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Daniel Craig McCallumRailway engineer and manager
Date of Birth: 21.01.1815
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Daniel Craig MacCallum
Daniel Craig MacCallum was a Scottish-born railway engineer and executive. He was born in Scotland in 1815, but his family immigrated to the United States and settled in New York when he was a child. MacCallum became the general manager of the New York and Erie Railroad in 1855, and three years later, in 1858, he founded the McCallum Bridge Company.
Railway Career and Contributions
MacCallum was one of the early proponents of implementing organizational structure as a means of managing business operations. In February 1862, Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War in Abraham Lincoln's administration during the Civil War, appointed MacCallum as the military director and superintendent of Union railroads. His successful organization of work processes and efficient management of the railroad network during this challenging period earned MacCallum the rank of Major General.
Additionally, MacCallum developed a special design for rigid arch trusses that were used in the construction of wooden railway bridges in the 19th century in Canada and the United States. However, the emergence of steel bridges led to the disappearance of this unique design. The Percy Covered Bridge, built in 1861, is the only remaining example of MacCallum's truss design. Ironically, this bridge now serves pedestrians and automobiles, spanning the Chateauguay River near Powerscourt, Quebec, Canada, between the municipalities of Elgin and Hinchinbrooke.
Legacy as a Poet
In addition to his engineering accomplishments, Daniel MacCallum was a talented poet. He left behind numerous poems, with his most famous work being "Lights on the Bridge." MacCallum wrote this poem shortly before the death of his friend Sam Campbell, a railway engineer who worked alongside the young Daniel and tragically died in 1842.
