"Why Shouldn't California Have the Grandest Aqueduct in the World?": Alexis Von Schmidt's Lake Tahoe Scheme

Abstract

IN last decades of nineteenth century, Americans were dazzled by material progress; no dream seemed too bold, as steel rails and telegraph wires linked distant parts of nation and electricity flooded city streets with light and streetcars. But needs and expectations in new age produced many practical engineering problems to be solved. Crucial to continued growth and sustenance of rapidly expanding American cities were larger public buildings, paved streets, and efficient water supply and sanitation systems. The engineers who tackled these problems did not win adulation paid to statesmen of prog ress like Bell and Edison, but a few, including San Francisco engineer Alexis Von Schmidt, fired public imagination. The size and success of Von Schmidt's projects built his reputation; his opti mism, confidence, and driving energy made him a magnetic public figure. His tremendous assuredness and know-how led him to insist on managing each of his engineering schemes from start to finish; he drafted plans, raised money, and supervised construction. When existing tools or engineering techniques proved inadequate to complete a particular job, Von Schmidt devised his own. And like many men who win success easily, he was infected with a grand obsession. He was determined to build the Grandest Aqueduct in World to carry water of Lake Tahoe to mines, farms, factories and cities of Northern Cali fornia. It was a fitting dream for Age of Enterprise. In 1827, when Alexis was six, his family fled Russia and settled near Vincennes, Indiana. Little is known of his early life, except that boy decided to follow his father's occupation, civil engineering, and received his training in American uni versities. In May, 1849, gold lured young engineer to California. Once in San Francisco, he resisted impulse to join feverish hordes flocking to Mother Lode; instead, he went to work as a United States surveyor, mapping