WALLACE

WALLACE 10.09. 1852 Fall River MA/USA 03.07. 1921 Washington DC/USA John Findlay Wallace received in 1882 the degree of engineering from Wooster College, Wooster OH. He then entered the US Corps of Engineers focusing on river and harbour projects on Upper Mississippi River. Over the next 15 years, he was promoted to chief engineer and finally general manager of the Illinois Central Railroad. He was in 1904 appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project. This job earned him the second highest salary of 25,000 US$, the highest of any government employees right after the president. Wallace realized immediately after arrival on the Isthmus that the harsh terrain and the climate conditions were a serious obstacle to his project. The task ahead of him seemed almost impossible, to dig a canal 80 km long and 10 m below sea level stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. He would have to cut through dense jungle, control parts of the Chagres River, and haul away sections of the Culebra Mountain. Wallace asked for additional time to survey the area, but Roosevelt’s directive to ‘Make the dirt fly’ prevented any further delay. Wallace attempted to excavate the spoil as quickly as possible to meet the government’s demands, but flooding and landslides caused repeated setbacks. The delays damaged the morale among workers, who already suffered from terrible food and living conditions. Logistical problems added to the inefficiency. At project start, the workers only had at their disposal the antiquated machines left behind by the Frenchmen. Wallace ordered new equipment from the USA, but the giant steam shovels excavated more spoil than the existing train infrastructure could remove, forcing him to operate them at 25% of their peak efficiency only. He was also faced with bureaucratic challenges from the Isthmus Canal Commission, who had to approve each of his decisions made in the Canal Zone. Wallace resigned abruptly in June 1905. His successor was John F. Stevens (1853-1943), who started his tenure that Wallace had failed to do: stop digging. Anonymous (1921). John F. Wallace. Engineering News-Record 87(2): 83-84. P Davis, G.W., Stevens, J.F., Wallace, J.F. (1906). Report of the Board of consulting engineers for the Panama Canal. Government Printing Office: Washington DC. Navarro, B. (2010). The emergence of power. Xlibris Corp.: on-line. Parker, M. (2008). Hell’s Gorge: The battle to build the Panama Canal. Arrow Books: London. Wallace, J.F. (1906). Investigation of Panama Canal matters. The Committee: Washington DC. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/panama-engineers/ P

WALTER D.S. 18.08. 1904 Greeley CO/USA 07.12. 1971 San Diego CA/USA Donald Scott Walter was educated at the University of Colorado, Boulder CO, graduating with the BS degree in civil engineering in 1926, and obtaining the CE degree in 1957. He entered the US Bureau of Reclamation USBR in 1938, working as junior engineer and assistant engineer at Ellensburg WA until 1930. He was then from 1930 assistant chief inspector at the Boulder Dam Project until 1934, and continued in the same position until 1939 at the Coulee Dam Project. He was field engineer for the Friant Dam until 1941, returning in this position to the Boulder Dam until 1943, from when he was until 1948 consulting engineer for the Anderson Ranch Dam, and finally became regional engineer of USBR, stationed at Boise ID until his retirement in 1959. Walter was for nearly 40 years in the service of the USBR. Since 1949 he was regional engineer for the Northwest District, directing the Columbia Basin and Yakima Projects in Washington State. Previously he had been involved in the Hungry Horse Dam in Montana, where the first large morning glory spillway had been successfully installed. Instead of a standard frontal spillway, this spillway type is based on a vertical shaft whose base is connected with an almost horizontal tunnel, discharging the water into the tailwater. A radial unsubmerged intake corresponding to the morning glory flower is thereby positioned at the shaft top resulting in water flow along the shaft walls, and an annular air core at its center. Walter was further involved in the design and construction of the Deschutes and Crooked River Project in Oregon State, and both the Palisades and Minidoka schemes in Idaho. He finally was construction engineer on Anderson Ranch Dam, a multipurpose structure providing benefits of irrigation, power, and flood and silt control. The 135 m high dam on the South Fork of Boise River was the world’s highest earth-fill dam at the time of completion in 1950. The power plant has with two units an installed capacity of 27,000 kW. Anonymous (1959). Walter, Donald S. Who’s who in engineering 8: 2576. Lewis: New York. Anonymous (1959). Donald S. Walter. Civil Engineering 29(11): 22. P Walter, D.S. (1941). Engineering innovations at Friant Dam. Reclamation Era 31(12): 309-311. Walter, D.S. (1957). Rehabilitation and modification of spillway and outlet tunnels and river channel improvements at Hoover Dam. University of Colorado: Boulder CO. Wiltshire, R.L., Gilbert, D.R., Rogers, J.R., eds. (2010). Hoover Dam: 75th anniversary history symposium. ASCE: Reston VA.