The collection consists of correspondence and reports concerning the Colorado River and flooding in the Imperial Valley, the Hetch Hetchy Project, Los Angeles water supply, the Southern Sierra Power Company, the salinity of San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, flood control and irrigation projects, groundwater, and land appraisal throughout California and other western states.

Thomas Herbert Means was born in 1875 in Virginia. His early career included nine years in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, during which time he was in charge of soil surveys, principally in the western states. In 1898 he made a report on reclamation of alkali soils in Yellowstone. He also studied dry land soils and moisture content under different methods of farming at Glen Ullin and Fargo, North Dakota. In 1902, he visited North Africa, Algeria, Tunis and Egypt to study soils and irrigation. After that he served six years in the Bureau of Reclamation in land examination and farm unit subdivision and was in charge of a laboratory for the study of the silt-carrying capacities of western streams.

5.98 linear feet (15 boxes)

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The collection is open for research.