ABSTRACT
SCOTT 20.02. 1843 Dryden NY/USA 27.04. 1927 Charleston WV/USA Addison Moffat Scott attended the Ithaca Academy, Ithaca NY, specializing in mathematics and survey. In 1866 he joined a party to the Northwest organized by Gouverneur K. Warren (1830-1882) for a survey of the Upper Mississippi. In 1867, Warren offered him a position as assistant engineer on improvement of Mississippi River. Scott remained there mainly on the construction of a large railroad bridge between Rock Island IL and Davenport IA. In 1873 the USA improved the Great Kanawha River, then in charge of William E. Merrill (1837-1891). Scott was placed at Charleston WV as chief assistant. During his long service there he devoted himself with zeal and energy to the duties of his professional position, mastering thoroughly the theory and the practical details of the movable dams as introduced by the Frenchman Chanoine, then the first dams of this type in the USA. In 1901 Scott resigned from his position after 34 years as civil engineer, as member of the US Corps of Engineers. His last head noted in an article: ‘I desire to call attention in the most emphatic way… to Mr. A.M. Scott, who was the principal engineer on this work when I took charge of it for the USA in 1874; he has remained on it up to the present time when it was completed. The conduct of the work has been most economical, wise and excellent in every way. Mr. Scott has exhibited an unusual degree of skill as a designing and constructing engineer in the management of the improvement and in dealing with the many perplexing problems which have presented themselves for solution in its progress. To him is due, more than to any other person, the success of this work. I say what I know, and it gives sincere pleasure thus to bear record to the merit of a most faithful and deserving man’. Scott retired to Charleston WV, serving there as a vicepresident of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce. He was described as courteous and kind, while he possessed the unbounded confidence of his superiors. In his profession he achieved an enviable reputation for capacity, skill, and executive ability. He was a modest, unassuming gentleman thoroughly reliable in all engagements. Anonymous (1929). Addison M. Scott. Trans. ASCE 93: 1897-1898. Chanoine, J. (1839). Sur le barrage d’Epineau. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 16: 238-280. Chanoine, J., Lagrené, H.M. (1862). Les barrages à hausses mobiles. Dunod: Paris. Kemp, E.L. (2000). Addison M. Scott. The Great Kanawha navigation: 43. University of Pittsburgh Press: Pittsburgh PA. P Scott, A.M. (1894). Improvement of the Great Kanawha River. Trans. ASCE 31: 539-551.
