Edwin Ferry Johnson was born in Essex, Vermont on May 23, 1803, and became one of the great civil engineers of his time. His father, John Johnson, was an eminent civil engineer who started teaching Edwin the trade early in his life. By the age of 14, he was a competent surveyor, and by age 15, Edwin joined his father as assistant engineer in surveying the U.S.-Canadian border from the Connecticut River to the Bay of Fundy. In 1823, Edwin entered the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, and graduated with honors in 1825. The Academy became Norwich University, and Johnson became a professor in mathematics and civil engineering, teaching there from 1826 to 1829. In 1829, he was elected a professor of Natural Philosophy at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
Johnson was an early advocate of the railroad as the primary means of transportation in the future, even as other prominent civil engineers, such as Benjamin Wright, were advocating for canals over railroads. In 1828, Johnson wrote “When the railroad is more thoroughly understood the larger part by far, of the inland business will be conducted by them.” This was two years before the first common carrier steam railroads operated in the U.S.
But Johnson’s early career was, like most civil engineers of that era, connected with canals instead of railroads. According to the Dictionary of American Biography: “His record from 1833 to 1861 is practically a review of the transportation facilities that were constructed.” He conducted surveys on the Erie Canal in 1829, the Champlain Canal in 1830-1831, and the Morris Canal in 1831. He was hired by a number of early railroads as they expanded across the eastern U.S., first as assistant engineer for the Catskill and Canajoharie Railroad in 1831. He was hired as chief engineer or principal assistant by 14 railroads, including the New York and Erie (New York Central), the New York and Boston, and the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac (Chicago and Northwestern) Railroads.
In the early 1850s, Johnson became an advocate for the northern transcontinental railroad route, and in 1853 published a pamphlet, “Railroad to the Pacific, Northern Route, its General Character, Relative Merits, etc.”, which included a map and profile of the route. Johnson’s engineering skill and research resulted in his strong support in advance of actual surveys for the northern route, which offered the best line to the Pacific for ease of railroad construction, and excellent opportunities for freight and passenger traffic. When the results of the 1853-1855 Pacific Railroad Surveys conducted by the War Department were published in 1855 and 1856, the results identified three potential railroad routes: The Northern Pacific to Oregon, the Central Pacific to central California, and the Southern Pacific across the south to southern California. Gold in California, silver in Nevada, and the Civil War eventually dictated the central route, even though the northern route had many engineering advantages.
Thanks greatly to the efforts of Edwin Johnson, on July 2, 1864, President Lincoln signed the Northern Pacific Railroad Act, which did not include the assistance of bonds like those received by the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, but it did include 50 million acres of land grants. On June 4, 1866, Johnson was appointed Chief Engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and in July 1869, he began the reconnaissance surveys west from St. Paul, Minnesota. By early 1870, the survey parties had spread out across the Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Dakota Territories. But also in 1870, problems began to appear with the new management of the railroad. The new management was not satisfied with the slow pace of the work, and they took it out on the Chief Engineer, Edwin Johnson. Johnson’s health was failing, and he was becoming deaf, so the new management decided to replace him with W. Milnor Roberts, a civil engineer who had worked for Johnson years before. Johnson was kept on as a consultant with the same pay, but on April 12, 1872, his health gave out and he died in New York City.
In August of 1872, when the survey reached the Missouri River in central Dakota Territory, the civil engineers named the town they created at the crossing of the river “Edwinton”, after Edwin Johnson. Alas, it was only temporary, and in early 1873, the Northern Pacific Railroad’s management, in order to gain more immigrants and investors from Europe, renamed the town Bismarck.
References "Jay Cooke’s Gamble, The Northern Pacific Railroad, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873"; M. John Lubetkin, 2006.
"Norwich University 1819-1911 Her History, Her Graduates, Her Roll of Honor"; Vol. 2 1820-66, MG Grenville M. Dodge, C.E., 1911.
"History of the Northern Pacific Railroad"; Eugene V. Smalley, 1883.
"Memoir of Edwin Ferry Johnson, Civil Engineer"; William S. Johnson, 1880.
"Dictionary of American Biography", Volume V; Dumas Malone, 1932.
"Railroad Gazette"; A. N. Kellogg, Proprietor, Saturday, April 20, 1872.
