William A. Welch

[1] In the 1890s, working for the U.S. government in Alaska, he assembled the first iron steamship to be built in that territory.

[1] He also designed railroads in southwest Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, and worked on the legendary 228-mile (367 km) Madeira-Mamoré Railway in Bolivia.

In 1907, yellow fever forced him to return to the U.S. where he worked for John C. and Frederick Law Olmsted.

In the early 1920s, Welch's engineering work gained nationwide attention when he built Storm King Highway into the sheer cliffs above the Hudson River north of Bear Mountain.

The Boy Scouts of America presented the Silver Buffalo Award to Welch in 1927 for his work in engineering and conservation.