Hamilton Fulton
Encyclopedia
Hamilton Fulton was a British engineer who later immigrated to North Carolina
.
He was born in Great Britain, presumably of Scottish parentage, and had studied under the noted Scottish Engineer, John Rennie
, the designer of London Bridge
. He afterward worked under Thomas Telford
, the designer and builder of many canals including the Gotha Canal between the Baltic
and the North Sea
. He had worked on his own for the British Admiralty for jetties and breakwaters in both Malta and Bermuda.
In 1818, he became acquainted with Peter Browne from North Carolina who was then in England in search of a Principal Engineer for the State regarding internal improvements
. Fulton and Browne agreed, and Fulton came to North Carolina with his assistant Robert H. B. Brazier
and signed a contract with the State on July 19, 1819. The two Engineers immediately set about their tasks. Fulton examined the coastal inlets, sounds and principal rivers with an eye toward practical improvements in navigation while Brazier conducted the surveys and made maps and plates thereof.
As Chairman of the commission, Murphy prepared a memoir of the situation in the state for the information and instruction of Fulton. The first object in view being to render the rivers navigable, not for steamboats, but for flat boats, carrying produce from river landings down the stream to some lower point for shipment. To this end, the Catawba
and Yadkin
were deemed navigable almost to the mountains. Ashe declares that Murphy’s notes to Fulton indicate such a thorough examination of detail and such a copious volume of information that Murphy himself must be considered possessed of considerable engineering acumen.
One of Fulton’s first recommendations was the reopening of Roanoke Inlet which had been closed since 1795. His report thereon conveys a ready appreciation of Fulton’s skill and understanding. He understood the necessity of avoiding any deleterious effect on natural vegetation as well as the natural and mechanical forces necessary to keep such an inlet open once it was reestablished. The project failed of realization, but remained the basis for state planning until well into the 1840s.
Fulton was involved with the construction of the Roanoke Canal. The lower rapids occurs just east of Weldon and extend to above the present City of Roanoke Rapids. At the western edge of Weldon, a small stream known as Chockyotte Creek enters the river. The proposed canal would have to pass over the creek as it lifted the boats to the higher elevation above the upper rapids. In 1821 Fulton designed the Roanoke Canal Aqueduct over Chockoyotte Creek in Halifax County, a 110 feet (33.5 m) structure with a 30 feet (9.1 m) arch, which edifice still stands despite a century of neglect. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Roanoke Canal routed river vessels around the rapids, thus opening the upper reaches of the Roanoke River
to commercial navigation. An even more impressive structure designed by Fulton over the Dan River
at Milton in Caswell County consisting of eight elliptical stone arches has been lost.
As well as supervising the execution of his plans for the Roanoke Navigation Co., Fulton spent considerable time attempting to correct the ill-conceived piecemeal construction of the Cape Fear Navigation Co. He also examined and made recommendations on the Wilkesboro–Tennessee turnpike, the Swannanoa Gap road, and the Cherokee road. He recommended a network of state roads, classified, financed and maintained in the manner now current in the state. Consideration was given to a system of canals which would connect the Yadkin and Catawba rivers to the Cape Fear
thus giving westerners an outlet to the Atlantic.
Political interference with engineering priorities caused no end of difficulties. Every member of the Legislature had a pet project in his district that he wanted immediate action taken on. Further, those from the east wanted to be sure that their area got their fair share of the improvements. They were convinced that since the east paid more taxes than the west, that the projects should be preponderantly in the east. Indeed, there was no shortage of worthwhile projects throughout the state. The net result was that piecemeal work was accomplished here, there and elsewhere, but in very few instances was the work of such a character as to provide perceptible improvement in conditions.
In 1822 in his message to the Legislature, Governor Holmes
said that for several years we have had the services of an able engineer, who has explored our rivers, pointed out the obstructions to their navigation and given instructions as to how they were to be removed, a zealous and intelligent board, pushing the projects by all the means in their power, and still their progress has been so gradual as to be almost imperceptible. “The reason is obvious, we have not concentrated our money in sums sufficiently large to effect the objects to which it has been applied . . . . Had our limited funds been originally directed to a few points of primary and general importance, and nor dispersed in small sums throughout the State, the result would have been more beneficial to every section . . . . For instance, if the channel of the Cape Fear between Wilmington and the bar could have been deepened, so as to allow passage of vessels without the aid of lighters it would have been better. But by dividing our strength so much in attempting to effect everything at once, we have effected comparatively nothing.”
Neither Fulton or the Legislature was satisfied with the operation of the internal improvements program in the state. Political machinations, the willingness of the board and the Legislature to sacrifice quality in a search for an inexpensive work along with the illusionary expectations of the public that expected immediate results from the improvements prevented Fulton from addressing what he felt were more efficacious needs. Local interests prevented the adoption of a systematic statewide scheme. While working at the Roanoke rapids, Fulton became acquainted with Thomas Moore, the Virginia Engineer. Fulton received a more favorable impression of the Virginia program of internal improvements, and when Moore died, Fulton applied for the position. He was unsuccessful and remained as Principal Engineer for North Carolina.
According to Powell, at that time, most North Carolinians considered engineering to be a lot of academic stuff, devoid of practical value. The average farmer felt he could take a gang of laborers with spades, drag pans and wagons and dig a canal, or construct a road while the Engineers were figuring on it and drawing a lot of useless plans. Indeed, the existing roads had been constructed and maintained in exactly that manner since before the Revolution, under the direction of the County Court.
Fulton’s yearly fee of 1,200 pounds, sterling, in gold, amounting to $5,333 plus expenses, aroused no small amount of envy, particularly from politicians. Further, the sources of funds were not yielding as had been hoped. The State was having difficulty collecting on its land sales of the Cherokee tracts, the Bank of New Bern stock declined and further, few of the internal improvement projects paid on any regular basis.
In 1825, the House passed a resolution directing the Board to reduce Fulton’s salary to $3,300 and to hire his services out to other states as occasion arose. As a result of these frustrations, Fulton resigned in March 1826 and took a similar position in Georgia
. There, he discovered he had been engaged by a discredited board, a situation not unlike that in North Carolina, and by the end of the year Fulton found himself in private practice in Milledgeville
, at that time, the capitol of Georgia. By the end of 1828 he had returned to London and entered private practice with his son. Fulton died in London in 1834.
Fulton and his family, while in Raleigh, being Anglicans, attended Christ Episcopal Church, and one of his daughters, Julia Jane was born here. Fulton’s wife Sarah was greatly admired. David L. Swain wrote that Mrs. Fulton “is worth $1000 per annum to Raleigh, & the society of the place would suffer an irreparable loss by her removal.” Swain described Fulton as “blunt but of very friendly disposition and one of the most scientifical men in the country.”
In retrospect, it may have been better that Fulton did not receive proper support from the State in the construction of a canal system. A better system was at hand. In 1825 the first railroad locomotive appeared in the United States. In 1827 Joseph Caldwell published a series of newspaper essays advocating this new system of transportation. They were collected and published the next year in a pamphlet entitled The Numbers of Carlton which caught the public imagination and led to the construction of the first railroads in the state.
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
.
He was born in Great Britain, presumably of Scottish parentage, and had studied under the noted Scottish Engineer, John Rennie
John Rennie
-People:* John Rennie the Elder , engineer * Sir John Rennie the Younger , engineer * John Rennie , naval architect...
, the designer of London Bridge
London Bridge
London Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames, connecting the City of London and Southwark, in central London. Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge, it forms the western end of the Pool of London...
. He afterward worked under Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
, the designer and builder of many canals including the Gotha Canal between the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
and the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. He had worked on his own for the British Admiralty for jetties and breakwaters in both Malta and Bermuda.
In 1818, he became acquainted with Peter Browne from North Carolina who was then in England in search of a Principal Engineer for the State regarding internal improvements
Internal improvements
Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canals, harbors and navigation improvements...
. Fulton and Browne agreed, and Fulton came to North Carolina with his assistant Robert H. B. Brazier
Robert H. B. Brazier
Robert H. B. Brazier was an English surveyor who emigrated to the United States in July 1819.He came as an assistant to Hamilton Fulton who had been hired as Principal Engineer by the North Carolina Board of Internal Improvements...
and signed a contract with the State on July 19, 1819. The two Engineers immediately set about their tasks. Fulton examined the coastal inlets, sounds and principal rivers with an eye toward practical improvements in navigation while Brazier conducted the surveys and made maps and plates thereof.
As Chairman of the commission, Murphy prepared a memoir of the situation in the state for the information and instruction of Fulton. The first object in view being to render the rivers navigable, not for steamboats, but for flat boats, carrying produce from river landings down the stream to some lower point for shipment. To this end, the Catawba
Catawba River
The Catawba River is a tributary of the Wateree River in the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. The river is approximately 220 miles long...
and Yadkin
Yadkin River
The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in North Carolina, flowing . It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, power, and flood control. The river becomes the Pee Dee...
were deemed navigable almost to the mountains. Ashe declares that Murphy’s notes to Fulton indicate such a thorough examination of detail and such a copious volume of information that Murphy himself must be considered possessed of considerable engineering acumen.
One of Fulton’s first recommendations was the reopening of Roanoke Inlet which had been closed since 1795. His report thereon conveys a ready appreciation of Fulton’s skill and understanding. He understood the necessity of avoiding any deleterious effect on natural vegetation as well as the natural and mechanical forces necessary to keep such an inlet open once it was reestablished. The project failed of realization, but remained the basis for state planning until well into the 1840s.
Fulton was involved with the construction of the Roanoke Canal. The lower rapids occurs just east of Weldon and extend to above the present City of Roanoke Rapids. At the western edge of Weldon, a small stream known as Chockyotte Creek enters the river. The proposed canal would have to pass over the creek as it lifted the boats to the higher elevation above the upper rapids. In 1821 Fulton designed the Roanoke Canal Aqueduct over Chockoyotte Creek in Halifax County, a 110 feet (33.5 m) structure with a 30 feet (9.1 m) arch, which edifice still stands despite a century of neglect. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Roanoke Canal routed river vessels around the rapids, thus opening the upper reaches of the Roanoke River
Roanoke River
The Roanoke River is a river in southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States, 410 mi long. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont...
to commercial navigation. An even more impressive structure designed by Fulton over the Dan River
Dan River
The Dan River flows in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. It originates in Patrick County, Virginia, and crosses the state border into Stokes County, North Carolina. It then flows into Rockingham County. From there it goes back into Virginia. It reenters North Carolina near the...
at Milton in Caswell County consisting of eight elliptical stone arches has been lost.
As well as supervising the execution of his plans for the Roanoke Navigation Co., Fulton spent considerable time attempting to correct the ill-conceived piecemeal construction of the Cape Fear Navigation Co. He also examined and made recommendations on the Wilkesboro–Tennessee turnpike, the Swannanoa Gap road, and the Cherokee road. He recommended a network of state roads, classified, financed and maintained in the manner now current in the state. Consideration was given to a system of canals which would connect the Yadkin and Catawba rivers to the Cape Fear
Cape Fear River
The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The overall water quality of the river is continuously measured and monitored by and conducted by the , , and the...
thus giving westerners an outlet to the Atlantic.
Political interference with engineering priorities caused no end of difficulties. Every member of the Legislature had a pet project in his district that he wanted immediate action taken on. Further, those from the east wanted to be sure that their area got their fair share of the improvements. They were convinced that since the east paid more taxes than the west, that the projects should be preponderantly in the east. Indeed, there was no shortage of worthwhile projects throughout the state. The net result was that piecemeal work was accomplished here, there and elsewhere, but in very few instances was the work of such a character as to provide perceptible improvement in conditions.
In 1822 in his message to the Legislature, Governor Holmes
Gabriel Holmes
Gabriel Holmes was the 21st Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1821 to 1824. He was not affiliated with any party; a Representative from North Carolina; born near Clinton, Sampson County, N.C., in 1769; attended Zion Parnassus Academy in Rowan County and Harvard University; studied...
said that for several years we have had the services of an able engineer, who has explored our rivers, pointed out the obstructions to their navigation and given instructions as to how they were to be removed, a zealous and intelligent board, pushing the projects by all the means in their power, and still their progress has been so gradual as to be almost imperceptible. “The reason is obvious, we have not concentrated our money in sums sufficiently large to effect the objects to which it has been applied . . . . Had our limited funds been originally directed to a few points of primary and general importance, and nor dispersed in small sums throughout the State, the result would have been more beneficial to every section . . . . For instance, if the channel of the Cape Fear between Wilmington and the bar could have been deepened, so as to allow passage of vessels without the aid of lighters it would have been better. But by dividing our strength so much in attempting to effect everything at once, we have effected comparatively nothing.”
Neither Fulton or the Legislature was satisfied with the operation of the internal improvements program in the state. Political machinations, the willingness of the board and the Legislature to sacrifice quality in a search for an inexpensive work along with the illusionary expectations of the public that expected immediate results from the improvements prevented Fulton from addressing what he felt were more efficacious needs. Local interests prevented the adoption of a systematic statewide scheme. While working at the Roanoke rapids, Fulton became acquainted with Thomas Moore, the Virginia Engineer. Fulton received a more favorable impression of the Virginia program of internal improvements, and when Moore died, Fulton applied for the position. He was unsuccessful and remained as Principal Engineer for North Carolina.
According to Powell, at that time, most North Carolinians considered engineering to be a lot of academic stuff, devoid of practical value. The average farmer felt he could take a gang of laborers with spades, drag pans and wagons and dig a canal, or construct a road while the Engineers were figuring on it and drawing a lot of useless plans. Indeed, the existing roads had been constructed and maintained in exactly that manner since before the Revolution, under the direction of the County Court.
Fulton’s yearly fee of 1,200 pounds, sterling, in gold, amounting to $5,333 plus expenses, aroused no small amount of envy, particularly from politicians. Further, the sources of funds were not yielding as had been hoped. The State was having difficulty collecting on its land sales of the Cherokee tracts, the Bank of New Bern stock declined and further, few of the internal improvement projects paid on any regular basis.
In 1825, the House passed a resolution directing the Board to reduce Fulton’s salary to $3,300 and to hire his services out to other states as occasion arose. As a result of these frustrations, Fulton resigned in March 1826 and took a similar position in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. There, he discovered he had been engaged by a discredited board, a situation not unlike that in North Carolina, and by the end of the year Fulton found himself in private practice in Milledgeville
Milledgeville, Georgia
Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon, located just before Eatonton on the way to Athens along U.S. Highway 441, and it is located on the Oconee River. The relatively rapid current of the Oconee here made this an...
, at that time, the capitol of Georgia. By the end of 1828 he had returned to London and entered private practice with his son. Fulton died in London in 1834.
Fulton and his family, while in Raleigh, being Anglicans, attended Christ Episcopal Church, and one of his daughters, Julia Jane was born here. Fulton’s wife Sarah was greatly admired. David L. Swain wrote that Mrs. Fulton “is worth $1000 per annum to Raleigh, & the society of the place would suffer an irreparable loss by her removal.” Swain described Fulton as “blunt but of very friendly disposition and one of the most scientifical men in the country.”
In retrospect, it may have been better that Fulton did not receive proper support from the State in the construction of a canal system. A better system was at hand. In 1825 the first railroad locomotive appeared in the United States. In 1827 Joseph Caldwell published a series of newspaper essays advocating this new system of transportation. They were collected and published the next year in a pamphlet entitled The Numbers of Carlton which caught the public imagination and led to the construction of the first railroads in the state.