Butte County
Biographies
GEORGE A. WHITE
GEORGE A. WHITE.—Through his connection with
many important projects as mechanical, civil, and mining engineer, George A.
White is well known to the people in and about Forbestown.
Mr. White was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., September 11, 1862. After
completing his special education for the work of a civil engineer, he was for
many years employed as a surveyor in the service of the government. For a time
he was engaged in construction work in Mexico, as a millwright; and from there
he came to California. He came to Forbestown to build
the mill at the Shakespeare gold mine, for Hayward and Sons; and when that mill
was completed, he was engaged by the same company to build the mill for the
Denver Mine at Forbestown.
While in Forbestown,
Mr. White met Miss Mary Beik, the daughter of Fred
and Mary Beik, highly respected pioneers of the
place; and on July 15, 1893, he was united with her in marriage.
After his marriage, he was engaged by the same company to go to Alaska, as
mining engineer in charge of construction work at the Silver Bow Basin Mine, at
Juneau. His wife accompanied him on this trip, and he took with him one hundred
thirty-five men. This work lasted for six months. After its completion, he
entered the employ of the Guggenheim Company, for whom he built the first gold
dredger used in the mining fields of Alaska. He has been to Alaska about seven
times, and on each occasion has been engaged in building mills and dredgers
there. The Colgate power plant, at Colgate, and the Nimshew power plant, at Nimshew,
Cal., were also erected by Mr. White, and he was for a time engaged in
construction work at the Walker Mine in Plumas County, for the Copper Mining
Company. At present he is putting in machinery at the Sperry Mills at Stockton.
Forbestown has
continued to be the home of Mr. and Mrs. White, while he has been engaged in
fulfilling these various contracts. Mrs. White’s mother, now very old, still
lives on the old Beik home place at Forbestown, and it is for the purpose of caring for her
that Mrs. White continues to live here, rather than move from place to
place with her husband in his various engineering enterprises. They have a fine
residence at Forbestown, where Mrs. White runs a
hotel, providing for her guests the best in the way of cooking, and rooming
them in her own home. Mrs. White is the sister of Henry Albert Beik, who is mentioned at length on another page of this
work. The Beik family is an early and highly
respected pioneer family of Forbestown.
Mr. White is a master in his line, and has many mills to his credit. He and
his wife are very highly respected in their community.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
05 August 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1227-1228, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies