Los
Angeles County
Biographies
HARVEY A. VAN NORMAN
H. A. Van Norman, chief engineer and
general manager of the Los Angeles department of water and power, was born in
Victoria, Texas, in 1878. He is of Dutch
ancestry, his ancestors having settled in America many years prior to the
Revolutionary War. When he was eight
years old, in 1886, his parents came to California, settling first in Santa Ana
and later moving to Los Angeles. Mr. Van
Norman’s first engineering work was with the Los Angeles Railway Company. Prior to leaving that utility to become
associated with William Mulholland in the construction of the Los Angeles
Aqueduct, Mr. Van Norman was in charge of the railway company’s power stations,
doing electrical engineering work.
In 1907 Mr. Van Norman entered the
service of the city of Los Angeles and during the construction of the Owens River
Aqueduct was divisional superintendent in charge of the construction of two
divisions along the line of the great water carrier. Following the completion of the aqueduct Mr.
Van Norman became aqueduct engineer in charge of operation and maintenance of
the entire line from its intake in Owens Valley to Los Angeles.
In 1924 Mr. Van Norman was
“borrowed” from the water bureau by the board of public works and was made
engineer in charge of the construction of the new Los Angeles out-fall sewer
line. A board of eastern engineers had
estimated that this work would cost approximately twelve million dollars. Mr. Van Norman completed the construction of
the sewer line at a cost of approximately seven million dollars, thereby saving
five million dollars out of the original estimate.
In 1926 Mr. Van Norman was recalled
to the water bureau and made assistant chief engineer and general manager to Mr.
Mulholland. In that official capacity he
has been active with Mr. Mulholland during the past two years in engineering
and survey work connected with the proposed Colorado River Aqueduct. On the retirement of Mr. Mulholland, December
1, 1928, Mr. Van Norman was made chief engineer and general manager of the
municipal water bureau to succeed Mr. Mulholland.
On March 12, 1929, the board of
water and power commissioners consolidated the water and electric organizations
of the department of water and power by eliminating the bureau of water works
and supply and the bureau of power and light and unifying
the functions of these two bureaus under one management. Mr. Van Norman was appointed chief engineer
and general manager of the department of water and power. E. F. Scattergood was appointed chief
electrical engineer of the department, and Frank E. Weymouth was appointed
chief hydraulic engineer of the department.
Mr. Van Norman is a past president
of the Los Angeles Chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 483-484, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES