Bio: Joseph Laing, Caddo Parish La Source: From Chronicles of Shreveport and Caddo Parish, Maude Hearn O'Pry, 1928, Submitted by: Kay Thompson Brown ********************************************************** ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** ************ JOSEPH LAING. JOSEPH LAING was horn in Ireland on November 30, 1848, the son of a farmer, Christopher Laing and Muriel (Polk) Laing. His education was obtained in the "public schools and the school of experience." He says he has never come to the point where he can feel that there is not more to he learned. In April, 1868, he crossed the ocean to make his home in a new country which became his by adoption five years later. He commenced his work as a contractor in the fall of 1868, working on the Erie Railroad in Cattaraugus County, New York As the size of his undertakings grew, Mr Laing had associated with him expert civil mechanical engineers and the list of the contracts which he has filled are too numerous to list here. Several of them, however, must he mentioned in order to give an adequate idea of the size and scope of his accomplishments. In 1880 he move] to Texas, and during his first year there, he paved the streets of Weatherford. In 1883, he was at work in Ft. Worth, macadamizing her streets and building her sewer systems. In 1896, he built fifty-five miles of railroad from Greenville to Dallas, and in 1897 he extended it sixty-six miles beyond Dallas to Haleshoro. He did more than this for Dallas. He paved her streets with Bois d'Arc blocks, built her sewer, and constructed her water works and reservoirs, some of which remain intact to the present day. He built water works for Corsicana and Greenville. Texas, and in addition to city improvements, many railroad contracts were awarded Mr. Laing, including the work on the Texas and Pacific Railroad, the G. C. & S. F., the I.C., Iron Mountain, T. and N. 0., the Big Four, the 1. C. from Corinth, Mississippi to Haysville, and a large portion of the Interurban road from East St. Louis to Chicago. A great number of the levees on the Mississippi River were raised hy Mr. Laing and his corps of assistants. One of the largest and most important undertakings which stand as a monument to his engineering skill are the jetties at Galveston, Texas, built at a cost of more than $7,000,000. Before his work was begun, only fourteen feet of water crossed the bar. At that time the annual tonnage that had come to that harbor was about a million ions, and lighterage cost a dollar a tan. After his jetties were completed, and the water controlled to scour out the channel, Galveston Harbor had a channel of sufficient depth to float any ship that sails the seven seas. It is now the proud boast of that metropolis that she possesses the finest landlocked harbor in the world, and with a dollar of literage expense, she handles tens of millions of tons of commerce a year. Mr. Laing's chief interest is the new patented process upon which he and his partner hold an option, which prevents bank cavings on rivers, thereby saving the expense on new levees amounting to millions of dollars annually. This, however, is an undertaking of such mammoth proportions that it cannot bee handled by private contracting firms and the manner of its employment is still undetermined. Other cities of the Lone Star State have been the scene of Mr. Laings labors. He paved the streets of Houston with Bois d~Arc blocks when that city was practically bankrupt, receiving his payment in certificates assessed against the abutting properties. Mr. Laing built Oak Cliff, then a suburb. now a part of Dallas: and the United States Court and Post Office went up under his supervision. He also did a great deal of building in New Orleans, and contracted for syphons or tunnels under the canal and other enterprises. All these activities were co-related, hut Mr. Laing has also entered enterprises in nowise connected with contract work or engineering. At one time he was engaged in cattle, sheep, horse and mule ranching, having expert cattle men in charge of his live stock. He opened and operated a coal mine at Strawn, Texas, and was a stockholder and director of a silver mine in Mexico. He was tile only shipper of dyewood from Texas, where, for years he supplied the New York and Boston Dyewood Company and several other manufacturing centers with muftie. He also exported it to Miller, Sons and Company of Glasgow, Scotland. Almost inevitably, as a result of his intimate knowledge of mercantile and real estate conditions, he was financially interested in many concerns of this nature. During the last few years he has engaged in drilling oil wells and oil production, working at the same time on the process to save river banks. Mr. Laing was connected with the Northern Texas National Bank of Dallas until its liquidation. Mr. Laing has undertaken big contracts-on a single job he has employed as many as three thousand men, and has tasted the keen joy of knowing that he has carried them out to his own credit and the permanent benefit of the public in whose interests be worked. Joseph Laing married Sara Frances Wear, daughter of Madison and Antoniette (Middieton) Wear, of Weatherford, Texas, on April 1, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Laing have one daughter, Frances A., born August 3, 1886, and seven adopted children. Mr. Laing is mentioned by D. C. Herndon (one of the officers of the American Historical Society) as one of the outstanding engineering figures of that time.