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Guide to the William Hammond Hall Papers
MS 913
MS 913
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Collection Title: William Hammond Hall papers
Dates: 1878-1914
Collection Number: MS 913
Creator:
Hall, Wm. Ham. (William Hammond)
Physical Description:
Extent: 2.5 Linear feet
Repository:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
Abstract: Chiefly correspondence, reports, accounts, and other papers pertaining to Hall's irrigation projects in Calif., with some
materials on projects in Nev. and Yakima, Wash. Includes some papers related to Hall's research and publications on irrigation,
dams, and reservoirs; reports and correspondence on irrigation from the Calif. State Engineering Department; and correspondence
and directories from the Association of Irrigation Districts. Also includes assorted publications on irrigation in the West
outside of Calif., public lands, and water use.
Collection is open for research.
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.
[Identification of item], William Hammond Hall Papers, MS 913. California Historical Society.
Title: William Hammond Hall Letterbooks.
Identifier/Call Number: MS 914
Title: William Hammond Hall Papers, 1873-1911.
Identifier/Call Number: MS 915
Blueprints and other oversize materials have been transferred to the architecture collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Irrigation engineers--California.
Irrigation engineering--California.
Irrigation engineering--West (U.S.)
California--Officials and employees.
California--Environmental conditions.
California. State Engineering Dept.
No additions are expected.
Processed by California Historical Society staff.
William Hammond Hall was born on February 12, 1846, the son of John Buchanan Hall and Anna Marie Hammond. At the time of his
birth the family lived in Hagerstown, MD but moved to Stockton in 1853. Between 1858 and 1865 Hall was enrolled in a private
episcopal academy. It had been planned that Hall would attend West Point so his education was directed toward mathematics,
however, as a result of the Civil War, Hall's mother would not allow her son to fight against `her people' so he never received
a college education.
His practical education began the summer of 1863 when he worked as a rodman and leveler for surveyor A.J. Bender. The folowing
summer Hall did barometrical work under a Col. Williamson on Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams in Oregon. Following completion of his
schooling in 1865, he was permanently employed by the Board of Military Engineers in San Francisco. A year later he was appointed
Asst. Civil Enginer of the U.S. Engineering Corps. In addition to his work for the Army and the U.S. Engineering Corps, Hall
worked on the Outside Lands Survey under City Surveyor W.P. Humphreys and in 1869 Hall was involved in mining engineering
in the White Pine District, Nevada.
1870 was an important year in Hall's life. He was married to Emma Fitzhugh, member of a prominent Southern family. And in
August of that year, Hall, as low bidder, was awarded the contract to survey and topographically map out Golden Gate Park.
Following that report, he prepared a plan for the Park's development and the following August was appointed engineer and superintendent
of the Park. A position Hall held until his resignation in 1876.
During 1872-73, Hall consulted in the grading and development of the University of California campus at Berkeley. In the few
years after his resignation Hall was involved in a variety of projects which included: inspection work and reports on the
construction of Wm. Ralston's Palace Hotel;and serving as chief engineer for the Central Irrigation District and the West
side Irrigation District.
In the Spring of 1879 Governor William Irwin appointed Hall as the first state engineer of California. He was reappointed
to this position by four successive governors. In this capacity he was asked by Gov. Stoneman to act as consulting engineer
for Golden Gate Park in 1886. 1886 was also the year in which Hall launched his journal
Land and Water with editorial assistance from his Assistant State Engineer James D. Schuyler. Hall resigned as State Engineer in 1889 and
was appointed supervising engineer of the U.S.G.S. Irrigation Bureau a position he held for a year.
Hall went into private practice in 1890 and worked as a civil engineer on irrigation projects in central and southern California
and as consulting engineer on irrigation and waterworks in England and South Africa. In 1889 Hall went to Russia, in 1905
to Panama to report on engineering studies on the Panama Canal and in 1918 to Turkey where he reported on Armenian and Syrian
Relief. During these years Hall was in business as a civil engineer and land developer. During the early part of the twentieth
century Hall was involved in a controversy concerning land in Yosemite (now known as Hetch-Hetchy) which the City of San Francisco
was seeking for a water supply.
Hall had three daughters, Anna Hammond, Margaret Fitzhugh, and Katherine Buchanan Hall. He died on October 16, 1934 and was
buried in Colma.
Source:
Clary, Raymond.
The History of Golden Gate Park.
Scope and Contents of Collection
This collection consists of records from William Hammond Hall's professional practice as an engineer and especially as a water
resources specialist. The material in this collection relates specifically to Irrigation in California, Nevada and Yakima,
WA.
Folders 1-8 contain more general materials such as correspondence; outlines and notes from Hall's research and toward articles
and reports he was intending to write; copies of his published works and reports on reservoirs, two by his assistant James
D. Schuyler.
Folders 9-16 relate to the California State Office of Engineering and include reports and correspondence. There are some materials
relting to a controversy in that office that took place in 1890. There is also material from the Association of Irrigation
Districts.
The remainder of the collection are records relating to specific water engineering projects throughout California. Included
are reports, correspondence, specifications, financial records such as cost estimates and accounts, arid land legislation
and newspaper clippings. Projects included in this material include the California Central Irrigation District, irrigation
in Southern California, a major endeavor in Yakima, Washington, and various flood control and canal projects throughout the
state. There are also records from a project in Nevada.
Box 5 contains an assortment of published sources such as Sierra Buttes Canal & Water Co. briefs, issues of the Census Bulletin
from 1892, and other published material relating non-California irrigation, public lands and water use.
Arid regions (f. 47)
Association of Irrigation Districts (f. 15, 16)
Bear Valley Dam (San Bernadino Co.) (f. 17)
Bosley, William B.
Brown, Walston H. & Bros. (f. 32)
California. State Department of Engineering (f. 9-14)
Central Irrigation District (f. 18-20)
Civil engineers
Clear Lake (Lake Co.) (f.21)
Contra Costa & Oakland Water Co. (f. 22)
Coyote River Water Project (Santa Clara Co.) (f. 23)
Crocker & Huffman Canal (Merced Co.) (f.24)
Dams
Dams--surveying
Dixon, L.L. (f.25)
Engineering
Engineering--estimate and cost
Engineering--management
Engineering and state
Engineering drawings
Engineers
Granger, Walter N. (f. 36)
Hydraulic Engineering
Hydrographic Surveying
Irrigation
Irrigation--Finance
Irrigation--management
Irrigation canals and flumes
Irrigation districts
Irrigation engineering
Irrigation laws
Irrigation--Kern Co.
Irrigation--Sacramento Valley
Irrigaiton--San Joaquin Valley
Irrigation--Nevada
Irrigation--Yakima, WA
Irrigation--Tuolumne Co.
James, Walter (f.25)
Kern County--Irrigation (f. 25-28)
Kern River (f.26-28)
Los Angeles (f. 15, 34,35)
Nance, J.W. (f.15)
Nevada Irrigation Project (f.29)
Newlands, Francis G. (f.29)
Northern Pacific, Yakima and Kittitas Irrigation Co. (f. 36-44)
Nurse, M. A. (f. 30)
Pardee, Geroge C. (f.10)
Perris Irrigation Project (f.15, 17)
Reclamation of Land
Reservoirs
Rivers
Riverside Co. (f. 15, 17)
Salt Spring Valley Reservoir (Calavaras Co.) (f.32)
San Bernadino Co. (f. 34, 35)
Schuyler, James D. (f. 6,7)
San Diego Co. (f. 15, 34, 35)
Sierra Buttes Canal & Water Co. (f.50)
Sterling, Guy (f. 41,42)
Washington (State) (f. 36-44)
Water Supply Engineering
Surveyors
Yakima Valley Project (WA) (f. 36-44)
Zillah Headquarters Building (f. 36-42)