Anthony Chabot
Anthony Chabot ( 13 August 1813 - 6. January 1888 ) was a businessman and entrepreneur , who through his contribution to the development of hydraulic mining and construction of water systems, in particular in which Bay Area , distinguished so that he as water King became known .
biography
Chabot was raised on a farm in La Presentation, near Saint-Hyacinthe , Quebec , Canada . He was one of sixteen children and the son of a farmer. He left home when he was sixteen and finally settled in California in 1849 .
He died on January 6, 1888 and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.
Business activity
He began mining in Nevada City , digging trenches to supply water to the mines. In 1852 and 1853 he and Edward Matteson developed the first hydraulic mining technology while working at Buckeye Hill and American Hill, respectively. It consisted of a wooden device held together by iron clamps that allowed the miners to direct a fifty-foot column of water with a linen hose onto a gravel bar, which loosened the gravel and washed it into a series of locks where the heavy gold flakes settled settle from the lighter soil. Although it revolutionized gold mining , the technique also caused severe environmental damage. The huge amounts of sediment released in the blast washed downstream and buried houses and farmland. Angry peasants eventually ended hydraulic dismantling when they won a federal court victory in 1884.
In 1854, Chabot also established two sawmills in Sierra County . Two years later he left the mining company and went to San Francisco, where he built the city's first public water system and brought the water from Lobos Creek to San Francisco. This led to projects to supply other cities with water, including Portland , Maine and Milwaukee , Wisconsin .
Chabot founded the Contra Costa Water Company in 1866 , which developed a monopoly on water supplies to Oakland and neighboring areas. First he built a dam on Temescal Creek and created Temescal Lake. He began work on an even larger dam on San Leandro Creek before the Temescal Dam was even completed. In 1870, his company completed a dam on San Leandro Creek and created a reservoir, later called Lake Chabot, in what is now the Castro Valley .
In or about 1869, Chabot built waterworks for the city of San Jose, and around the same time they built those to supply Vallejo. During this time he was involved in several other companies including a paper mill in Stockton , the Judson Manufacturing Company in Oakland, the Pioneer Pulp Mill Company near Alta, Placer County , the Puget Sound Iron Company and a large piece of land in Washington State for growing cranberries.
In 1883, Chabot donated a telescope and the fund to build an observatory for the City of Oakland. The observatory was supposed to be called the Oakland Observatory, but quickly became known as the Chabot Observatory. The original observatory was built in Lafayette Square near downtown Oakland and moved to Oakland Hills in 1915. In 2000, he moved 2 miles north to a higher location on Skyline Boulevard. At that time it was greatly expanded and known as the Chabot Space & Science Center.
Other community activities included building senior housing in Yountville and a shelter for unemployed women in Oakland, and childcare for the children of working women.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Burgess, Sherwood D. (1992). The Water King: Anthony Chabot, His Life and Times. Agaccess. ISBN 0-932857-04-3
- ↑ "Legacy of Poison". Gold, Greed, and Genocide - Project Underground
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chabot, Anthony |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Businessman and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 13, 1813 |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 6, 1888 |