THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN NINETEENTH-CENTURY CANALS, STONEWORK, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE CAREER OF ALEXANDER B. MCFARLAN (1796–1866)

Alexander B. McFarlan (1796–1866), an immigrant from Moulin, Perthshire, Scotland, is best known today for his work along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal on natural cement at the Shepherdstown Cement works beginning in 1829, his role in the 1837 discovery of a source of natural cement at Round Top, and his work on the Monocacy aqueduct. He is also known for his work as masonry foreman of the U.S. Capitol extension of 1853–58. Even accounting for such accomplishments noted under variant spellings (McFarland, MacFarland) of his name, however, McFarlan’s work was more extensive than what has previously been noted in the published literature, spanning most of the great canal-building decades, and including work on a number of the great American canal systems built in the nineteenth century.

The Alexander B. McFarlan papers and notebooks preserved in the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) in Cleveland, Ohio, document his activities between 1819 and 1866. McFarlan worked with many of the major canals built in the United States, including the Erie Canal (as a journeyman mason and contractor, 1819–23), the James River Canal (as a contractor, 1823–25), the Ohio & Erie Canal (1820s), the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal (as a masonry contractor), the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal (as superintendent of masonry and hydraulic cement, 1829–46), the James River & Kanawha Canal (as superintendent of masonry and hydraulic cement,1847–53), and canal works in Delaware (as a masonry contractor). These WRHS archival materials provide insights into his activities, including lock construction, supervision of masonry and cement work, exploration for suitable rock for stonework and for hydraulic cement (including expenses such as a barrel of whisky for quarrymen and others), and extensive early experimentation with and testing of cement. The collection includes contracts, letters, notebooks, and other documents. The career of Alexander McFarlan, as documented by this collection, shows the intricate connection between stonework, canals, and the development of hydraulic cement in the United States. It also shows the importance of Scottish immigrants in the development of the stone-related industries in the United States during this era.