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He served as chief engineer of the Montréal Water Board and designed the water-supply system for Hamilton, Ont (1859), as well as the waterworks in Ottawa (1874). His Hamilton Pumping Station, with its working Gartshore beam engines, has been declared a national historic site.
Keefer, Thomas Coltrin
Thomas Coltrin Keefer, civil engineer (b at Thorold, UC 4 Nov 1821; d at Ottawa 7 Jan 1915). He was involved in a number of important engineering works, and his pamphlet Philosophy of Railroads (1849) was widely used. He himself began the survey for a railway connecting Kingston, Ont, and Toronto (1851), was in charge of the survey for a line between Montréal and Kingston, and determined the site for the Victoria Bridge over the St Lawrence River at Montréal. His essay The Canals of Canada (1850) brought him work in hydraulic ENGINEERING.He served as chief engineer of the Montréal Water Board and designed the water-supply system for Hamilton, Ont (1859), as well as the waterworks in Ottawa (1874). His Hamilton Pumping Station, with its working Gartshore beam engines, has been declared a national historic site. Keefer was a founding member and first president of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers (1887). As the "dean of Canadian engineers," he received many honours, including the presidency of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
