Evening journal., 1913-04-18
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Three Generations Of Dis
tinguiShed Baltimore
Engineers
BY Holland.


fortune Of several millions by de-
veloping enormously the oyster-ship-
ping business at Baltimore. gaining
what was said to be the largest for
tune ever accumulated in that voca-
ton, spent the last years of his life
in a beautiful home which he built
I'm the city of New Haven, not far
from what now Is the Yale stadium
grounds. Mr. Maltby was a modest
man OF somewhat retiring disposition.
but occasionally, when he was in the
company of men who were congcniai
TO him he would narrate very inter.
estine "reminiscences Of the manner
in which this great industry was
created and developed, both at Balti-
more and at Fair Haven, Conn. In
fact, it was at Fair Haven that Mr..
Maltby began this business, and IL
was his experience there that made
It possible to develop upon a very
large scale the oyster packing indus
try of Baltimore.
He used occasionally to speak with
enthusiasm and wonder of the Lat.
robe family, OF Baltimore, for he had
personal acquaintance with the great
Henry Latrobe.
81 have learned. Mr. Maltby used
to say. that when there is any great
and difficult thing to be accomplish
ed in the United States, there always
appears just the right man to under
take the work, no matter if it be en-
tirely original.
THAT was peculiarly true of tho
/ Of 14l u I
owe i'm no small measure the success
have gained in my business. There
were three Latrobes. The original
one, Benjamin Henry, had much to
do with the rebuilding of the Caption
at Washington after It had been de-
stroyed by the British army. He
was also tho engineer who showed
the CAPITALISTS of his time how 10
build a canal by which the James
River in Virginia. became navigable
and how to build the Chesapeake ano
Delaware canal.
His son, Benjamin II. Latrobc,
with whom ] was we'll acquainted,
once told me that when he was a
young man he expected to be a law
yer. and, In fact, studied with one
of the Baltimore lawyers He soon
tied some of his fathers abilities as
an engineer; so he shut up his law
books. studied engineering and was
right on the spot when the citizens OF
Baltimore. under the leadership OF
Alexander Brown. decided to build
the railroad from Baltimore west
ward.
81 often heard when I was living
In, naIf lao ln off To
build this railroad so as to be able to
meet the competition which the
newly-Opened Eric canal would make
possible for New York Here. then,
was a great original proposition.
What Baltimore wanted was a rail-
road across Maryland and northwest
Virginia to a point on the Ohio River.
! Well BENJAMIN II. Latrobe, the son,
actually surveyed the proposed line
/ from Baltimore to Washington and
afterward as far west as Harper's
Ferry This was practically original
work, and in doing it Latrobe showed
that when The United States began to
build railroads, it found men com.
! petent to do that work, although It
vas to them an entirely new work.
"Afterward. when it was proposed
/ W tame iilt ndlAiiiOit anu OhiO nan
road over the Allegheny Mountains,
the capitalists were very timid They
thought that even If the road could
be built over the mountains il would
cost so much that the investment
would prove a dead loss.
But when they turned to Benjamin
Latrobe for advice he told them that
| he would find a way to take the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad over the
mountains so that Baltimore and
/ Wheeling. on the Ohio river. where a
great deal of the Ohio river steam
boating is concentrated, could be
brought into communication by rail.
HE did work out some stupendous
engineering propositions. and il was
| mostly original work with him. al
though the Erie railroad to New York
had met and conquered some difficult
surveying operations about that time
81 believe it was largely due to the
courage Of the city of Baltimore and
the capitalists there and 10 BENJAMIN
Latrobe that the prestige and in
fuence of Baltimore as a great com.
mercial mart were maintained.
There must have been a strong
intellectual gift in the family for en-
gineering. for the grandson of the
first Latrobe. who settled at Balti.
more. and the son of the second en-
gineer of that name did some Won