ABSTRACT
McCLURE 13.12. 1856 Perryville OH/USA 22.06. 1926 Berkeley CA/USA Wilbur Fisk McClure made engineering studies, yet never obtained a degree. From 1879 to 1882 he was in charge of constructing railway lines in Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas. From 1883 to 1886 he was engaged in surveying oil claims for the Pacific Coast Oil Company, Los Angeles CA, acting additionally as engineer for the Mountain Water Company. He served then until 1893 as chief engineer of the Los Angeles Terminal Railway System, and went to Mexico to survey mining property, but there was contracted with malaria so that he returned to Los Angeles; the effects of this illness never left him. From 1900 to 1912 he was superintendent of the removal of rocks in San Francisco Bay, and city engineer, Berkeley CA. He also served as commissioner of public works from 1909. McClure was appointed in 1912 to the State Engineering Office of California. From 1921 until his death he was in addition to state engineer also chief of the Division of Engineering and Irrigation, the State Department of Public Works, taking over in 1923 as director. Between 1911 and 1915 the California Irrigation District Act was perfected so that it became practical to proceed with a substantial irrigation development. Some 100 irrigation districts were organized involving some 120,000,000 US$ for construction works. This large scheme was passed under McClure, and it included 3,000,000 acres, so that it was larger than the 1926 Federal irrigation projects combined. The great increase in productivity resulting from successful irrigation made California to one of the top producers of agricultural goods. The 1923 Report on the water resources of the State contained the first complete inventory of Californian waters and future needs to accommodate the full development of its resources. Parallel to this immense program the reclamation of overflow lands in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys progressed rapidly, so that all this work stands as a monument to McClure’s administration. Anonymous (1927). Wilbur F. McClure. Trans. ASCE 91: 1106-1109. Anonymous (1927). Wilbur F. McClure. Sierra Club Bulletin 12: 429-436. Adams, F. (1929). Irrigation Districts in California. Bulletin 21. Dept. Public Works: Sacramento. McClure, W.F. (1918). Report on the utilization of Mojave River for irrigation in Victor Valley. California State Printing Office: Sacramento CA. McClure, W.F. (1921). Report on Iron Canyon Project, California. Government Printing Office. https://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/st52.jpg P.
