San
Francisco County
Biographies
GEORGE
EDWARD GRAY
The five men, Messrs. Leland Stanford, Charles
Crocker, C. P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and E. B. Crocker, who undertook and
did consummate one of the greatest enterprises of modern times, by building a
railroad across the Sierra Nevada mountains and binding with iron bands the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans, will be remembered in history as the remarkable
men of their age. To climb the steep and rugged ascent of that mountain range
seemed a physical impossibility. They sought for the best engineers, as upon
them in a large measure depended the ultimate success of this stupendous
undertaking. For twenty years the locomotive has been crossing and recrossing (sic) these mountains, on the route marked by
the civil engineers. Mr. Gray occupied a prominent position in this department,
and the light of experience and the lapse of time has
proved that he laid his plans well. We quote from a short sketch from a
contemporary:
“George Edward Gray was born in the
town of Verona, Oneida county, New York, on the twelfth day of September, 1818,
and received his early education in the public schools of his native village.
At an early age he manifested a predilection for civil engineering, and after
completing his preliminary studies, he was placed under the tuition of Peletiah Rawson, M. A., one of the most noted civil
engineers of his time. Under his instruction young Gray made rapid progress in
his profession, and upon attaining his majority was employed upon the Black
River and Erie Canals, in the State of New York, and also served on several of
the railroads then being constructed in that State.”
“In 1853 the various railroad
companies then operating between Albany, Troy, Buffalo, Niagara Falls,
Suspension Bridge and Lewiston were consolidated with the New York Central
Railroad, and Mr. Gray was appointed Chief Engineer. This important position he
held until 1865, when he resigned and was appointed Consulting Engineer of the
Southern Pacific Railroad of California. Here his acknowledged ability as an
engineer found the fullest scope for its exercise, and he remained in that position
until 1871, when he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Southern Pacific
Railroad of California, which position he resigned when that road was leased to
the Southern Pacific Company in 1885. Mr. Gray was also Chief Engineer of the
Southern Pacific Railroad of Arizona, Southern Pacific of New Mexico, and directed
the location and construction of the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio
Railroad, from El Paso to San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Gray is a life member of “The
Institution of Civil Engineers,” of London, England, and also a member of the
“American Society of Civil Engineers,” of New York. He is a life member of the
California Academy of Sciences, and is President of the Board of Directors of
that society. Mr. Gray has earned an honored place among the architects of
California’s growth and prosperity, and has seen the wilderness of the past
blossom into the garden of the prosperous present. He well deserves the tribute
of respect paid him by Senator Stanford, in appointing him one of the trustees
of his noble benefaction.”
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Illustrated Fraternal Directory Including
Educational Institutions on the Pacific Coast”, Page 35, Publ. Bancroft
Co., San Francisco. Cal. 1889.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.