Editing RPI and The Erie Canal

== Introduction ==

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was established November 5th, 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer, but many fail to realize the joint partnership in this institutions' beginnings were due in part by a man by the name of Amos Eaton. While Rensselaer provided the direction and funding, Eaton fueled the start of a science school that educated scientists and geologists, not engineers. The following information expresses Eaton's upbringing, tumultuous early career, life aspirations, early geological discoveries', and contributions to the now-named Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). It is because of Eaton and his work in the Troy, NY area that laid the foundation for RPI's next 100 years as well as advancing New York State's geological and archaeological history. 


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"Amos Eaton" 

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== Early Life and Aspirations ==

Born in 1776 and passing away in 1842, he attended and received his B.A. from Williams College in Massachusetts. 
He later studied law in New York City and served as a surveyor, land agent, and lawyer for eight years for a Livingston Estate near Catskill, NY until he was jailed over a land dispute in 1810.
He was sentenced to life at hard labor without clemency, the most severe penalty at the time at Greenwich Prison in NYC. After spending five years in jail, he dedicated his time to studying natural sciences from the warden’s son, John Torrey. 
Eaton was pardoned in 1815 by Dewitt Clinton’s intervention, who was NYS governor from 1817-1822 and 1825-1828 and was the main politician behind the construction of the Erie Canal. 
Following his release, he continued his studies in natural sciences under Benjamin Silliman and Eli Ives at Yale College in Connecticut. A year later, he became a lecturer at Williams College, where he published Manual of Botany for the Northern States and A Botanical Dictionary and contributed to The American Journal of Science and Arts. 
Eaton was selected by Stephen Van Rensselaer as first senior professor at the “Rensselaer School” (later called Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). He introduced the Bachelor of Natural Sciences and Civil Engineering degrees!


== Eaton's friendship with Van Rensselaer == 

Eaton published a detailed report in 1824 under the direction of Stephen Van Rensselaer titled “Geological and Agricutlrual Survey of the District Adjoining the Erie Canal”. This lengthy and detailed report can be viewed in the Library of Congress [1]. It was a report that examined the geological formations and potential of the land surrounding the newly built Erie Canal, Eaton writing longingly from his efforts saying “I had traveled more than three thousand miles on foot, and two thousand by water and carriage conveyand, in search of geological facts, before I became a subject of our patronage.” 


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"Geological Profile from the 1824 Report drafted by Eaton given to the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer" 

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== Geologic Tours ==

Amos Eaton led several expeditions that led to multiple published reports and literature of groundbreaking geological surveying that founded what geologists today know. The more prominent expedition he embarked on was from May to June 10th in 1826. 
May 18th 1826, Eaton took 21 Rensselaer students along the Erie Canal from Albany to Lake Erie on his first geological tour, thanking Stephen Van Rensselaer for the expenditure of over $18,000 on behalf of the research. They left on a canal boat called the “Lafayette” that was towed to Troy, NY along the Hudson River. 


November 23rd, 1826 Eaton wrote a letter published “Notes respecting Diluvial Deposits in the State of New York and elsewhere.” Eaton on his expedition took a Canal Survey which mentioned how he found a “diluvial trough” from Little Falls to the Erie Canal approximately 160 miles in length, saying it “could not have been scooped out and filled by an existing cause.” Eaton took this observation and yielded that it was physical proof of “the Flood” as recounted in the Book of Genesis. The term “diluvial” describes a geological turning point associated with the Biblical Flood. The theory that the Earth was shaped by the flood was often used in early geologists and scientists theories before the Ice Age was a known concept. Eaton in 1830 would later embark on another expedition, this one advertised more prominently as the “Rensselaer School Flotilla” for not only students but also teachers.


== Eaton's Apprentice == 

A young man by the name of Asa Fitch in Salem, NY in 1826 caught word of the Rensselaer School in Troy, NY and its educational opportunities. Fitch became one of the youngest members of the 20 men in Eaton’s geological tour, including Governor DeWitt Clinton’s son! Fitch recorded the journey in diaries, and when he returned he attended the school and became a part of the class of 1827. 


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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Fitch_Asa_1809-1879.jpg
 
"Asa Fitch (1809-1879) - RPI Class of 1827" 

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== Eaton's Other Notable Students == 

Ebenezer Emmons — geologist; named the Adirondack Mountains

Joseph Henry — Developed electromagnetism

Emma Willard — founder of Troy Female Seminary

== Summary ==



== References ==

[1] Eaton, Amos. A Geological and Agricultural Survey of the District Adjoining to the Erie Canal, 1824, Library of Congress, https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/gdclccn/10/01/83/57/10018357/10018357.pdf

[2] Hall, James. Geological and Agricultural Survey of Erie Canal Long Map. New York State Library, 1824, www.nysl.nysed.gov/mssc/eriecanal/pdfs/bk-geological-agricultural-survey-erie-canal_long-map.pdf.  

[3] Otto H. Muller. Laudable Legacy: A Synopsis of the Titans of Geology and Paleontology in New York State. New York State Geological Association, 1978, www.ottohmuller.com/nysga2ge/Files/1978/NYSGA%201978%20Laudable%20Legacy%20-%20a%20synopsis%20of%20the%20titans%20of%20geology%20and%20paleontology%20in%20New%20York%20State.pdf.  

[4] Whalen, Philip. “Amos Eaton, RPI, Noah, and the Erie Canal.” New York Almanack, 13 Sept. 2017, www.newyorkalmanack.com/2017/09/amos-eaton-rpi-noah-and-the-erie-canal/. 

[5] Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. National Significance of the Erie Canalway. Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, 2011, eriecanalway.org/application/files/9814/5133/0135/07-2_National_Significance_Final.pdf.

[6] Rezneck, Samuel. “A TRAVELING SCHOOL OF SCIENCE ON THE ERIE CANAL IN 1826.” New York History, vol. 40, no. 3, 1959, pp. 255–69. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23153666.

[7] Rezneck, Samuel. “AMOS EATON, ‘THE OLD SCHOOLMASTER,’ IN PRECEPT AND DEED.” New York History, vol. 39, no. 2, 1958, pp. 165–78. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23154944.