Guide to the William Hammond Hall Papers,
1873-1911
Collection number: MS 915
MS 915
Finding aid prepared by Prepared by California Historical Society staff; revised by David Krah.
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
2001, revised 2009
Title: William Hammond Hall papers
Date (inclusive): 1873-1911
Collection Number: MS 915
Creator:
Hall, Wm. Ham. (William Hammond)
Physical Description:
9 boxes, including 13 volumes, 13 oversize folders (3.5 linear feet)
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
Abstract: The William Hammond Hall papers (MS915) consists of correspondence, technical reports, scrapbooks, and blueprints generated
during his time as the first State Engineer of California (1879-1889), as a supervising engineer for the U.S. Geological Survey
(1889), and as a private civil engineer designing dams and irrigation projects in California, Utah, Washington and southern
Africa. Correspondence includes letters written to California Governors William Irwin and George clement Perkins in his capacity
as State Engineer, and extensive correspondence with Frederick Law Olmstead & Co. regarding the Allesandro (California) town
improvement project. Reports include U.S. Geological Survey materials from the California and Lahontan divisions, as well
as reports relating to the construction of the Santa Ana Canal, the Northern Pacific, Yakima, and Kittitas Irrigation Co.,
dams on the Sacramento, Yuba, American, and Feather Rivers, and irrigation projects in the California Central Valley. Additionally,
there are reports and miscellaneous notes on subjects such as artesian wells, stream gauging, sewage, and other hydrology
topics. Blueprints in the collection date from Hall's time as a private engineer, and include plans relating to the Santa
Ana Canal project (California), Central Irrigation District projects (California), the Northern Pacific, Yakima, and Kittitas
Irrigation Co. (Washington), and miscellaneous plans and maps from projects built in southern Africa. The scrapbooks contain
newspaper clippings pertaining to Hall's professional interests, including 3 volumes relating to irrigation and the cultivation
of crops, 2 volumes relating to river and flood control, and clippings relating to Supreme Court decisions concerning irrigation
and water rights.
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the California Historical Society. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Research Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the California Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], William Hammond Hall Papers, MS 915. California Historical Society.
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collection Number
NUCMC 82-389
Related Collections
Title: William Hammond Hall Papers, 1878-1914.
Identifier/Call Number: MS 913
Title: William Hammond Hall Letterbooks.
Identifier/Call Number: MS 914
Title: California Historical Society Photography Collection--General Subjects--Agriculture--Irrigation
Identifier/Call Number: GS:Box 003
Subjects and Indexing Terms
California. Office of State Engineer. Records and Correspondence.
Geological Survey (U.S.). Water Resources Division. California District.
Blueprints
California--Environmental conditions.
California--Officials and employees.
Engineers--California.
Letter books.
Reports
Scrapbooks.
Water-supply engineering--California
Index to Correspondence
Administrative Information
Acquisitions
Papers comprising collection MS915 were acquired by donation from Katherine Buchanan Hall, daughter of William Hammond Hall
in 1951.
Accruals
No additions are expected.
Processing History
Processed with the assistance of Dr. Otto H. Pflueger, 1971.
Biography of William Hammond Hall
William Hammond Hall was a California engineer who served as Superintendent and Engineer of Golden Gate Park (1871-1876),
a consultant in the grading and development of the University of California campus at Berkeley (1872-1873), chief engineer
for the Central and West Side Irrigation Districts (1870s), the first State Engineer of California (1879-1889), and Supervising
Engineer of the Irrigation Bureau at the United States Geological Survey (1889). Beginning in 1890, he worked in the private
sector as a civil engineer.
Scope and Contents
Compiled in the office of State Engineer (California), 1878-1888, and Division Engineer, U.S. Geological Survey. Includes
survey reports of California rivers and the land surrounding them, blueprints of projects from private civil engineering practice,
and correspondence.
Arrangement
The William Hammond Hall papers are arranged in four series: Series I - Correspondence, Series II - Reports, Series III -
Scrapbooks of Newspaper Clippings, Series IV - Blueprints.
Series I - Correspondence is organized chronologically, by format, and in two cases by correspondent: 4 volumes of letterbooks
(including one dedicated to communication with California Governors), and 4 folders of unbound correspondence, including 1
folder consisting of correspondence with Frederick Law Olmstead & Co.
Series II - Reports is organized chronologically, with one subseries consisting of reports authored for the U.S. Geological
Survey.
Series III - Scrapbooks of Newspaper Clippings is organized first by subject, then chronologically.
Series IV - Blueprints is arranged by project and ordered according to an internal numbering system (K numbers). Unnumbered
blueprints appear at the beginning of the series, with the remainder organized sequentially and grouped by project.
Correspondence Series I
1878-1894
Physical Description:
Box 1, folders 1-3; Box 5, volumes 1-4
Arrangement
Correspondence arranged chronologically.
Scope and Contents
Consists of mostly professional correspondence, including correspondence with California Governors William Irwin and George
Clement Perkins as state engineer, and Frederick Law Olmstead & Co. regarding the Allesandro Town Improvement Project.
Box 5, Volume 3
Letterbook
1880-1882
Condition
Small area of fire damage
Box 5, Volume 4
Letterbook, letters to the governor
1878-1880
Box 1, Folder 2A
Correspondence--Frederick Law Olmsted & Co. (Allesandro Town Improvement Project)
1892-1893
Reports Series II
1880-1911
Physical Description:
Box 1, folders 1-3A; Boxes 2-4
Arrangement
Reports are arranged chronologically.
Scope and Contents
Consists of reports on various irrigation and water works projects. Includes reports written while a supervising engineer
with the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as technical notes on water flow, irrigation, sewage, and Hall's stream gauging system.
Box 1, Folder 1
Dam across Davis Slough, Sacramento River
1880
Box 1, Folder 2
Dam in Yuba River Valley on the Yuba and Bear Rivers
1880
Box 1, Folder 3
American River, Feather River
1880
See also Cross section of head dam, Feather River Blueprints
map-case drawer 7, folder 1
Box 1, Folder 3A
San Joaquin Irrigation Canal
1881
Claims allowed by Board of Directors Drainage District No. 1
1881
Sewage Report on City of Stockton
1883
Santa Ana River Reports
See Also - Blueprints
Santa Ana Canal, map-case drawer 7, folder 6
Specifications for a Topographical Survey along a route for the location of the Northern Pacific and Yakima Canal
See Also - Blueprints
Northern Pacific, Yakima, and Kittitas Irrigation Co., map-case drawer 7, folder 7
To Examining Commission on Rivers and Harbors,
1889
The Ostrander Reservoir Site
Canals and Irrigations of Kings River
Upper San Joaquin Irrigation Canal
Madera Irrigation District
Knight River and Fresno Canal
Irrigation in New Mexico
1890
Articles of Incorporation of the Northern Pacific, Yakima and Kittitas Irrigation Co.
1890
See also - Blueprints
Northern Pacific, Yakima, and Kittitas Irrigation Co., map-case drawer 7, folder 7
Irrigation Possibilities of Humboldt River Valley, Nevada
1891
U.S. Geological Surveys
1889-1890
Physical Description:
Box 2, folders 8-9; Boxes 3-4
Box 2, Folder 8
Mountain Reservoir Surveys, Clear Lake Reservoir Surveys, and others
Box 2, Folder 9
Truckee Basin and others
undated
Box 3, Folder 10
Monthly Reports from Lahontan Division,
1889
Box 3, Folder 11
Lahontan Division, Closing Reports
1889
Box 3, Folder 12
Monthly Reports from California Division,
1889
Box 3, Folder 13
California Division, Closing Reports
1889
Box 3, Folder 15
Instructions for Field Work
1889
Box 3, Folder 18
Report on System of Stream Gauging
1890
Box 4, Folder 20
Reports - South San Joaquin Irrigation District, T.R.P.P. Key to Canal, Meander and Road Lines
1911
Box 4, Folder 21
Miscellany--Notes
undated
Box 4, Folder 22
Notes on water flow
undated
Box 4, Folder 23
Notes on irrigation
undated
Box 4, Folder 25
Chapter XVII--Kings River and Fresno Canal, Fowler Switch Canal, Centerville and Kingsburg Canal
1890
Box 4, Folder 26
Miscellany, USGS Maps
undated
Box 4, Volume 1
Unidentified exhibit material on water usage
undated
Scrapbooks of newspaper clippings Series III
1873-1891
Physical Description:
Boxes 6-9 (Volumes 5-13)
Scope and Contents
Scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings related to Hall's professional interests. [Vols. 1 - 4, see Series I, Correspondence]
Arrangement
Scrapbooks arranged alphabetically by subject.
Box 6, Volume 5-6
Irrigation-Cultivation Crops
1876-1886
Box 7, Volume 7
Irrigation-Cultivation Crops
1891-1892
Box 7, Volume 8
Mining Debris Controversy & Legislation
1881
Box 8, Volume 9
Rainfall, Flood, and River Matters
1881
Box 8, Volume 10
Rainfall, Flood, and River Matters
1889-1890
Box 9, Volume 11
Sewage Disposal--House Drainage
1873-1892
Box 9, Volume 12
Supreme Court Decisions--Irrigation & Water Rights,
1886-1891
Box 9, Volume 13
University of California Bulletins, Agricultural Experiment Station, E.W. Hilgard
1884-1891
Blueprints Series IV
1890-1899
Physical Description:
13 oversize folders
Location: Located in map-case drawer 7
Arrangement and Organization
Blueprints arranged in folders by project, with some groupings of miscellaneous plans. Blueprints are organized by internal
numbering system (K number). Unnumbered plans appear at the beginning of map-case drawer 7.
Scope and Contents
Blueprints pertaining to survey, dam, and irrigation projects in California, Washington, Utah, and Southern Africa during
Hall's time as a private civil engineer.
Map-case 7, Folder 1
Cross section of head dam,
Feather River
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: 2 unnumbered sheets
Map-case 7, Folder 2
Van Ryn Dam Extension
1899
Physical Description:
Sheets: 5 unnumbered sheets
Miscellaneous Africa Projects
Map-case 7, Folder 3
Divisional Map of
Oudtshoorn
1890
Physical Description:
Sheets: 2 unnumbered sheets
Map-case 7, Folder 4
Rand Mines - Natal Spruit Reservoirs Wasteway Structure
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K1
Map-case 7, Folder 4
Mattoppo Irrigation Works
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K2 - K5
Map-case 7, Folder 4
Calitzdorp Irrigation Scheme
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K6
Map-case 7, Folder 3
Krantz's Masonry Dam - Transverse Section
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: 1 unnumbered sheet
Map-case 7, Folder 5
Masonry and Rock Dam Preliminary and Comparative Studies
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K8 - 5 sheets
Map-case 7, Folder 5
San Jacinto Nuevo - Cross section showing strata at dam and waste weir site
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K9
Map-case 7, Folder 5
Contours of Bear Creek Canyon
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K10
Map-case 7, Folder 8
Diagram for determining the value of C., D, R, & S - Ganguillet & Kutter formula
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K43
Map-case 7, Folder 6
Santa Ana Canal
1891
Physical Description:
Sheets: K11- K25
Map-case 7, Folder 7
Northern Pacific, Yakima, and Kittitas Irrigation Co. (N.P.Y. & K.I. Co.)
1894
Physical Description:
Sheets: K26 - K42
Map-case 7, Folder 9
South Gila Canal Co.
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K44 - K45
Map-case 7, Folder 10
Central Irrigation District
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K46 - K66
Map-case 7, Folder 11
Sharon Estate - Buchanan Reservoir,
Chowchilla River
1891
Physical Description:
Sheets: K67 - K70
Map-case 7, Folder 12
Mt. Nebo Irrigation Co.
1895
Physical Description:
Sheets: K71 - K79
Map-case 7, Folder 13
Details of Sweetwater Dam
undated
Physical Description:
Sheets: K80 - K82
