mph of
genius. His father, anxious to encourage such unmistakable talent, now
fitted up a small workshop for him, in which he constructed models of
saw mills, fire engines, steamboats, and electrotyping machines. When he
was only twelve years old he was able to take to pieces and reset the
family clock and a patent lever watch, using no tool for this purpose
but his pocket-knife.

At the age of thirteen his pleasant employment was brought to a sudden
end. His father lost all his property by the failure of some commercial
transactions, and the family was brought to the verge of ruin. It now
became necessary for young Eads to labor for his own support, and for
that of his mother and sisters. Boy as he was, he faced the crisis
bravely. Having in vain sought employment in Louisville, he resolved to
go to St. Louis. He worked his passage there on a river steamer, and
landed in that city so poor that he had neither shoes to his feet nor a
coat to his back. He found it as difficult to procure work here as it
had been in Louisville, and was at length compelled to resort to
peddling apples on the street in order to secure a living. He did this
for some time, never relaxing his efforts to obtain more desirable
employment.

After many attempts he succeeded in getting a situation in a mercantile
house, at a fair salary. One of his employers was a man of wealth and
culture, and was possessed of one of the finest private libraries in the
West. Learning the extraordinary mechanical talent possessed by his
young clerk, this gentleman placed his library at his disposal. The
offer was promptly and gratefully accepted, and young Eads devoted
almost all his leisure time to the study of mechanics, machinery, and
civil engineering. He remained with this house for several years, and
then obtained a clerkship on one of the Mississippi River steamers,
where he passed several years more. During this time he became
intimately acquainted with the great river and its tributaries, and
acquired an extensive knowledge of all subjects appertaining to western
navigation, which proved of great service to him in his after life.

In 1842, being then twenty-two years old, and having saved a moderate
sum of money, he formed a copartnership with Messrs. Case & Nelson, boat
builders, of St. Louis, for the purpose of recovering steamboats and
their cargoes which had been sunk or wrecked in the Mississippi.
Accidents of this kind were then very common in thos