Guide to the Rankin Johnson Papers, 1895-1910 AIS.1965.01
Arrangement
Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Rankin Johnson Papers
Creator
Johnson, Rankin
Collection Number
AIS.1965.01
Extent
10 Linear Feet(15 document boxes; 1 Panorama Print)
Date
1894-1910
Abstract
Rankin Johnson was a civil engineer who built railroads in Mexico and Bolivia and later headed a transit company in Trenton, New Jersey. Later in his life, Johnson gained prominence in the field of transit for his innovative use of publicity (1917), total conversion from trolleys to buses (1934), and control of bus traffic by supervisors stationed at sidewalk telephones (1939). The collection includes correspondence, letterbook, cables (coded and clear text), notes, speeches and memoranda relating to Rankin Johnson's career as engineer for the Mexican International Railroad and the Bolivia Railway Co.; major correspondents include James Metcalfe, Henry Ruhlender, James Speyer, Henry Burnett, and Herbert Knox Smith. Digital reproductions of two photo albums are available online.
Language
English
.
Author
Mark M. Brown and Ida Cohen Selavan. Revised by Miriam Meislik, February 2011.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives & Special Collections Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections Business Number: 412-648-3232 (Thomas) | 412-648-8190 (Hillman) Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Biography
Rankin Johnson (1873-1957), a civil engineer who built railroads in Mexico and Bolivia and later headed a transit company in Trenton, New Jersey, was born October 16, 1873 at Rutland, Vermont. He was the son of James Gibson and Mary (Rankin) Johnson, grandson of Lorenzo Dow and Mary (Burges) Johnson, and great grandson of Jeremiah and Mary Duesbury (Gibson) Johnson.
The Johnson family, whose members made distinguished contributions in many fields, was originally from Massachusetts, and claimed descent from John Alden and from Thomas Burgess, an officer under King Charles I of England. Five of the family fought in the Revolutionary War. Rankin Johnson's great great uncle, Tristam Burgess (d. 1853), was a U.S. representative from Rhode Island. His grandfather, Lorenzo, was an evangelist and preacher. Of Johnson's five uncles, the first became chief of the U.S. Lighthouse Service; the second practiced law, after having served as consul general at Beirut; the third was an engineer and managed the Huntington railroad, mining, and ranching interests in Mexico; the fourth was a surgeon who owned a private hospital in Washington, D.C.; and the fifth became a captain in the U.S. Cavalry, eventually commanding Ft. Reno, at that time an Indian Territory. Johnson's father, after intending to become a lawyer, became a Congregationalist minister, serving in Rutland, Vermont, Chicago, Illinois, Japan, and Farmington, Connecticut. His brother, Burges Johnson (1877-1963), was an editor, publisher, educator, and author. Rankin Johnson and his wife Kate were married some time before 1916 and had four sons: Rankin Jr., Tristam B., Edward, and Burges.
Rankin Johnson went to school in Rutland, Vermont, and then to the Sheffield Scientific School and Yale University from which he received a B.S. degree in civil engineering in June 1895. Through the influence of his uncle, Loren Johnson, in July 1895 he obtained employment with the Huntington Controlled Mexican International Railroad, which ran from Eagle Pass, Texas, to Durango. He became, successively, chainman (1895); rodman, coal mine surveyor, and assistant engineer in the road department ( 1896); engineer in charge of constructing a branch line (1898); and assistant chief engineer (1899), in which capacity he was responsible for all location and construction of the railroad. In July 1906 he accepted a job offered by Speyer Co. which had contracted with the Bolivian government to build and operate a thousand mile railroad, in six lines, at the second highest railroad altitude in the world. That autumn Johnson began work at La Paz as general manager and chief engineer of the Bolivia Railway Co. which was not formally incorporated until February 1907. In addition, he had general charge of governmental relations and organization of the work in Bolivia, including that performed by the South American Construction Co., a Speyer subsidiary. In 1909 he had charge of the Bolivian end of negotiations to sell control of the Bolivia Railway to the British owned Antofagasta (Chile) Railway Co. When the sale was completed, he declined offers by the Bolivian government to represent them in dealings with all railroad companies and interests, and by the Antofagasta Railway to represent them in Bolivia and Chile.
Returning to the United States, he opened an office in New York City in September 1909 as a consulting engineer. After attempting unsuccessfully to obtain a suitable position with an American railroad, in 1911 he became vice president of the Trenton and Mercer County Traction Corporation, incorporated in New Jersey in 1910, which after 1929 was called the Trenton Transit Co. For a while he continued his consulting work on a part time basis before becoming president of the transit company some time before 1917. After 1933, when the company went into receivership, he served as court appointed receiver. Johnson gained prominence in the field of transit for his innovative use of publicity (1917), total conversion from trolleys to buses (1934), and control of bus traffic by supervisors stationed at sidewalk telephones (1939). He also contributed several short pieces to Transit Journal. His active role in management ceased in 1941, when the company merged with the Trenton Street Railway Co.
Johnson's professional affiliations included the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association, the American Railway Master Mechanics Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Master Car Builders Association. He died of a heart attack at his house in Princeton, New Jersey, on November 2, 1957.
Sources:
'Personal Mention', Electric Railway Journal, 37 (1911), 995.
Moody's Manual of Public Utilities, volumes for 1918-1941, passim.
Who's Who in the East (1930), s.v. Johnson, Burges.
National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Current. Vol. A (N.Y., 1930), p . 243. ( Burges Johnson)
Rankin Johnson, 'Popular Appeal an Important Factor', Transit Journal, 79 (1935), 323.
'Trenton Likes the Bus' 5 Transit Journal, 79 (1935), 1935.
'Trenton Keeps them Rolling', Transit Journal, 83 (1939), 523, 75.
Burges Johnson, As Much as I Dare: A Personal Recollection (N.Y., 1944).
Poor's Register of Directors and Executives (1950), s .v. Johnson, Rankin.
Catalogue of Yale University Alumni 1925-1954 (New Haven, 1955), s .v. Johnson, Rankin Jr.
New York Times, November 4, 1957, p. 29, col. 4: obituary of Rankin Johnson.
New York Times, April 1, 1963, p. 35, col. 8: obituary of Burges Johnson.
The New York Times Obituaries Index 1858-1968 (N.Y., 1970) .
'Going at Publicity Whole Heartedly', Electric Railway Journal, 50 (1917).
Scope and Content Notes
The papers of Rankin Johnson consist of photographs and correspondence dealing with the Mexican and Bolivian railways and other South American railroads. The papers provide insight into the early history of railroad development in Central and South America as well as the export of American technical expertise to the less developed countries of the world.
Johnson's employment by the Mexican International Railroad Company (Compania del Ferrocarril Internacional Mexicano) mainly in Durango, Mexico, is not extensively documented here; the papers do support the view, however, that Johnson's responsibilities were centered at the Coahuila Coal Company and the Alamo Coal Company, which had extensive holdings in Mexico's best coal fields along the Sabinas River, and were counted on to furnish the Mexican International Railroad with profitable and dependable business.
Rankin Johnson traveled widely throughout Bolivia and, to a lesser extent, Peru and Chile between 1906 and 1909. The largest part of Johnson's Papers relates to his reconnaissance of all the rail lines proposed by the Bolivia Railroad Company, their condition and their requirements.
The most important aspect of Rankin Johnson's Papers documents his responsibility in the negotiations which culminated in the sale and control of the Bolivia Railroad Company by American interests to the Antofagasta (Chile) Railroad which was controlled by English interests (1909). This settlement resolved a long standing dispute with Chile in regard to its occupation of the former Bolivian province of Antofagasta under the Pacto de Trequa (Pact of Truce) of April 4, 1884. Earlier, before Johnson's arrival in La Paz, secret negotiations between Bolivia and Argentina had caused Chile to change its conciliatory attitude which had been leading toward an agreement to provide landlocked Bolivia with a seaport. Johnson's Papers document that Bolivia wanted to avoid hostilities with Chile by compelling the Chileans to make concessions. Ismael Montes, who became Bolivian President in 1904, and the Bolivian Congress saw that it was necessary to yield to the best terms they could. Since Johnson was in charge of government relations at the Bolivia Railroad Company his papers document extensively the results of these negotiations with the government and include correspondence with the Bolivian President.
An important part of the Bolivian Chilean negotiations of 1908-1909 involved surveys and plans for the construction of a railway between Africa on the coast and the Bolivian capital, La Paz; documentation of this project and resulting negotiations to provide the Bolivians free transit through Chilean territory to certain towns on the coast form a large part of Rankin Johnson's Papers. Johnson's correspondence also contains valuable information concerning the agreement by Chile to pay Bolivia's cash indemnity and lend certain pecuniary assistance to the construction of other necessary railways.
On arriving in Bolivia, Johnson studied the existing transportation system serving the tin mines and rubber plantations, the country's principal exports; his observations and recommendations for the economic development of the region is included in his correspondence of 1907. Later correspondence discusses assistance from the U.S. Government in providing aid to the Minister of Agriculture.
Little of Rankin Johnson's correspondence relates to social conditions or living conditions in Bolivia; however, a few of the photographs provide excellent documentation of the Bolivian Indians and their environment. Primarily the photographs illustrate construction projects initiated by the Bolivia Railroad Company.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Acquisition Information
The Rankin Johnson Papers were a gift in 1965 from his son, Tristam B. Johnson, who was acting on behalf of his brothers.
Existence and Location of Copies
Portions of the collection have been microfilmed. Two photo albums have been digitized.
Preferred Citation
Rankin Johnson Papers, 1895-1910, AIS.1965.01, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
Previous Citation
Rankin Johnson Papers, 1895-1910, AIS.1965.01, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Johnson, Rankin, 1873-1957, Papers, 1895-1910, Archives of Industrial Society, University of Pittsburgh Libraries
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Mark Brown in June 1976 and Ida Selvan in June 1981.
Copyright
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
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