Eads
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Eads. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
eedz, James Buchanan (1820-1887), a celebrated American engineer. He was born at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, May 23, 1820. He died at Nassau, Bahama Islands, March 8, 1887. Perhaps no other American engineer has been connected with more notable enterprises. In young manhood he won a reputation by devising some barges for raising sunken steamers. In 1861, at the call of the Federal government, he constructed eight ironclad steamers inside of one hundred days. He also built other gunboats and mortar boats, all of use in opening up the Mississippi and its tributaries. In 1867-74 he built the famous Eads Bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis. It is a mammoth steel arch structure of three spans, resting on stone pillars sent down to bed rock far below the bottom of a treacherous river. It cost $6,500,000. The last great work with which he was connected was the improvement of the mouth of the Mississippi. He designed the system of willow mattresses and stonework by which the water was confined to a narrow passage through which it scoured a deep channel. See Bridge ; Jetty
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JAMES BUCHANAN, an American engineer; born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., May 23, 1820. He early designed some useful boats for raising designed sunken steamers, and in 1861, when called to advise the National Government, constructed within 100 days eight ironclad steamers for use on the Mississippi and its tributaries. He afterward built a number of other ironclads and mortar-boats. His steel arch bridge (1867-1874) across the Mississippi at St. Louis, with its central arch embracing a clear span of 520 feet, ranks deservedly among the notable bridges of the world; his works for improving the South Pass of the Mississippi delta were successfully completed in 1875-1879; and his great plan for deepening the river as far as the mouth of the Ohio by means of jetties, has been demonstrated to be entirely practicable. In 1884 he received the Albert Medal of the Society of Arts, being the first American citizen so honored. He died in Nassau, New Providence, March 8, 1887.