Los Angeles County
Biographies
FULTON LANE
LANE, FULTON, Mining and Civil Engineer, Los Angeles, California, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 26, 1881, the son of Joseph Randolph Lane and Katherine (Fulton) Lane.
Mr. Lane, who occupies an important place among the engineers of the Southwest, has lived in various parts of the United States and, as a result, his education was obtained in several different institutions. The preliminary portion he received in several different institutions. The preliminary portion he received in the public schools of Columbus, Ohio, and Seattle, Washington. He finished his studies at Leland Stanford University in California, graduating in the class of 1906 with the degree of Bachelor of Science.
During the time that he was in college Mr. lane was actively engaged in engineering works, serving for a time as assistant engineer of the Bay City Water Company of San Francisco. He also had considerable mining experience, being employed by the Chicago Mining Company of San Francisco and the Piute Mining Company of Bakersfield, California.
His first assignment after leaving the university was with the California Debris Commission, which he served in the capacity of assistant engineer. This board was under the direction of the United States Engineering Corps at San Francisco, and Mr. Lane was engaged in its work for about eight months.
At the termination of his work for the commission, Mr. Lane formed a partnership with A. M. Strong of Bishop, California, for the conduct of a general engineering business under the firm name of Strong and Lane. In addition to their engineering work, they maintained an assaying office and handled considerable mining business, including numerous examinations of properties of their clients. He continued at Bishop for about two years, at the end of which time the firm was dissolved, but during its existence Strong and Lane were among the most active engineers in the district. Their work included a number of mining commissions, the most important of which, perhaps, was that of consulting engineers to the Four Metals Mining Company. This mine is one of the richest opened up in the United States, more than $23,000,000 worth of ore having been taken out of it.
Following the dissolution of his firm, Mr. Lane went to Los Angeles and there became a member of the engineering corps of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. This project, one of the greatest municipal waterway enterprises ever undertaken in the United States, involving the expenditure of many millions of dollars in bringing pure water to Los Angeles and surrounding territory a distance of more than two hundred miles.
Mr. Lane first became associated with this work as assistant division engineer on what is known as the Jawbone Division, but at the end of eight months was appointed active division engineer in charge of the Majava Division, where he was superintendent of construction, and in this capacity he supervised the construction of a large section of the great aqueduct. It was at this time that the Jawbone, Freeman, Antelope Valley and Mojave division was consolidated and known by the one name and this branch of the work was one of the most extensive in the whole enterprise.
Mr. Lane proved himself an engineer of exceptional resourcefulness and executive ability in this work and won for himself great commendation for his performances during the two years of his service. He resigned, however, in September, 1911, to resume his private practice and he opened offices in Los Angeles, engaging in important engineering work in New Mexico, California and other sections of the West.
Owing to the establishment of State Public Utilities Commissions, there has been a new field of work formed, known as engineering valuations. To this field Mr. Lane has contributed largely as an expert since locating in Los Angeles. Among his most important pieces of work of this kind has been the valuation of the Spring Valley Water Company, San Francisco, Cal., for the purpose of sale, and the San Diego Flume Company, San Diego, Cal., for the purpose of fixing rates.
Los Angeles has within recent years become the center of large engineering enterprises whose work is the development of the resources of the section. Mr. Lane is among the most sincere of the engineers thus employed. He is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles Chamber of Mines and Oil and the University Club.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 538,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2010 Joyce
Rugeroni.
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