1. Elwood Mead was an American professor, government official, and engineer known for heading the United States Bureau of Reclamation from 1924 until his death in 1936.
13 Facts About Elwood Mead
1. 2.
Elwood Mead worked for the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Indianapolis for seven months and departed for Fort Collins, Colorado, by the end of the year.
3.
Elwood Mead developed and taught the first class on irrigation engineering in the United States.
4.
In 1888, Elwood Mead became the territorial and state engineer of Wyoming.
5.
Elwood Mead was a prominent supporter of the Cody Canal, one of the nation's first Carey Act projects undertaken by a group of investors, including William F Cody.
6.
In 1899, Elwood Mead was appointed head of irrigation investigations for the United States Department of Agriculture, based out of Cheyenne.
7.
In 1907, Elwood Mead was appointed chairman of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission of Victoria, Australia.
8.
Elwood Mead served there for four years, though the Australian records show that he continued to work there until May 1915.
9.
Elwood Mead continued to serve in California until 1924, when he was appointed commissioner of the United States Bureau of Reclamation in President Calvin Coolidge's administration.
10.
At the USBR, Elwood Mead oversaw the planning and execution of construction of major water control and irrigation projects in the West: the Hoover, Grand Coulee and Owyhee dams.
11.
Elwood Mead died on January 26,1936, at the age of 78 in Washington, DC, from thrombosis, just four months after the completion of Boulder Dam.
12.
Lake Elwood Mead, formed by the construction of the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, was named after Elwood Mead.
13.
Elwood Mead is the namesake to the SS Elwood Mead, a Liberty ship which was launched in 1944.