- Utah Construction Company
looked for ways to diversify their construction risks.
In 1917, Utah Construction Company was awarded the $7 million
O'Shaughnessy Dam contract, a controversial project that impounds theTuolumne River in theHetch Hetchy Valley ofCalifornia 's Sierra Nevada mountains. Success with theO'Shaughnessy Dam convinced the Wattis brothers to bid on more dam projects. In 1922, Utah Construction Company formed a partnership with theMorrison-Knudsen Company of Boise. WithFrank Crowe as the chief engineer, the MK-UC partnership successfully built dams throughout the American west.In 1931, the
Wattis Brothers spearheaded the formation ofSix Companies to build theHoover Dam which was the largest construction project ever tackled by the US Government up to the time. Including theHoover Dam , Utah Construction built 58 dams between 1916 and 1969.In 1942, several weeks after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese warships were sighted in Alaskan waters. No overland route existed connecting Alaska with the contiguous United States. This situation spurred the American Government to plan and build the Alaskan Army Highway, later renamed the
Alaska Highway . US Army and civilian contractors, led by Utah Construction, completed the convert|1500|mi|km|-2 arctic highway in just seven months and 17 days.In the 1950s, Utah Construction diversified into mining. These ventures included the Marcona copper mine in
Peru , the Lucky Mcuranium mine inWyoming , and the Navaho coal mine and power plant in the Four Corners area of the United States southwest.Utah Construction also diversified into land development. Through a series of aquistions, Utah Construction purchased the Moraga Ranch in the San Francisco Bay Area. This 3,000 acre (12 km²) ranch was developed into
Moraga, California . Utah also filled in convert|400|acre|km2|1 of theSan Francisco Bay to create much of the area of present day southshore in Alameda.The 1960s brought further military construction with Utah Construction the lead contractor for the US Minuteman Missile hardened silos throughout the
United States .In 1969, Utah Construction went public on the
New York Stock Exchange with the symbol UC. The construction business was sold to the Fluor Corporation in 1969. In the 1971, the company changed its name to Utah International.The Wattis brothers received funding from the David Eccles, Thomas D. Dee,
Joseph Clark and James Pinegree family. Thomas D. Dee served as the first president of Utah Construction until his death in 1905, David Eccles served as the second president, and David Eccels sonMarriner Stoddard Eccles became the president of Utah Construction concurrently with being the Federal Reserve Chairman. The shareholders andVal A. Browning acquired the shares of Warren Wattis in the 1940s. Utah Construction merged with theGeneral Electric company in 1976 for a value of over $2.2 billion, the largest corporate merger in history at that time. TheWattis Brothers original $8,000 investment in 1900 grew to $478 million after the 1976 acquisition by theGeneral Electric company.References
* Sessions, Gene & Sterling. "Utah International, A Biography of a Business". ISBN 0-9722102-0-2
External links
* [http://library.weber.edu/UCC/default.cfm Stewart Library Collection, Utah Construction]
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