CLASS OF 1880

The following is taken from the RailwayAge of January 19: "George M. Davidson, industrial engineer of the Chicago and Northwestern and president of the Superior Coal Company, a mining subsidiary of that railroad, who retired from active service on January 1, had been with the Northwestern for nearly 43 years. During two summer vacations he worked as a chemist in a private aboratory at Hanover, N. H., and for several months after graduation from college he surveyed coal mines for the Ohio Central Coal Company at Corning, Ohio. In 1881 he became assistant chemist for the Cambria Steel Company at Johnstown, Pa., and later was transferred to the open hearth steel department. Mr. Davidson entered railway service in 1886 as chemist for the Northwestern. and established the first railway laboratory in Chicago. Two years later he was also appointed engineer of tests of the Northwestern and chemist and engineer of tests of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha, organizing a complete testing department equipped to make both chemical and physical tests of all materials used by the railway. In 1903 he perfected a system of softening water for locomotive use, and later he developed a method of timber preservation. Mr. Davidson was appointed industrial engineer of the Northwestern, with supervision over laboratories, water supply, timber preservation, and fuel consumption, and president of the Superior Coal Company, in 1921. Following his retirement under the pension rules of the company he will make a trip abroad, which will include the World's Engineering Congress in Japan."

Secretary, 115 McGregor Ave., Fort Myers, Fla.