Water
Hydraulics and Hydrology
So that was a matter of just applying some highway engineering techniques to the
hydraulics?
Yes. To the hydraulics.
Was that normally done? Had that been done before or was this sort of a pioneering
effort?
A:
Oh, this was pioneering, as far as I know. It was never done with high-velocity channels.
It might have been done with some other problems, but I don't know of any.
Visit of Lt. Gen. Wheeler and Gail Hathaway
Late in 1946, General Wheeler [Lt. General Raymond Wheeler], the Chief of Engineers
then, came out with Gail Hathaway, who was then a Special Assistant to the Chief of
[former Chief of the Reservoir Regulation and Hydrology Section in Civil
`Works from
for a Board [Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors,
to review the Los Angeles projects. General Wheeler wanted someone to brief
him on the projects that were in Los Angeles before the Board meeting. The District
Engineer sent word down to Harry Thompson, who was Chief of the Engineering Division
then, and Harry Thompson picked me out to make the talk, covering what projects we
were working on. Most of it was flood channel improvements because there was a lot of
channel work there then, in addition to design of several small flood control dams.
I spent half-an-hour talking to him, and I guess I did a pretty good job of explaining the
whole thing, at least General Wheeler thanked me. After General Wheeler left, I went
down with Harry Thompson to his office, and Hathaway came down there. He said to
Harry: "Harry, we need somebody like Jake in the Chief's Office. I need someone in
hydraulics. I'm weak in hydraulic design.
So Harry said, "Well, that's up to Jake. So I said, "Give me one day. I'll have to talk
my wife.
So when I got home, and I mentioned this, she said, "We're. off to
Washington, because she lived in Washington for a good many years. She graduated
from high school in the District of Columbia. She didn't like Los Angeles at all. So there
was no doubt about it, we were going to Washington. The next day I told Hathaway that
I would take the job. I reported to the Chief's Office on December 6, 1946.
Previous Page
