George Chaffey

George Chaffey

George Chaffey (28 January 1848 – 1 March 1932) was a Canadian–born engineer who with his brother William developed large parts of Southern California, including what became the community of Etiwanda and cities of Ontario, and Upland. They undertook similar developments in Australia which became the city of Mildura, and the town of Renmark and Paringa. ^[1]

Chaffey was born in Brockville, Ontario and attended Kingston Grammar School on Lake Ontario. Although not interested in schoolroom instruction, he read engineering books from the local library. Chaffey left school at 13 years of age, was fascinated by the shipbuilding yard of his father and became an apprentice marine engineer in May 1862.^[1] By 1880 he was well established as a designer of ships for Great Lakes traffic. While visiting his father in California that year, however, he became interested in the Riverside irrigation colony. By 1886 he and his brother William had established the irrigation colonies of Etiwanda, Ontario, and Upland, which were extremely successful, thanks in large part to innovative features such as hydroelectric systems using mountain water, mutual water companies which eliminated disputes over water, and a college endowed by the Chaffeys. His innovative electrical system at Etiwanda led Los Angeles to hire him to install its first street lights. He eventually became president and engineer of the Los Angeles Electric Company.

In 1886, at the invitation of the South Australian and Victorian colonial governments, the Chaffeys undertook several irrigation projects in Australia, establishing colonies at Renmark and then Mildura. These were financial failures, however, and George Chaffey returned to California. William remained in Mildura, which eventually became successful. Later, George joined the California Development Company as chief engineer and undertook a project to irrigate the Colorado Desert. The Colorado Desert was renamed by the Canadian party and is now known as the Imperial Valley. Chaffey along with the other pioneers believed this name would bring more people to this southwestern part of California.

In 1905, Chaffey purchased the ranch of John Shepherd at Manzanar, California, located in California's Owens Valley. Chaffey subdivided the ranch, along with other adjacent ranches, and founded the town of Manzanar in 1910.^[2][3] Chaffey's Owens Valley Improvement Company built an irrigation system and planted thousands of fruit trees,^[2] and by 1920, the town had more than twenty-five homes, a two-room school, a town hall, and a general store.^[3] Also at that time, nearly 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) of apple, pear, and peach trees were being grown, along with grapes, prunes, potatoes, corn, alfalfa and large vegetable and flower gardens.^[2][4]

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  Statue of George Chaffey in front of the Upland civic center

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  George Chaffey Bridge over Murray River, Mildura

See also

• Alamo Canal
• California Development Company
• Imperial Land Company
• Salton Sea

Sources

• www.chaffey.org, article by Robert E. Ellingwood and Marie Boyd
• Ontario Heritage Foundation
• Government of Canada digital collections

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Westcott, Peter (1979). "Chaffey, George (1848 - 1932)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. 7. Canberra: Australian National University. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070609b.htm. Retrieved 8 September 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Manzanar National Historic Site - Orchard Community (U.S. National Park Service)". National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior. http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/orchard-community.htm. Retrieved December 23, 2007. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Burton, Jeffery F. (1996). Three Farewells To Manzanar: The Archeology of Manzanar National Historic Site, California. Part 1: Chapters 1–14. Western Archaeological and Conservation Center, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior. p. 3. Publications in Anthropology 67. 
4. ^ DeBoer, Lucille (1993). "Following Manzanar: A Life Story" (PDF). The Album, Times & Tales of Inyo-Mono (Chalfant Press). http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/stories2/manzanar_town.pdf. Retrieved 2007-07-26. 

• Tyrrell, Ian. (1999) True gardens of the Gods : Californian-Australian environmental reform, 1860-1930. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21346-7
• Alexander, J. A. (1928) The life of George Chaffey; a story of irrigation beginnings in California and Australia. Melbourne: Macmillan & co. ltd.

Persondata
Name	Chaffey, George
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	28 January 1848
Place of birth
Date of death	1 March 1932
Place of death