OBITUARY.

OBITUARY.

Colonel John Thomas Fanning.

Colonel John Thomas Fanning, a resident of Minneapolis for the past twenty-five years and one of the most distinguished members of the engineering profession of this country, died on February 6 of pneumonia. Of an old New England family, dating hack to 1652, when Edmund Gilbert Fanning settled in Connecticut, and on the other side to 1636, when Lieutenant Thomas Tracy settled in the same state, Colonel Fanning was born at Norwich, Conn., December 31, 1837. After passing through the public and normal schools at Norwich he studied architecture and engineering. In those days there was little specialization, and Colonel Fanning fitted himself for practice in what are now several almost distinct professions, and throughout his long professional life proved himself a man of remarkably diversified talents. His was one of the few engineering offices of the present time where strictly architectural work was planned when it came up in connection with purely engineering practice. Colonel Fanning’s entrance into active work was interrupted by the civil war. He enlisted in the Third Connecticut Volunteer Infantry and served throughout the war. Returning to Norwich, he opened an office and for about twenty years practiced his profession. With the progress of the years Colonel Fanning came more and more to devote himself to hydraulic engineering and was called upon as an expert to report on the water supply for New York City, Brooklyn, and other Eastern cities. He was also frequently in demand as an expert witness in water and drainage cases and was caled in consultation to distant points in the country. He had charge of the development of the water powers on the Big Hole river in Montana, at Great Falls and Helena, Mont., and at Spokane, and has been consulting engineer for the Great Northern and Minneapolis Union railways for years, as well as being called in consultation by many other railroads throughout the country. In Minneapolis the present citv water pumping plant, the Northeast station, was designed by him and stands as a model. His most recent work has been the designing and supervision of the construction of the water power plant of the Great Northern road near its Cascade tunnel, a plant which furnishes electrical energy for the operation of all Great Northern trains through the tunnel. The difficulties in connection with this plant at first seemed insurmountable, but were overcome by the highest grade of engineering talent. The plant cost over $1,000,000. Colonel Fanning’s powers of invention were remarkable. In addition to constantly introducing original methods in carrying out engineering projects, often amounting to important inventions in themselves, he patented a slow-burning building construction system, a steam pumping engine, steam boilers, turbines and water valves and invented and constructed the first woodstave pipes, now so generally used as conduits in water supply, irrigation and power projects. In later years he has been called in consultation in the construction of a large number of water supply and purification systems, including Des Moines. Omaha. Birmingham. Ala., and other places. Colonel Fanning found time in the midst of an exceptionally busy life to write many papers on professional subjects and deliver lectures from time to time. His book, “A Treatise on Hydraulic and Water Supply Engineering," written years ago, became the standard authority on the subject and ran through many editions. At the time of his death he was first vice-president of the American Society of Civil Engineers and former president of the American Water Works Association, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, honorary member of the New England Water W orks Association, a member oi the Franklin Institute and other scientific and technical organizations. In 1865 Colonel Fanning married Miss Maria Louise Bensley. Their children are all in Minneapolis.