Julius Darby Petach was born in Charleston, SC, April 6th, 1807,
and died January 3rd, 1885.
At an early age he was apprenticed
to
Dotterer's Machine Shops in Columbus Street and after serving his time
five years, was made Master Machinist of the South Carolina Railroad
Shops. He superintended the building of the present Roundhouse
and work shops of the company. At the time of his death Mr.
Petach was one of the oldest railroad men in the United States.
The first locomotive ever built in this
country and the second ever in use on an American Railway was called
"The Best Friend." This locomotive was built at the "West Point
Foundry Works" in New York in 1830, and was intended to be used on the
South Carolina Railroad which was then in course of construction.
It arrived in Charleston, October 23rd, 1830. Mr. Petach was a
very skillful machinist even on November 2nd, 1830. Mr. Petach
was employed to put the machinery together which work he did very well
and the locomotive was placed on the road on November 2nd, 1830.
Mr. Petach was a very skillful machinist even at this time, and at once
saw that the wooden spokes of her drive wheels were not strong enough,
especially when it came to rounding curves. So he replaced them
with wrought iron spokes.
"The Best Friend" had only been running
a few months when she was blown up. After the explosion she was
entirely rebuilt by Mr. Petach, and was then very appropriately
christened "The Phoenix."
Mr. Petach succeeded in making a number
of improvements to locomotives which had they been patented would have
yielded him a handsome fortune. The most important of these was
the shrinking of wrought iron tires on iron wheels and the placing of
what are known as "the outside connections" on a locomotive.
After serving as Master Machinist for
some time, Mr. Petach was promoted to the office of Superintendent of
the South Carolina Railroad during the Presidency of Mr. H. W. Connor.
During the Seminole War Mr. Petach was
employed as an Engineer in Florida. As a Master Machinist he was
known all over the State of South Carolina, as well as other portions
of the United States. He superintended the building of the New
Bridge over the Ashley River, the placing of the machinery in the
Confederate gunboat Chicora, during the late war, and the erection of
the machinery in the cotton mill at Graniteville, SC. Mr. Petach
was not a locomotive driver as has been often said, but was a Master
Machinist, and he was surely one of the oldest men in experience in his
department at the time of his death. Mr. Petach had always been a
remarkably active man and enjoyed good health until about one year
before his death when he contracted a severe cold which terminated into
chronic bronchitis, from which he never recovered.