the American Civil War...
" (in modern times, this would be known as a rapid deployment force) from the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
to the east side of the Blue Ridge quickly, to the puzzlement and consternation of Union military leaders.
In 1868, the Virginia Central Railroad was merged with the Covington and Ohio Railroad
Covington and Ohio Railroad
Covington and Ohio Railroad was part of a planned railroad link between eastern Virginia and the Ohio River in the 1850s. The mountainous region of the Allegheny Front of the Appalachian Plateau between an existing canal, railroads and navigable rivers represented a formidable obstacle.The...
to create the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P...
; the original tunnel served until it was replaced with a different alignment in 1944. Perhaps as mute testament to Crozet's extraordinary skills, despite advances in technology from the 1850s, the "new" mid 20th century tunnel was 4 feet (121.9 cm) off-center, in comparison with only 6 inches in Crozet's earlier project.
Death and legacy
Crozet died in 1864. Hundreds of plans and drawings which he oversaw have been retained in the archives of the Library of VirginiaLibrary of Virginia
The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, its archival agency, and the reference library at the seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and is located at 800 East Broad Street, 2 blocks from the Virginia State...
.
The town of Crozet, Virginia
Crozet, Virginia
Crozet is a census-designated place in Albemarle County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is situated along the I-64 corridor approximately west of Charlottesville and east of Staunton. Originally called "Wayland's Crossing", it was renamed in 1870 in honor of Colonel Claudius Crozet, the...
was named in his honor. The original Blue Ridge Tunnel
Blue Ridge Tunnel
The Blue Ridge Tunnel, also known as the Crozet Tunnel, was the longest of four tunnels built on the Blue Ridge Railroad to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap near Afton Mountain in central Virginia...
is now proposed for a "rails-to-trails
Rail trail
A rail trail is the conversion of a disused railway easement into a multi-use path, typically for walking, cycling and sometimes horse riding. The characteristics of former tracks—flat, long, frequently running through historical areas—are appealing for various development. The term sometimes also...
" project sponsored by Nelson County. When completed, it will be the third-longest pedestrian tunnel in the nation.