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George Washington Goethals
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==Military career== Goethals remained at the military academy during the summer and fall of 1880 as an assistant instructor in practical [[astronomy]]. In 1881, he attended the Engineer School of Application at [[Fort Totten (New York)|Willets Point, New York]]. His first field assignment came in 1882 with his appointment as engineer officer of the Department of Columbia in [[Vancouver, Washington]].<ref name=CMH /> His routine duties included reconnaissance, surveys, and astronomical work, while his most consequential project was the replacement of a 120-foot bridge across the [[Spokane River]]. From 1885 to 1889, he taught civil and military engineering at West Point. He returned to the field in 1889 to assist Colonel [[John W. Barlow]] with navigational improvements on the [[Cumberland River]] and [[Tennessee River]]. While an instructor at West Point, Goethals agreed to tutor [[Charles Young (United States Army)|Charles Young]], the third African-American graduate of West Point; Young had failed an engineering class but – after being tutored by Goethals – passed and graduated in 1889.<ref>Shellum, Brian G., and Brooks, Vincent (2006). ''Black Cadet in a White Bastion'' (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press), pp. 2, 123, 127-33.</ref> In 1891, Goethals was promoted to captain. He soon was placed in charge of the completion of the [[Muscle Shoals Canal]] along the Tennessee River near [[Florence, Alabama]].<ref name=CMH /> This was his first independent command, and his responsibilities included the design and construction of the [[Riverton Lock]] at Colbert Shoals.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bishop|first1=Chip|title=Lion and the Journalist: The Unlikely Friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and Joseph Bucklin Bishop|date=November 8, 2011|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7627-7754-9|page=203}}<!--|access-date=14 December 2015--></ref> His recommendation of a single lock with an unprecedented lift of twenty-six feet was initially opposed by his superiors in Washington, and he was forced to persuade the conservative army engineers of the merits of his design. The lock's successful construction set a world record for lock height.<ref name=CMH /> The success of the Riverton Lock inspired the eventual adoption of [[Lock (water navigation)|high-lift locks]] elsewhere, including those for the Panama Canal. During the [[Spanish–American War]], he was [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] and [[chief of engineers]] of [[United States Volunteers]].<ref name=Ency>{{cite book|last1=Tucker|first1=Spencer|title=The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History|date=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781851099511|page=245|edition=Volume 1}}<!--|access-date=15 December 2015--></ref> In 1903, Goethals became a member of the first Army General Staff in Washington, D.C., and served as coastal defence expert.
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