Robert Brewster Stanton facts for kids
Robert Brewster Stanton (born August 5, 1846, in Woodville, Mississippi – died February 23, 1922, in New Canaan, Connecticut) was an American civil and mining engineer. He was the main engineer for a special trip that explored the Grand Canyon to see if a railroad could be built there in 1889-90. He also looked into many mining projects.
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Biography
Robert Stanton went to Miami University, where he earned his first degree in 1871. He later received another degree from the same university in 1878. In 1885, he was given an honorary degree from the University of Wooster.
Building Railroads
Stanton worked as an engineer for the Cincinnati Southern Railroad from 1874 to 1880. Later, he was the chief engineer for the Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railroad. In this role, he oversaw the building of the famous Georgetown Loop Railroad in the Colorado mountains between 1881 and 1883.
In 1884, he started his own business as an engineer. One of his big projects was leading a photographic survey through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. This was for a company that wanted to build a railroad through the canyon in 1889-90.
Stanton also worked on other railroad projects. He helped with landslides for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1896. He also checked the value of railroads in Michigan, Kansas, and Washington in 1906 and 1910. He even planned railroad lines from Chicago to Saint Louis in 1902, and from Butte, Montana, to Boise, Idaho, in 1905.
Mining Explorations
Stanton was involved in mining from 1884 until World War I. He worked in many places, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, the West Indies, and the Dutch East Indies.
He was an engineer and manager for the Flint Idaho Mining Company from 1886 to 1888. He did the same job for the Hocumac Mining Company from 1893 to 1894. He also worked with copper and nickel mines in Canada in 1892 and 1903.
In 1904, he explored gold mines on the island of Sumatra. He also checked copper mines in Cananea, Mexico, in 1906, and gold mines in California in 1893, 1903, and 1907.
Stanton also worked in Utah and Arizona in Glen Canyon from 1898 to 1901. He worked for the Hoskininni Mining Company there. This company, which had some funding from Julius F. Stone, did not succeed as planned. Stanton also did engineering work at manganese mines in Washington in 1910. He worked on gold mines in Nova Scotia in 1913, and iron and manganese mines in Cuba from 1909 to 1914.
His Writings
Robert Stanton wrote several books and gave talks about his work:
- Availability of the Cañons of the Colorado River for Railway Purposes (1882) - This book was about whether the Grand Canyon could be used for a railway.
- The Great Landslides of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1898) - This book covered the big landslides he worked on.
- He also wrote many articles and gave lectures about the Grand Canyon.
Books About Him (Published After He Died)
- James M. Chalfant, ed., Colorado River Controversies (1932)
- Dwight L. Smith, ed., Down the Colorado (1965)
- C. Gregor Crampton and Dwight L. Smith, eds., The Hoskaninni Papers: Mining in Glen Canyon, 1897-1902 (1961)
External links
- Robert Brewster Stanton photo
Images for kids
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Robert Stanton rowing in Glen Canyon, December 1889. Grand Canyon National Park photo
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Abandoned Hoskinini Gold Dredge in Glen Canyon about 1908
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