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.

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.

9 boxes, including 13 volumes, 13 oversize folders (3.5 linear feet)

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.

Collection is open for research.