The contribution to educational and healthcare systems of pre-1947 Kashmir by Britishers under the patronage of Residency is well known. But, among many Britishers & non-Britishers, there was an American, John Thad Avery Jr, who is the little-known name in Kashmir although he was the pioneer engineer, contractor & businessman in pre-1947-days of 20th century-Kashmir. Who was he & what was his contribution to the modern engineering & mechanical development of Kashmir is elucidated in the passages below excerpted from my book in progress:
Engineer of General Power Company of New York:
King Edward VII ascended throne in August 1902 & celebrations of his coronation were held in India by Imperial Delhi Darbar from 29th December, 1902-10th January, 1903. Among a number of dignitaries & Rajas of princely States of British India, Maharaja Pratap Singh of Jammu & Kashmir too attended the celebrations.
He was greatly impressed with the electric-lights that decorated & illuminated the royal function. It was the time when no electricity was known to Jammu & Kashmir. So, in 1903, a “machine” was first time “gifted” to the Maharaja from Delhi for providing electric-light to his palace at Srinagar which at that time had mainly kerosene oil lighting system [gas in Kashmiri parlance]. With the introduction of ”electric-light-machine” in Raja’s palace was born the idea of producing electricity in the valley itself .
The idea was conceived by the Residency & its engineers jointly with Maharaja. It was the time when Mysore had already been privileged with electric power station by the tireless efforts of foreign engineers & skilled professionals. The contacts were, thus, developed with the Mysore Darbar & and, in September, 1904, Major de Lotbiniere, a Canadian by birth, arrived in Kashmir from Mysore.
He had inspected many electrical projects on the Continent and in Canada and America & had already executed a very successful scheme by which the water-power in the Cauvery Falls in Madras had been converted into electric energy, and transmitted to a distance of a hundred miles, to supply the Kolar gold-fields in Mysore .
Fully primed with the knowledge of all the latest developments of electrical science, he at once on his arrival in Kashmir conceived the idea of harnessing the water of river Jhelum near Rampur-Boniyar in district Baramullah. All machinery of Generators, Water wheels & other equipment of the Power Plant were imported from America & supplied by the General Electric Company, New York.
John Thad Avery Jr was an American who originally came as an Engineer & skilled expert of the General Electric Company, New York, for construction & installation of first water-power plant of Kashmir valley.
The wooden flume water, artificial channel, 11 KM in length was constructed by the Company through the mountainous area upto the turbines where the rushing waters fell down from higher altitude down to the plain for generating electricity. John Thad Avery Jr was the machine-man who had arrived in Kashmir with new ideas & expertise.
As an expert & skilled Engineer, he supervised the construction work & was instrumental in the process of installation & establishment of power project with a team of British engineers & workers. The power plant, known as Mohra Power Project, became operational with 20,000 hp capacity at Boniyar Uri, some 35 KMs downstream Baramullah.
It is now a heritage site of Kashmir. Some newsportals & websites mention 1905 as the year of operationalisation of Mohra Power which is factually incorrect as Major de Lotbiniere arrived in Kashmir in September, 1904 & Major Loy Henry, first Chief Engineer of “Kashmir Electricity Department” which was established in 1905 itself was sent by the State government to America in 1905 itself for purchase of the requied machinery.
Obviously, the machinery from New York across Atlantic & Indian ocean & then by road transportation via Rawalpindi must have, ordinarily, taken considerable time of several months or so to reach to its final destination at Boniyar Baramullah & then the time taken in its installation, & construction of 11 KMs long flume in the mountains must have spread over some years till the whole procedure was finally completed. Iterating, on record, the Electricity Department was set up in 1905 .
Major Loy Henry was appointed its first Chief Engineer. It was decided that the government would set up a power project for generating hydro-electricity in Kashmir & Major Loy Henry was sent to Europe & America for purchase of the machinery for the power project in late 1905.
In view of these facts, how was it possible to complete the power-project in 1905 itself? Probably, it might have been 1906 or so when John Thad Avery Jr first time arrived in Kashmir with a team of experts & workers of General Electric Company, New York for setting up the power project at Boniyar Baramullah.
Some suggestions:
Originally, Mr. Thad Avery Jr arrived in Kashmir with the importation of the machinery of Mohra Power Project from General Electric Company, New York. He was an American Engineer but he had arrived in Kashmir with newer ideas of introducing & developing industries on American lines in the valley.
There seems to have been an understanding between the Kashmir government headed by the Residency Council, later State Council (1905), & the General Electric Company, New York in this regard. He suggested to the American government that the best opening for American trade in Kashmir was in “cotton piece goods” which were preferred over Indian cotton piece goods as the rates of the former were low.
He had also suggested that it might pay the American manufacturers of muslins, drills, white long cloth etc to cultivate the Kashmir market. But, the Dogra government was not inclined to accept these suggestions of John Thad Avery Jr & so, no further progress was made on these recommendations.
Other interests:
During his long stay in Kashmir, he developed multiple interests in business & contract work. He was also the Manager of M/S Cockburn’s Agency at the Bund Srinagar, which arranged banking facilities for the State, acted as contractor for public works & on behalf of the government managed the tourist traffic.
Besides M/S Cockburn’s Agency, Bahar Shah, Munawar Shah, Samad Shah & Mohammad Jan were other agencies doing all kind of agency business those days including booking trout waters, making camping arrangements, engaging boats & servants, let out tents, camp furniture, for travellers & tourists; all doing their business at the Bund, Srinagar. Cockburn’s Agency had a branch at Gulmarg too.
Mr. Thad Avery Jr was “the most influential business man of Kashmir” in first two quarters of 20th century. As an American Engineer and Contractor located at Srinagar, he also suggested to his government that America should extend trade with British India on machinery & metal lines .
Home Minister of Maharaja, Dr. K. Mitra, responded to the suggestion by stating that while Kashmir government would welcome any American establishment & extension of business in Kashmir for creating employment, the Kashmir government did not want any “foreign monopolies in trade” in Kashmir & that the State alone owned land & that it did not want to give land for American or any foreign industrialisation.
Contractor of weir at Chattabal, Srinagar:
It was John Thad Avery Jr who was given the contract by Maharaja Pratap Singh for construction of weir at Chattabal Srinagar. At Chatabal there was a Guzar or octroi post in Ranbir Singh’s reign at the left bank of the river & then in later years of Pratap Singh’s reign, the weir was built here. It was commissioned by Maharaja in 1916.
The construction of 453 ft long Weir was carried out by John Thad Avery at a cost of Rs. 1, 16,700. Weir was built for maintaining water level in lean periods between autumn and winter, with navigation lock downstream on left side, “capable of passing boats 20 ft wide and 150ft long”, for facilitating navigation in city, enabling boats to traverse through navigable canal system of Srinagar.
“The object of the weir “ was “ to maintain a sufficient depth of water in the river Jhelum and its tributary canals” Zchonti Kul, Kute-Kul, Nalla-Mar, & Dal Lake, for smooth navigation of boats, which was the past major transport of Kashmir in the past.
Contractor-Engineer of reconstruction of Jamia Masjid, Srinagar:
Under the Ancient Monuments Act, 1904 of British India, Archaeological Survey of India was tasked with the job of preservation of ancient monuments of British India Kashmir inclusive.
Daya Ram Sahni, State Superintendent of Archaeology, succeeded in putting temples at Pattan, Babapora, Uri-Boniyar & Kirmchi Jammu in “thorough state of repair” but “a more extensive undertaking than these & a still more elaborate piece of engineering” was “the restoration of the great Jamia Masjid in Srinagar which was largely constructed of deodar timbers and” had “suffered even more than the older buildings of the stone”.
These recommendations of the ASI was a pointer to the change in the lethargic attitude of the majority community towards their religious centres & the grand masjid held most important place in their socio-religious & commercial activity ever since the dawn of Islam in Kashmir.
Khan Bahadur Sheikh Mohammad Maqbool Hussain, Mashir e Maal (Revenue Minister) of the State, was undoubtedly the motivating force behind the influential Muslims to organise themselves for undertaking the responsibility of the Jamia Masjid’s reconstruction.
The two Committees of the well known Muslims which included the governor (Khushi Mohammad Khan), chief minister & other dignitaries, were respectively set up in 1907 & 1912 for the purpose.
As the private donations fetched by the first Committee were not sufficient for carrying out massive structural changes in the historical monument, it was decided by the second Committee that an annual cess of ½ anna per rupee will be collected from the “…..Muslims” of the State for rebuilding of the grand masjid. 3,00,000 lakh rupees were collected as additional cess from the length & breath of the valley, besides numerous gifts in kind were also received from willing Musalman Zamindars & Srinagarites of the happy valley.
Two rupees cess was collected from the goods-transporters entering valley via Muzaffarabad as Muslims of that part of Kashmir had sent hundreds of petitions to Khan Bahadur Sheikh Mohammad Maqbool Hussain for allowing them to join the Kare Khair.
Khan Bahadur Sheikh Mohammad Maqbool Hussain appealed the wealthy elite Muslims of British India for donations & they readily sent their contributions for the construction of the masjid. 13 lakh rupees were collected by way of masjid tax and donations from the Musalmanas of whole Kashmir towards reconstruction of Jamia Masjid, Srinagar.
The construction work suffered for lack of proper engineering skills & contractual capacity of “locals”. Under a unanimous decision of the Committee members, therefore, the State’s Regional Engineer, Howard Alan Denholm Fraser, an Englishman, was deputed to supervise the reconstruction-work & impart the required engineering guidance in making working drawing, etc.
Thad Avery who was well known by this time in Kashmir for Mohra Power Station & the successful work he had done on the weir Chattabal, Srinagar was the given the contract to complete reconstruction work.
The credit for successful completion of the work was given especially to H A D Fraser, who devoted so much thought to it & to Mr. Avery “who has been unsparing in his efforts to put in the highest quality of workmanship”.
There was “no other engineer or contractor in Kashmir with the requisite knowledge or capacity to take his place”. There was perfect co-ordination & written correspondence between Mr. Fraser & Mr. Avery during the progress of the reconstruction- work.
The construction was delayed as the labourers were not coming in good numbers required for the job.
When Mr. Avery took over his contractual obligations, he increased their wage from four to eight annas which was initially objected to by Mr. Pourcain, AG, as being more than prescribed standard. But, it proved a catalyst in kindling the interest of the labourers for the work.
After completing the massive stone work of the plinth, Mr. Avery wrote to Mr. Fraser that 20 lakh bricks were required for the walling & flooring of the structure.
It was not possible for two State run brick kilns then to meet the demand of two million bricks within a short period of time. Hence, one more brick kiln was set up at Panthachowk under the charge of mistri, Mir Abdullah.
The salvaged-wood of the masjid was sent to Mir Abdullah for using it as additional fuel for burning the sun-baked-bricks to gain strength, durability and red colour.
The wood was supplied by Aziz Mir, who was a well known wood-fuel[balan] supplier, for baking of the bricks at the Panthachowk kiln. At the request of Mr. John Thad Avery the funds were released to the brick kilns & the bricks of different sizes, shapes & moulds were manufactured & supplied to him.
The manual mixing of ingredients in preparation of mortar on “platforms” with shovels & spades was proving time- consuming. Mr. Thad Avery who had worked at Mohra Power Station & had good experience of making mortar in “mortar-mills” at the Mohra Power Station. Mr.
Avery got a hand-driven mortar-mill [ mixer ] shifted from Mohra Power Station to Jamia masjid site which was used for making of mortar speedily for masonary work of the masjid. The mortar was used for binding bricks & stones, filling gaps & plastering the brick-walls of the masonry work.
Mr. Avery ordered for tiles from M/S Mackenzie Company of Calcutta . The tiles reached Srinagar via Rawalpindi-Muzaffarabad-Baramullah Road. It may be recalled to mind that Mr. Avery was manager in the Agency of Mr. Cockburn at the Bund & “probably” Mr. Cockburn was an important officer of the Kashmir Forest department.
Mr. Avery used his good contacts to get the quality timber for the masjid. The strong deodar was suppled to cover one lac sq feet of area of roofing. The timber trusses made of the deodar were thoroughly checked & found strong enough to bear the huge weight of 25, 000 tiles, 45, 000 slates & birch bark.
Three times thick birch bark of 4,00, 000 maunds weight was put on the tiles & slates of the roof to protect the ceiling & walls of the masjid from any leakage of water during rainfalls & snowfalls. Intially four thousand tin-sheets were imported from England to replace Borza-pash of the masjid but the idea was dropped at the suggestion of Mr. Fraser to retain old beauty of Borza-Posh, tulips, or Gulala, which grew in abundance on the roof of the masjid.
Tin-sheets were sold without incuring lose to the accounts of the masjid. 15,000 deodar logs of wood without any knots were obtained from timber depots of Puhru-Nalla & Doabgah Baramullah for the roofing, ceiling & 378 pillars of the grand masjid.
The logs were transported from Baramullah via Jhelum in boats . At weir, the logs tied by chowkidars & personally checked by Mr. Fraser & Mr. Avery. The logs then sent to the site at Jamia Masjid through Dal Lake & Nalla Mar.
Mr. Walter Skyes George, eminent Architect Engineer of British India, builder & designer of “New Delhi” of British India & Kashmir House” of New Delhi, had all praise for engineering skills of Mr Avery & Mr. Fraser. The reconstruction of the majestic masjid was completed soon after the death of Maharaja Pratap Singh in 1925.
Owner of first bandsaw trolley machine in Kashmir:
Mr. John Thad Avery Jr is also credited with installation of first ever “sawing machine” , band saw cum trolley machine, in Srinagar Kashmir on left bank of Kut e Kul near Chota-Bazar-Kani Kadal, in Mouza Tashwan, Srinagar.
It seems reasonably probable that the band-saw-trolley machine for cutting & shaping wooden logs must have been set up by Mr. Thad Avery only after completion of the reconstruction of the Jamia Masjid, Srinagar because we dont find its reference anywhere during the reconstruction process of the grand masjid.
On a personal visit of the locality by me, the “Avery Sahab’s Lakri-machine” & its associated Kut e Kul bund are still remembered by the residents of the locality in the name of this benefactor of Kashmir. I was told that the steel machine existed then on four or five kanals of land. The site has since become a memory of the past.
The area has come under residential structures many years before. The erstwhile site of “Avery Sahab’s Lakri-machine” was shown & identified to me by the residents of the loality. I was told that the wooden logs for sawing were brought to the “Avery Sahab’s Lakri-machine” through the water canal, Kut e Kul & that wooden logs were anchored to the bank of the canal down after tying them togther with iron-strings/ ropes wherefrom they were pulled up for sawing & shaping of tomber at the trolley.
M J Aslam is published author & historian
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.