Captain Edward L. Berthoud was a military officer, statesman and engineer in the western United States during the late 19th century. He is primarily known as the chief engineer and secretary of the Colorado Central Railroad during its expansion throughout Colorado in the 1870s. The town of Berthoud, Colorado, as well as Berthoud Pass in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, are named for him.

Biography

Berthoud was born Eduard Louis Berthoud (pronounced "bare-too") in Geneva, Switzerland. He came to the United States in 1830 with his parents and spent his childhood along the Mohawk River in Upstate New York. In the United States, the family Americanized the pronunciation of their name to "ber-thud".

Berthoud graduated with a degree in engineering from Union College in 1849. In the early 1850s he worked as a surveyor on the Panama Canal. In 1855, he was living in Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory where he became interested in the effort to build the first transcontinental railroad. In 1860, during the Colorado Gold Rush, Berthoud and his wife Helen settled in the western part of the territory in the new town of Golden. One year later, the town became part of the Colorado Territory. Berthoud spent much of his career surveying roads and railways throughout the region, and became an active citizen in Golden.

In 1861, in an effot to establish a more direct route from Denver to Salt Lake City, he surveyed the first road to Middle Park and discovered and surveyed the pass that now bears his name (current route of U.S. Highway 40). He also named Vasquez Peak . In 1862, after the outbreak of the American Civil War, he volunteered for the Union Army and received a commission in the 2nd Colorado Volunteer Infantry. That same year he received commendations for his design of fortifications to save Jefferson, Missouri during a rebel attack.

He returned to Golden in 1866 and persuaged to run for the Colorado Legislature . As a member of the legislature, he helped authorize the foundation of the Colorado School of Mines and served as the college's first regristar, and on its Board of Trustees. The college dedicated Berthoud Hall in his honor in 1940. He served as the Colorado State Historian and was Mayor of Golden in 1890.

Extrernal link

• Union College Magazine: Edward Berthoud
• Berthoud Recorder: Berthoud Family visits Berthoud