Home Page
Auctions@EarlyAmerican.com
Phone: 858-759-3290
Bookmark
Early American
Type in Your EMAIL Address
to Receive Notices
of Important Events
• Auctions@EarlyAmerican.com
• Register to Bid
• Sign-in / Sign-out
• Helpful Hints
• Reference Books
Links to Other Sites:
• Tortuga Trading

We ship what we sell, no expensive 3rd party shipping.
Autographed lots have EAHA, Inc. Certificates of Authenticity (COA)
and all other items sold by request, per specified terms of sale.
By Bidding in this sale you are agreeing to the Terms of Sale. Click Here to read the Terms of Sale.
This Auction is Now OPEN for Bidding
Closing LIVE ONLINE: SATURDAY • June 8th • Starting at 9:00 AM Pacific Time
Absentee Bidding on a Specific Lot Will Remain OPEN
Until the LIVE BIDDING begins for that Specific Lot on SATURDAY • June 8th
A 25% Buyer's Premium Will Be Added To The Price of Each Lot in Your Invoice
Browse the Auction in Groups of 25 Lots:
<< PREVIOUS LOT • NEXT LOT >>
Click for a Printable Page
Estimate Range: $800 - $1,000
Current Bidding Status
This Lot is CLOSED for Absentee Bidding.
“Canvass White” Autograph Letter Signed Regarding the Erie Canal, he later Provided the Foundation for the Statue of Liberty and the West Wing of the White House, American Pioneering Engineer, Inventor of a superior quality Waterproof Hydraulic “Rosendale” Cement widely Used

Click an Image to Enlarge It
CANVASS WHITE (1790-1834). American Engineer and Inventor, he was Chief Engineer for the Erie Canal, also the Delaware and Raritan Canals; Canvas White patented “Rosendale Cement,” which became the dominant superior quality cement used in the United States until 1900,

April 17, 1829-Dated, Rare Historic Content Autograph Letter Signed, “Canvass White”, measuring 7.75” x 12.5”, 1 page, Allentown (PA), Choice Very Fine. This Letter in reference to finishing work on the Erie Canal, on which he had been engaged for over 12 years. Here, White writes as Chief Engineer of the Lehigh Canal and Navigation Company to fellow engineer William Lehman. This Letter reads, in part:

“I regret very much that our Canal should be so shackled with the imperfections of the Pennsylvania Canal for we must of course share a part of the public odium for it makes the Union Canal incomplete and the trade will be driven down the Susquehanna in consequence of the imperfection in the Canal. I hope you will be able to get on without another interruption occasioned by breaks or want of water.”

Small tears at folds repaired on verso with archival tape and where letter was opened at its wax seal in the outer blank margin, not near any text. Very well penned in rich brown ink that is easily readable on clean wove period paper.
Canvass White has been acclaimed one of America’s great pioneering engineers and inventor of a waterproof hydraulic cement that was both cheaper and of better quality than that used in England, where he had spent a year studying canal technology.

The cement was used for nearly a century, providing the foundation for the Statue of Liberty and the west wing of the White House. As he died prematurely at age 44, suffering from a long illness contracted while surveying lands west of the Susquehanna River, White’s autograph letters are rarely encountered.

After being severely wounded in combat in the War of 1812, White began a career of nearly 20 years working on Canal construction projects - notably including the Erie, being hired for that work by Benjamin Wright, “the father of American civil engineering”.
Keywords:
Click for a Printable Page
Estimate Range: $800 - $1,000
Early American History Auctions, Inc.
1520 Commerce St., # 312 • Winchester, VA 22601
Phone: 858 • 759 • 3290
Email: Auctions@EarlyAmerican.com