Soon after his graduation, he was appointed assistant under Colonel Orville W. Childs on a survey for an inter oceanic ship canal through Nicaragua.
Upon returning to the US, he accepted a position on the New York State canals and in 1853 was appointed Second Assistant Engineer.
He was appointed Deputy State Engineer under William B. Taylor in 1862 and again under Van Rensselaer Richmond in 1868, serving from 1862 to 1864 and from 1868 to 1871.
In 1865, he ran on the Democratic ticket for New York State Engineer and Surveyor but was defeated by Republican Jonas Platt Goodsell.
He was also the Chief Engineer for the State on the Hudson River improvement, Engineer of the Commission for the construction of the Capitol at Albany, Chief Engineer of the Albany waterworks, of the projected Maryland and Delaware ship canal, and of the Commission for the construction of the Broadway Arcade Railway.