Garrett Lydecker

Garrett J. Lydecker

Garrett J. Lydecker (born Englewood, New Jersey, November 15, 1843; died Detroit, Michigan, July 9, 1914) was an American military engineer. He had a long career in the United States Army Corps of Engineers, marred by his mismanagement of the construction of the "Washington City Tunnel", for which he was court martialed.

Early life

Lydecker was the son of John Ryer Lydecker (1824-1895), deputy collector of the port of New York, and his wife Elizabeth (Ward) Lydecker (1827-1904). After attending the New York Free Academy, he was sponsored by Representative Daniel Sickles to attend West Point, graduating in 1864 as first in his class. He entered service as a first lieutenant but in April 1865 was brevetted to captain for his services at the Siege of Petersburg, a rank made permanent in August 1866.

Career

Lydecker spent over forty years in the Army Corps of Engineers, working on fortifications, harbor and navigation improvements, and supervising lighthouses. He spent three years (1869–1872) teaching engineering at West Point. From June 19, 1882 to Apr. 1, 1886 he served as the Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia. He rose through the ranks to be appointed colonel May 10, 1901 and brigadier general upon his retirement on November 15, 1907.

In 1873 Lydecker was called upon to do a survey of some of the area of the Modoc War and produced a report which helped document the events; he worked with photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who had been commissioned to photograph the terrain. Some of Muybridge's photos were used to illustrate Lydecker's report.

"Lydecker Tunnel"

At the time Lydecker was appointed as the Engineer Commissioner in the District of Columbia, the water supply in Washington, D.C. was insufficient and a new reservoir had been proposed, later named the McMillan Reservoir. To feed the reservoir, Lydecker proposed a 4 mile long tunnel, deep underground - unlike the shallow and inexpensive "cut and cover" Washington Aqueduct which his predecessor Montgomery C. Meigs had built. Lydecker believed there was a solid layer of bedrock that would facilitate the project and estimated the project could be done for $53,000 in an October 18, 1882 report.

By February 1886 the project had been halted for lack of money; most of the tunnel had been excavated, but much of it was through loose rock and needed to be lined with multiple layers of brick surrounded by concrete. Over the next two years Congress made multiple appropriations to support the work, but by 1888 $2.2 million had been spent and the project was not complete. Congressional investigations and inspections by outside experts revealed shoddy work approved by bribed inspectors and contracts for $15 per cubic yard of brickwork when similar contracts for work on the reservoir itself were for $9 per cubic yard. Lydecker himself was faulted for failing to supervise the work, rarely if ever visiting the worksites. Lydecker was court martialed and sentenced to forfeit $100 per month in salary for nine months and be formally reprimanded. He was reassigned to be Chief Engineer of the Department of the Columbia in Washington state.

Work on the tunnel was resumed in 1898 and completed in 1901 at a cost of an additional $800,000. It is still in use today.

Family

In 1869 Lydecker married Delia Witherell Buel (1845-1928), daughter of former Michigan congressman Alexander W. Buel; they had at least one child together, Alice Buel Lydecker (1873-1949). All three are buried in the West Point Cemetery.