After the War of 1812, various eastern seaboard states
turned their faces westward to secure the trade of the newly-settled
areas. Early in 1816, Governor Wilson Cary Nicholas called
the attention of the Virginia General Assembly to the active
interest New York and Pennsylvania had demonstrated in securing
this trade. The Legislature responded by passing an act
creating a fund for internal improvements and for a board
of public works to administer it.
Then, following the death of Thomas Moore, the state's
engineer, in 1822, Claudius Crozet was selected from a pool
of candidates to become Virginia's next chief engineer.
General Winfield Scott wrote of Crozet: "In point of
genius, theory, and practice, I have no question that he
is the first man in America for the vacancy in question."
In June 1823, Claudius, Agathe and their family moved to
Richmond, and he immediately plunged into his new duties.
Working largely in the field, he made countless surveys
for canals, turnpikes, and highways. At this 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.
The James River was the central waterway, but the vast
area was laced with numerous more-or-less navigable rivers,
though many required herculean efforts to make them so.
Proponents of the James River Canal hoped to have an all-water
route to the Ohio, but Crozet felt that only a railroad
could be used over the mountain chain to connect the canal's
segments, much as was being done with the Pennsylvania system
and its Allegheny Portage Railroad.
Meanwhile, he surveyed routes for several roads, such
as the Staunton & Parkersburg Turnpike and the famed
Valley Turnpike, which would become the campaign highway
of northern and southern armies in the Shenandoah Valley
during the Civil War. While the roads, as built, sometimes
deviated from his surveys, the construction of the Interstate
system, some 150 years later, frequently used Crozet's routes.
He also surveyed a possible rail route from Lynchburg to
Tennessee (later used by the Norfolk & Western Railway).
In a report in 1831, Crozet observed that "Canals
have done their best; railroads now are at least equal to
them, and are still advancing toward perfection." Citing
"delays and procrastination," he resigned his
post in 1832.
He was offered a position as the first chief engineer
of the State of Louisiana in the same year. His acceptance
was quick because he had relatives living there, the state
had a large French-speaking population, the salary would
be $5,000, and it would be a welcomed change for his family.
The Mississippi River was the dominant political and social
concern in Louisiana. The Pontchartrain Railroad, the first
line west of the Appalachian Mountains, was chartered in
1830 and was in operation by 1832. Louisiana Governor Roman
formally announced to the Legislature that "Colonel
Crozet is ready to execute any survey that they may order."
Crozet considered a Louisiana to Virginia railroad but was
quickly swamped with legislators' pet projects.
He complained, "It is not a general and extensive
system which is objectionable; the small and unconnected
works alone are too unproductive and will become ruinous
if multiplied." He began numerous swamp-draining projects,
surveyed the route of the Clinton & Port Hudson Railroad,
and argued against canal proposals to connect with the Mississippi
River (which could rise as much as 30 feet in high water).
It was clear that legislative interference would be even
more of a problem in Louisiana than in Virginia. Crozet
resigned from the position in mid-1834. He assumed the presidency
of Jefferson College at Convent, La. (now Manresa Retreat
House), a state-supported institution, and later was civil
engineer of the City of New Orleans.
Virginia's Governor Campbell called Col. Crozet back once
again to be the chief engineer for the state in 1837. He
was happy to return to Virginia. In addition to his engineering
duties, Crozet was appointed chairman of the Board of Visitors
at a new military college in Lexington, which would be called
the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). At its first meeting,
the members of the board elected Crozet president of the
board, a position he held for six years, while remaining
the state's chief engineer.
Upon his return to Virginia, he found that the "powers
that be" were still very committed to canals. But there
were railroads for him to inspect and review. One was the
Richmond & Fredericksburg, later renamed the Richmond,
Fredericksburg & Potomac. During the year of 1837, he
rode that railroad and remarked that "excessive rocking
of cars indicated a derangement in the level of the rails,
in consequence of the settling."
Two years later he reported, "Experience has demonstrated
the inadequacy of flat rails fastened on wooden sleepers,
especially of oak, to bear the action of heavy engines moving
with great velocities; under such a weight, the narrow and
thin bar yields and sinks into the wood, the sills themselves
resting on the natural ground, sink and rise alternatively,
and ultimately settle very irregularly. In passing over
so uneven a surface, the train rocks and undulates to the
reciprocal injury of superstructure and vehicles."
Concluding his comments on the so-called "strap rail,"
Crozet said, "I think it would be true and sound economy
to substitute a heavy iron track to the light plate rail
superstructure, which has unfortunately been chosen for
all the railroads in Virginia, and is the chief cause of
the difficulties under which the companies presently labor."
Crozet toured the Baltimore & Ohio in 1841, and was
highly complementary of its operations. He felt that, from
its connection at Harpers Ferry, the Winchester & Potomac
should be extended up the Shenandoah Valley beyond Winchester,
rather than relying on the Valley Turnpike to serve the
rest of the valley. (On a note familiar to modern highway
engineers, he complained about the damage that overloaded
wagons did to turnpikes.)
VMI finally opened in November of 1839, with Crozet as
the architect of the college's academic program and military
organization. VMI would become a major training institution
for engineers and militia officers for Virginia and the
South. He continued to write mathematics and geometry textbooks
and supervised the surveying and publication of a new state
map.
Arguments over extending the canal system arose again
and political pressure resulted in the chief engineer position
being abolished. (The James Canal never went beyond Buchanan,
Va., with a branch to Lexington.)
After serving briefly as the principal of the Richmond
Academy, a private school, Crozet was appointed chief engineer
of the Blue Ridge Railroad in 1849. This was a separately
chartered line to connect with the Louisa Railroad, which
had been building west from Gordonsville. The Blue Ridge
Railroad would construct the difficult 17 miles from Mechum's
River to Waynesboro, Va., crossing its namesake mountains.
Crozet had made a survey of the proposed line ten years
earlier, suggesting a route via Rockfish Gap. He had at
that time made the first proposal for the use of switchbacks
to conquer a heavy grade. His later surveys, however, proposed
a line with heavy cuts, massive fills, and four tunnels.
This, the future Chesapeake & Ohio mainline, would
be one of the most ambitious rail projects to that time.
The Blue Ridge Tunnel, at the summit and 4,250 feet in length,
when completed would be the world's longest. It was 700
feet below the top of the ridge.
To the east, there would be the "Short" or "Little
Rock" tunnel, ironically the only one of the original
four still in use. Two miles further, the 800-foot Brookville
Tunnel was bypassed when Interstate 64 was built. Finally,
Greenwood Tunnel, 500 feet long, was bypassed by a cut in
1944.
