Joseph Moore (1829-1901)
of Risdon Iron and Locomotive Works, San Francisco, California; 6 Durham Road, East End, Finchley, London, N.: (or care of Ralph Moore, Government Inspector of Mines, Rutherglen, Glasgow.)
1903 Obituary [1]
JOSEPH MOORE was born at Tranent, Haddingtonshire, on 29th April 1829, and received such education as that neighbourhood afforded.
At the age of fifteen he moved to Glasgow to serve an apprenticeship as an engineer at the Hill Street Foundry of Messrs. Murdoch and Aitken, Glasgow.
In 1849 he went to San Francisco, where he followed the engineering profession, and was instrumental in assisting in the development of the resources of a new country. His position as one of the foremost engineers in California for a lengthy period caused him to apply himself to a great variety of engineering work.
The first cable railway in California was developed by him, as was also the use of sheet-iron pipe, and machinery for making the same, for water works and mining purposes. He devised many new appliances for utilizing the power of water in connection with mines, and introduced improvements in the machinery for extracting the juice from cane.
In 1883 he was obliged to retire from business through illness caused by overwork, and since then he lived in England.
His death took place in London on 31st March 1901, in his seventy-second year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1876.