relations death_date death_place children birth_place predecessor successor title birth_date term image article_title name occupation
george mckay , father-in-law keefer , father samuel keefer , half-brother thomas 07 january 1915 rockcliffe -lrb- rockcliffe park -rrb- , ontario charles keefer thorold township , upper canada félix-gabriel marchand william robinson clark president of the royal society of canada 04 november 1821 1898 -- 1899 thomas keefer.jpg thomas keefer
 thomas coltrin keefer engineer , author , and businessman
thomas keefer

thomas coltrin keefer -lrb- 4 november 1821 -- 7 january 1915 -rrb- was a canadian civil engineer .
born into a united empire loyalist family in thorold township , upper canada , the son of george keefer and jane emory , née mcbride , his father was chairman of the welland canal company .
after attending upper canada college he began his engineering training by working on the erie canal and continued his learning experience later on the welland canal .
he became well known for his writings , particularly `` philosophy of railroads '' and `` the canals of canada : their prospects and influence '' , and surveyed a railway connecting kingston , ontario , and toronto -lrb- 1851 -rrb- , was in charge of the survey for a line between montreal and kingston , and determined the site for the victoria bridge that crosses the st. lawrence river into montreal .
however , his engineering focus was on water supply .
he became chief engineer of the montreal water board and also built the ottawa water works .
one of his best known achievements was the construction of the hamilton water works , an achievement commemorated by the preservation of the pumping station as the hamilton museum of steam and technology .
his design for the foundations of the victoria bridge -lrb- `` keefer 's shoes '' -rrb- was used in the construction of the bridge .
keefer was a co-founder and the first president of the canadian society of civil engineers .
he was also president of the american society of civil engineers and of the canadian institute .
he was made a fellow of the royal society of canada in 1890 and was its president from 1898 to 1899 .
he served as chief engineer of the montreal water board and designed the water-supply system for hamilton , ontario -lrb- 1859 -rrb- , as well as the waterworks in ottawa -lrb- 1874 -rrb- .
his hamilton pumping station , with its working gartshore beam engines , has been declared a national historic site .
as the `` dean of canadian engineers , '' he received many honours , including the presidency of the american society of civil engineers .
he died in ottawa in 1915 .
his son , charles keefer , was also a notable canadian civil engineer .
