Stephen Harriman Long
Stephen Harriman Long | |
|---|---|
Representation of the 1819 oil painting of Major Long.
Portrait painted by Charles Willson Peale | |
| Born | December 30, 1784 Hopkinton, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Died | September 4, 1864 (aged 79) Alton, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Dartmouth College |
| Spouse | Martha Hodgkins |
| Parent(s) | Moses and Lucy (Harriman) Long |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Civil Engineer, Topographical engineer, explorer, inventor. |
| Institutions | US Army Corps of Engineers (1814-38), United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers (1838-63). |
| Employer(s) | Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Western & Atlantic Railroad. |
| Projects | Federal expeditions in the trans-Mississippi West (1817–1823); federal internal-improvements surveys (1824–early 1830s); early railroad route studies and engineering. |
| Significant design | The Long truss |
Stephen Harriman Long (December 30, 1784 – September 4, 1864) was a United States Army officer, topographical engineer, civil engineer, and inventor whose career combined military engineering, scientific exploration, federal internal improvements, and early railroad and bridge development.
He is best known for leading federal exploratory expeditions in the trans-Mississippi West between 1817 and 1823, including the 1820 reconnaissance of the Great Plains that contributed to the contemporary characterization of portions of the region as the “Great Desert.”
From the mid-1820s onward, Long played a significant role in federally authorized surveys under the General Survey Act and in early railroad development, including work associated with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Western & Atlantic Railroad.
In 1830, he patented the Long truss, an early timber bridge system that incorporated adjustable compression bracing and deliberate proportioning of members according to calculated stresses, a design later identified by historians as an early application of analytical principles in American bridge engineering.