ALLAN CHRISTOPHER BALCH

Los Angeles County

Biographies

ALLAN CHRISTOPHER BALCH

BALCH, ALLAN CHRISTOPHER, General Manager, Pacific Light & Power Co., the Southern California Gas Co., and vice president of the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation, Los Angeles, California, is a native of New York State, being born at Valley Falls, March 13, 1864. His father was Ebenezer Atwood Balch and his mother Hannah (Hoag) Balch. On April 29, 1891, at Oakland, Cal., he married Janet Jacks.

Mr. Balch was educated in the public schools of his native State, including the Cambridge High School, after which he entered Cornell University, graduating in 1889 with the degrees of M. E. and E. E.

Immediately after his graduation Mr. Balch decided to go West, where greater opportunities were to be found. In 1889 he moved to Seattle, where he became a member of the firm of Baker, Balch & Co., and shortly after a director and general manager of the Home Electric Co. of that city.

This company was merged with several other similar organizations and formed the Union Electrical Company, of which Mr. Balch was made the general manager. He remained in this position for two years, resigning in 1891 to accept a better office with the Union Power Company of Portland, Ore. He was made manager of that company, which supplied light and power in Portland, especially all power for operation of the street railways there.

In 1896 he moved to Los Angeles, where he became one of the founders of the San Gabriel Electric Company, the Sierra Power Company and the Mintone Power Company, three large corporations with gigantic plans for the future development of power in the Southwest. Later these companies were merged into the corporation known as the Pacific Light and Power Company. Included in this large organization were the San Bernardino Gas and Electric Company, the Riverside Power Company and the San Antonio Heights Railway Company.

In conjunction with H. E. Huntington and W. B. Kerckhoff, Mr. Balch purchased the City Gas Company, now the Southern California Gas Company. The management of these gigantic institutions demanded a man of exceptional training. Mr. Balch, with his qualifications consisting of education, experience and executive ability, was selected to occupy the position of general manager of the combined organizations. Other corporations have been merged into the Pacific Light and Power Company, all of which come under Mr. Balch’s direction.

In 1902 W. G. Kerckhoff and Mr. Balch bought the San Joaquin Light and Power Company, bringing the executive offices of that concern to Los Angeles. A short time later the gas, railway and power corporations of Bakersfield and Merced were purchased by them and merged into the immense organization under the general managership of A. G. Wishon.

Mr. Balch is heavily interested in the Coalinga Water and Electric Company, which is in itself a corporation of no mean consequence; also in the Fresno Irrigated Farms Company, the Summit Lake Improvement Company and the Lerdo Land Company. He is a large stockholder and holds office in the following: General Manager, Pacific Light and Power Company; General Manager, Southern California Gas Company; Vice President, San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation, and Vice President Coalinga Light and Power Company.

He is a member of the California Club, the Los Angeles Country Club and the Crag’s Country Club of Los Angeles; and also of the Bohemian Club and Pacific Union Club of San Francisco.

He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, a Shriner, and while at Cornell University was a member of the Greek Letter Fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi.

Transcribed 7-23-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 115, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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