Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 22 February 2004 Vol 3 Issue: #08 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, Michael Howard Phillips [3 February 1962 — 16 February 2004] When I was a boy we would on occasion visit some cousins whose Father and Uncles were in the construction trades. These ironworkers would fit I-beams together to build tall buildings. These men were Mohawk and they were at "home" walking high above the ground. Never to my knowledge did any of them ever lose their footing. The last occupation that my Grandpa Oliver had was as the operator of a crane. He was a man of great height, strength and ingenuity. He made several improvements to his crane which allowed him to "sling" railroad ties onto railroad flatbed cars with greater safety. He was a "safety" minded man and was diligent toward that end. A distant Grand Uncle of my wife's was a Civil War General of the Calvary. However, he was a Structural Engineer by training and built bridges following that tragic period of our history. And, you wonder, what this has to do with heritage. Well, it is a long stretch, but this past week a 100 ton custom constructed crane came crashing to the ground. It was a small miracle that only three workers lost their lives and five more were "injured". One of these men who lost their lives was the son of a first cousin. This tragedyfollows so closely to our own daughter losing her battle with Sarcoma cancer and makes it that much "closer to home". I wonder what General William Sooy Smith would think of modern bridge construction. He was an innovator himself. Born on the 22nd of the wonderful month of July 1830 in Tarlton, Ohio, General Smith's life was well connected to Ohio, Illinois and Nebraska. He graduated from Ohio University in 1849 and then attended the US Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from West Point sixth in his class of 1853. After a year of service, he resigned to work with Colonel James D Graham, of the United States topographical engineers. In 1855 he moved to Buffalo, New York where he was the principal of a high school. Two years later he made the first surveys for the international bridge crossing the Niagara river. Then he was elected engineer and secretary of the Trenton Locomotive works, in Trenton, New Jersey. At that period of our country's history this company was the major iron-bridge manufacturing company in the United States of America. He remained with this company until 1861 and traveled to Cuba, among other places. Also, while working for the Trenton Locomotive works he introduced improvements to sinking cylinders pneumatically to build the Savannah river bridge. With the Civil War commencing, William S Smith returned to Ohio to accept a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel.and served as assistant adjutant-general at Camp Denison. Upon being promoted to full Colonel he was given command of the 13th Ohio regiment and participated in the West Virginia campaigns. He was present at Shiloh, Perryville and took part in the Vicksburg campaign as commander of the 1st division of the 16th corps. He was made chief of cavalry of the Department of the Tennessee, and was attached to Generals Grant and Sherman, until September 1854 due to impaired health he resigned his commission, retiring to his farm in Maywood, Illinois. Returning to civil engeneering, in 1867 he sank the first pneumatic caisson in building the Waugoshanee light-house at the western entrance of the Straits of Mackinaw. Since he had been largely engaged in the building of bridges it should be noted that he built the first great all-steel bridge across the Missouri river at Glasgow, Missouri. In Nebraska he was involved with the constructioin of the Omaha and the Leavenworth bridges, as well as the bridge over the Missouri river at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. By 1890, General Smith, by virtue of his expertise in foundations and structural engineering, was part of the building of every tall building being built in Chicago during this period of time. An example of his work was the Chicago Public Library, now the Chicago Cultural Center. His foundations were so accurate in this building that there has been no appreciable settling in the building. General William Sooy Smith retired to Medford, Oregon, where he died on March 4th, 1916 at the age of eighty-six. He is buried in the Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois. His grave was unmarked until the West Point Society of Chicago placed a monument in his memory in 1969. This week, to divert my mind to other things I chose to write some family heritage. Yes, Mike Phillips, you are in good company in an honorable profession and you are sorely missed by family and friends. e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- PostScript: Other sites worth visiting: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html