26 April 2001 GEORGE EDWARD GRAY Outside advice is often sought by those in charge of engineering construction. The need for such service led to the employment of George E. Gray on the Central Pacific. Gray was born at Verona, New York September 12, 1818. He studied civil engineering under Pelatiah Rawson, a United States pioneer in the profession. He was employed as resident engineer of the Black River Canal, New York, at two different periods, and once on the Erie Canal. He also worked as assistant engineer on the New York and Harlem Railroad, was appointed chief engineer of the Utica and Schenectady and the Mohawk Valley Railroads in 1852, and in 1853 was made chief engineer, when those two roads were consolidated into the New York Central System, (Of the NYC?-LDF) In that capacity he built the first wrought-iron bridge, and from 1860 to 1865, acted as chief engineer of the Hudson River Bridge at Albany. It was in a letter of July 10, 1865, that Stanford requested Gray to make a thorough and careful examination and inspection of work already completed and the line as located. (CPRR-LDF) Gray's comment was fair and approved the changes proposed. From that time on, Gray retained the position of consulting engineer on the Central Pacific. He also held the post of chief engineer of the Southern Pacific Railroad after the consolidation of October 12, 1870 (SPRR, SF&SJ, etc) for fourteen years, until he retired in 1885. It was under his direction that a large portion of the Southern Pacific System was built. He died in Berkeley, Calif, at the age of 94 in January 1913. (This is wrong. He died about 1883 or so and his body was escorted to New York by Charles Crocker. While with the CP/SPRR his salary was SI0,000 in gold per year-LDF)
