Arthur de Wint Foote | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1849 (1849) |
| Died | 1933 (aged 83–84) |
| Resting place | Foote-Ward Cemetery Guilford, Connecticut |
| Education | Yale College |
| Occupations | Civil engineer; mining engineer |
| Known for | Foote's Crossing Road;Foote's Crossing Road high bridge;North Star Mine Powerhouse;North Star House |
| Spouse | Mary Hallock Foote |
| Children | Arthur Burling Foote Betty Foote Agnes Foote |
Arthur De Wint Foote (1849–1933) was an American civil engineer and mining engineer who impacted the development of theAmerican West with his innovative engineering works and entrepreneurial ventures. InNorthern California in the late 1890s, he designed and built theNorth Star Mine Powerhouse, the highest capacity impulse-turbine power-plant of the time, and now a California historic landmark; within that plant he designed and installed the then-largestPelton wheel turbine. Later, he designed and builtFoote's Crossing, a high bridge, andFoote's Crossing Road, both now memorialized as California and U.S. landmarks.
Born inGuilford, Connecticut, Foote's ancestry was English—fromYorkshire before 1630. After preparatory schooling as a youth, he attendedYale College'sSheffield Scientific School, but left in 1868 before graduating. From there he began his early career in business and construction ventures along the eastern seaboard of the US and in the West Indies basin.[1]
Immersing himself in learning the civil engineering practicum, with application in mining operations, young Arthur Foote became an exemplar of themotto "Go West, young man"; he aspired to making his career and fortune in the'new' West, first in California.
In 1873, he landed in San Francisco, seeking work. In quick succession he worked on theSutro Tunnel site inVirginia City, Nevada—where he assisted with installing the first industrial air compressor in a tunnel or mine in the U.S. West; then on the Eldorado Canal of theAmerican River, which supplied water to newhydraulic mines nearPlacerville, California. Working for theSouthern Pacific Railroad in 1874, he assisted the chief engineer building theTehachapi Loop, the celebrated climbingrailway spiral—and now a popularrailfan site andNational Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.[2]
In 1876, while posted at theNew Almaden Quicksilver Mine inSanta Clara County, California, young Foote returned East to marry and to bring his bride,Mary Hallock Foote, back to California. Soon he moved his family toDeadwood, South Dakota, where he helped supervise theHomestake Mine; then toLeadville, Colorado, during theColorado Silver Boom. There he served as a (litigation) mining expert for the Iron Silver Mining Company. Later he supervised the Adelaide Mine and other small mines near Leadville.[3][4]
Abandoning the high altitudes for health reasons, Foote journeyed toMorelia inMichoacán, Mexico, to prospect a retired silver mine; then toWood River Valley in south-central Idaho—locale of today'sSun Valley ski resort—to open the Wolftone Mine prospect. Later, he formed a partnership venture and bought water rights on theBoise River where he designed the Boise River irrigation project, then developed it for ten years before it eventually failed for lack of capital. The project became known as theNew York Canal. (Ultimately it was completed by thefederal government, i.e., theU.S. Bureau of Reclamation, as theArrowrock Dam project (1915), then the largest arid-lands irrigation scheme in the United States.) Foote's Idaho home was built oflava rock and used his own cement formula; the site (43°31′26″N116°03′47″W / 43.524°N 116.063°W /43.524; -116.063) is near the outlet of theLucky Peak Dam(1955).[5][6][7]
After Boise, Foote served as a hydrologist for the newly createdU.S. Geological Survey, leading field surveys that documented the hydrology and hydraulics of reaches of theSnake River andSnake River Plain and valley. He returned briefly to Mexico to engineer roads in Baja California for anonyx mine; then 'made home' again to California to manage the Fremont Mine inAmador City, just east ofSacramento.[8]
In 1895, Foote settled his family inGrass Valley, California—some fifty miles (80 km) west ofLake Tahoe—where he was hired to design an electric-generating plant for theNorth Star Mine, the second largest gold producing mine in California. After studying the site he judged that electric power was neither safe nor dependable for operating the underground works there; instead he conceived a master plan for using air compressors to operate the mine—and using hydro-impulse turbines to power the compressors.[9]
Now he envisioned a power plant housing an over-sizedPelton water wheel—the recently invented hydro-powered impulse turbine. At 30 feet (9 m) in diameter, he designed and erected a drum wheel more than sixty per cent larger than the maximum recommended by thePelton Water Wheel Company in San Francisco. Upon completion, 'Foote's Pelton wheel' performed successfully as the world's largest operating impulse turbine wheel; it was in continuous use for over 30 years. In 1991, Foote'sNorth Star Mine Powerhouse was designated an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.[10][11]
Foote advanced to superintendent and later to general manager of the North Star Mine. Then he and his wife commissioned the design ofNorth Star House by the architectJulia Morgan. The grand residence was built in 1905 in Grass Valley. Also known asFoote Mansion, the house is notable for its iconic'western' elegance, and for its association with the careers of three singular 'westerners': the engineer-miner-entrepreneur Arthur Foote, his wife the author-illustratorMary Hallock Foote, and the master architectMorgan. Later, the authorWallace Stegner made Foote Mansion the setting for hisPulitzer Prize-winning novelAngle of Repose (1972), which closely referenced the lives of the Footes.[12]Members of the Foote family occupied the North Star House as home until 1968. The House is listed on national and state registers of historic places; and the landscape-site, including gardens and orchard, has been designated as a local historic landmark.[13]
While at North Star Mine in 1911, Foote and several partners purchased the Tightner Mine inAlleghany, California. Now Foote designed and constructed a high bridge over the Middle Yuba River and a 22-mile (35 km) high grade mountain road connecting the two mines.[14] Subsequently, the project — consisting of theFoote's Crossing Road and theFoote's Crossing Road high bridge — was memorialized as aNational Register of Historic Places landmark and as aCalifornia Point of Historical Interest(No. P401).[15][16]
Arthur and Mary Foote served ambassadorial roles of representing the'new' West and the lifestyles to be had there. They frequently received dignitaries and celebrities touring the West and hosted them for extended stays at North Star House; they hosted community and civic events there. He contributed technical papers to professional societies and published scholarly articles addressing public issues, especially re developing the West. He advocated high standards of literacy, both professional and personal, for engineers.[17]
In 1876, Foote married the illustrator and writerMary Hallock Foote (1847–1938) in her hometown ofMilton, Ulster County, New York. Their marriage produced a son,Arthur Burling Foote(1877–1964), who followed closely after his father's career footsteps, and two daughters, Betty(1882–1942) and Agnes(1886–1904). Foote died Thursday, August 24, 1933, at the home of his daughter after suffering a stroke two days earlier.[18]
Arthur Foote's biography was written by his wife within her memoirs—which were collected byRodman Paul and published in 1972 asA Victorian Gentlewoman in the Far West. Mary Hallock Foote, in her own right, was an important literary and pioneer figure in the history of theold West.[19]
In creating hisPulitzer Prize-winning novelAngle of Repose (1972), the twentieth century novelistWallace Stegner appropriated—with permission—portions of Arthur and Mary Foote's life stories from her memoirs (noted above).[20] Stegner used passages taken directly from Mary Foote's actual letters and recast them as fictionalized correspondence of the novel's main character; his choices resulted in controversy within the literary community that continues today.[21]
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Arthur De Wint Foote.
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