BUILDING THE ULTIMATE DAM
From CHAPTER THREE (pp.41-58):
On the surface, little in Eastwood's early career distinguishes
him as an engineer of uncommon experience; his education at the
University of Minnesota was not particularly eminent, and his
involvement in railroad construction fit a pattern common among
nineteenth-century civil engineers. In migrating to Fresno, he
abandoned the nomadic life of a railroad engineer; but once
settled in the city, he was drawn to the Sierra Nevada, where he
demonstrated skill as a surveyor in a harsh, mountainous
terrain.
His tenure as city engineer as well as his work with
the Sunset Irrigation District certainly provide evidence of a
desire to improve the material quality of community life, but
his vision of technological progress found its most important
expression when combined with experience he gained in the
mountains. In the 1890's, working from his knowledge of
mountain streams, he became a pioneer proponent of
hydroelectric power technologies that soon transformed the
character of California's culture and economy.
Eastwood's [hydroelectric power plant for] Fresno
represents a major
technological advance in the development of high-head, long-distance,
high-voltage AC transmission systems, and the bankruptcy of the
San Joaquin Electric Company should not be ascribed to mismanagement or
malfeasance.
Instead, the economic failings of the company reflect the perils
that beset any undercapitalized enterprise struggling to create
a market within a competitive environment.
The drought of
1898-1899 devastated the SJEC, diminishing revenues while the
company's financial obligations to bondholders remained
constant. If initially the company had been able to build a
storage reservoir, it is less likely that the drought would have
precipitated bankruptcy in 1899. But lacking such capital,
Eastwood and [SJEC president] Seymour had only one "safe" alternative: to
abandon their plans and await some unspecified time when success
could somehow be assured. Rather than demur in the face of
risk, they forged ahead.
Although Eastwood received little
monetary reward for conceiving and building the SJEC system, he
was evidently gratified that the system ultimately proved to be
both a technological and a financial success. By the time the
San Joaquin Power Company took over the SJEC [in 1902], he was already
promoting plans for a hydroelectric power system that dwarfed
his original foray into the field. And for this new project, he
was to devote special attention to the problem of water
storage.
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