Engineer Memoirs
A:
They have to, but it takes a while. It's a very common situation that people will avoid
work as long as they can. Then when it becomes impossible to avoid it any more, they
get down to it.
Q:
I'm afraid it's true. Is there anything else we should discuss about your tenure in with
North Central Division?
A:
I don't think so. I just want to mention that one of the studies that I did manage to get
finished was the study of the Great Lakes levels. This had been going on for ten years,
and the chairmanship on the U.S. side most of this time was in OCE.
The civilian who was the chairman retired. With my urging and the cooperation of my
West Point roommate, Ken Cooper, who was the deputy director of civil works at the
time, the chairmanship was moved out to Chicago.
I took it over late in 1971, and we drove this to conclusion. I worked night and day. In
fact, the final meeting of this board occurred after I had left the division to go to the
Atomic Energy Commission. I went back to Chicago for this meeting. I got everybody
to agree that I would remain the chairman until we got this finished.
The basic conclusion was, when it rains more, lake levels rise; when it rains less, lake
levels fall. But we did make some specific recommendations about things to do on the
Saint Lawrence River that would help discharge the water there.
Q:
Night and day must have been the way the whole three years went because of all the
work involved.
A:
It was a very busy time. I was young and I liked to work hard. I really loved it. I had
hoped to be able to stay on until the summer. But this Atomic Energy Commission job
came up, and I had to go to it.
Q:
You mentioned that you saw your three-year tour at North Central Division as divided
into three year-long stages.
A:
The first year was very much a learning stage, perhaps because it was my first
assignment enmeshed with so many aspects of civil works. But I did start some things
in that first year. As I mentioned I had to select a number of new personnel. The second
year was more devoted to putting into effect changes and getting the people in the
division into a mode of operation that would produce results. By then I knew what I
thought the division ought to do. A lot of changes had to be made, some that I started
in the first year, others that I concluded had to be done. The third year was what I
would call a production year. By then the organization was changed and functioning as
144
Previous Page
