Water Resources: Hydraulics and Hydrology
A:
More theoretical. That's right. Other than that, I had no contacts with professors.
Q ..
I was looking at Hunter Rouse's book on hydraulics in the United States
A:
I first met Hunter Rouse in 1936 when he worked for the Sedimentation Laboratory at the
California Institute of Technology. Later, I attended annual conferences in hydraulics at
the University of Iowa, which were organized by Rouse.
Was that in the 1930's or later?
A:
It was later, I think, in the late 1940's and early
Well, Hunter Rouse was already at work there by that time?
A:
Yes. I think he became a professor at Iowa in 1939. I've got the proceedings of his
hydraulic conferences in a box here, which I plan to donate to the Corps' Office of
History. The Corps used hydraulics professors as consultants more than the Bureau did.
Maybe it was because I was new at the Bureau, and didn't get involved as closely with
professors as I did later when I was with the Corps.
Did the Bureau have so much experience that it really didn't need many professors?
A:
That would be the reason, because the Bureau developed its design procedures before the
professors came aboard. Rouse was a young man when the Bureau was well into the
design of dams. The Bureau engineers were practical designers, and didn't use the
theoretical fluid mechanics that Rouse was teaching. I think that's probably the reason.
So again, it's a conflict between theory and practice?
A:
That's right.
Q ..
When you were dealing with Rouse, you were more in the applied area and he was more
in the theoretical.
That's right. I was on a couple of boards with him.
One was a large dam in British
A:
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