Los Angeles County
Biographies
JOHN CASPAR AVAKIAN
AVAKIAN, JOHN CASPAR, Civil
and Hydraulic Engineer, Los Angeles, Cal., was born in Harpoot,
Armenia, March 1, 1875, the son of Harootune
Caspar Avakian and Hripsimé
(Hottoyan) Avakian. His
father was a charter teacher and Dean of the Faculty in the Euphrates College, Harpoot, founded by the American Missionaries. In this
position he served for forty-four years.
The son received his primary education in the elementary
branch of Euphrates College, but his father decided to give him the better
educational advantages to be had in America. The Turkish law forbidding members
of the Christian races to leave the country, it was necessary that Mr. Avakian, then a lad twelve years of age, flee the country
surreptitiously. Accompanied by an uncle, young Avakian
barely escaped with his life across the frontier into Russia, but afterwards
traveled easily through the Czar’s domain and Germany, sailing from Hamburg for
the U. S. Leaving Harpoot,
April 1, 1888, he arrived in Troy, New York, June 16, of that
year.
At Troy Mr. Avakian entered
school, applying himself industriously in mastering the English language, and
despite the fact that he was compelled to suspend his studies in order to earn
money to support himself, he was graduated from Cook Academy at Montour Falls,
N. Y., in the class of 1894. He had found it necessary to earn his own
living, because wages in his native country were so small, it would not have
supported him had his devoted father sent him his entire salary.
Filled with the love of his people and resentment towards
the powers that oppressed them, Mr. Avakian, at
the age of sixteen, became a lecturer on “The Eastern Question,” in which he
dealt in detail with the persecutions suffered by the Christians of the Turkish
Empire. In the spring of 1895, while a student in Colgate Univ., Hamilton,
N. Y., he suffered heavy loss in the fire which swept the town, this
forcing another halt in his education.
About this time there occurred Armenian massacres in
which about 600,000 innocent and defenseless Christians were slaughtered by the
Turks. Mr. Avakian set out on a lecture tour to
arouse American sympathy and raise funds to rescue his relatives and others
from death. He continued his tour through New England and Canada until the
outbreak of the Spanish-American War, when he gave up his crusade and became
associated with R. B. Davis, known as “The Baking Power King,” as his
personal traveling representative.
Late in 1898 Mr. Avakian
entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., and was graduated
in the class of 1902 with the degree of Civil Engineer. He then was employed by
the Lehigh Valley R. R., first at Sayre, Pa., later at Buffalo,
N. Y., where he was engaged in designing and improving yards and shops for
the company.
Mr. Avakian was chosen, in
1903, Locating Engineer for the Buffalo, Dunkirk & Western R. R. and
in this capacity located about 75 miles of main line from the State line of
Ohio to the city of Buffalo. Upon the completion of this work Mr. Avakian brought his sister and her family from Armenia to
Los Angeles, Cal., intending himself to return to Buffalo. Becoming impressed
with Los Angeles, however, he opened offices there for the general practice of
his profession and a short time later became Asst. Engineer in the
U. S. Reclamation Service, at that time in its first stages. He was
placed in charge of the preliminary estimate on the cost of the “Yuma Project,”
and after the project was approved at Washington, was transferred to Yuma,
Ariz., where he took charge of the office. He remained in this position until
the spring of 1906, spending the summer of 1905, however, on the Klamath
Project, at Klamath, Oregon.
In June, 1906, Mr. Avakian
resigned his commission with the Government, in order to conduct his private
business in Los Angeles and he has since been thus engaged.
Mr. Avakian, in 1907, undertook
what has resulted in one of the great development enterprises of Southern
California. While engaged in professional work in Riverside, Cal., he noticed a
tract of 17,000 acres of land, originally a Spanish grant known as “Rancho
La Sierra” and considered hopeless for agricultural purposes, while all around
it was land in oranges, lemons and other fruits, valued at from $1200 to $4000
per acre.
After six months of careful investigation and work, Mr. Avakian concluded that enough water could be developed in
an adjoining valley to irrigate at least a part of the ranch. Then, in the face
of opposition and criticism amounting almost to an attack upon his integrity
and mental condition, he secured a contract on about 9000 acres of the
tract and organized a company for the purpose of reclaiming it. This
corporation, known as the Riverside Groves & Water Co., with an authorized
capital of $1,000,000, immediately began the work of reclamation. The result
was that within three years this land, which was considered high at
$10 per acre, was selling for $350 per acre and ranked with the
prosperous fruit growing sections of Southern California.
This work has been considered one of the best examples of
development in Southern California, and Mr. Avakian,
discoverer of the land and President of the company, was the dominating force
in the furtherance of the project. He continued in charge until
April 15, 1912, when he was compelled to relinquish his office owing
to ill health.
Mr. Avakian enjoys a splendid
professional standing and is ranked as one of the substantial men of Los
Angeles.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
30 August 2011.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 722, International News Service,
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2011 Marie Hassard.
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