Nevada
County
Biographies
HON. HARRY LANE ENGLEBRIGHT
Hon.
Harry Lane Englebright, a distinguished native son of
Nevada City, where he still makes his home, has been a member of the
sixty-ninth, seventieth, seventy-first and seventy-second congresses as
representative from the second congressional district of California, which
comprises the counties of Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity, Shasta, Lassen, Tehama,
Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa
and Alpine. He was born January 2, 1884,
the eldest son of Hon. William F. and Kittie F.
(Holland) Englebright, who were natives of
Massachusetts and California, respectively.
Concerning the father a contemporary biographer said: “An encomium upon the life and services of
Hon. William F. Englebright is not needed in a volume
presenting the representative citizens of Nevada City and County of the past,
for his name is honored as that of one of the strong, earnest, forceful men who
made the accomplishment of his efforts the bulwark of western statehood.” He was born at New Bedford, Massachusetts,
November 23, 1855, and was only three years old when brought to California by
his parents, Henry and Mary Ann (Betz) Englebright. He received his education in the public
schools of Vallejo. When he was old
enough to become a wage earner, he was apprenticed to a house-joiner at the
Mare Island Navy Yard; then he entered the civil engineering office at Mare
Island, and after completing his studies in engineering, went to Nevada City,
where he followed the profession of mining engineer. So marked was his ability, he became an
authority on mining and irrigation problems in this part of the state. On account of his thorough knowledge of
mining conditions, he was elected a member of the executive committee of the
California State Mines Association. Mr. Englebright continued active as a mining engineer from 1878
until his death, which occurred thirty-seven years later. He served as superintendent of the Nevada division
of the South Yuba Water Company from 1890 until 1905 and was vice president of
the Oustomah Gold Mining Company. On the 6th of November, 1906, he
was elected to fill the unexpired term of James N. Gillett, resigned, in the
fifty-ninth congress; then he was elected congressman to the sixtieth and
reelected to the sixty-first congresses.
He was one of the authors of and introduced the Bureau of Mines
bill. He was a member of various
important committees, among them being the naval committee and the committee on
mines and mining.
In
1882 Hon. William F. Englebright was united in
marriage to Miss Kittie F. Holland and they became
the parents of three sons: Harry L., of
this review; William H.; and Alfred Eugene.
The husband and father passed away February 10, 1915, and the mother is
also deceased. Hon. William F. Englebright had fraternal affiliations with Lodge No. 518
of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Nevada City, with the Knights
of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and was also a Knight Templar Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. He was always active in politics as a
supporter of the Republican Party, was a member of both the county and state
central committees and served as a member of the Nevada County board of
education for many years.
Harry
L. Englebright, who names introduces this article,
has been actively connected with various mining enterprises in California
during the past quarter century. He grew
to young manhood in Nevada City and here received his preliminary education in
the grammar and high schools, while in 1904 he entered the University of
California for the study of mining engineering.
From 1911 to 1914 he was United States mineral inspector for the interior
department of California and was also mineral expert on the state conservation
commission for this commonwealth. For
several years he devoted his attention to mining activities in the eastern and
southern states. On returning to the
state of his nativity he became consulting engineer with the Excelsior Water
& Mining Company in Nevada County, California, and the state of Nevada,
while later he associated himself in a similar capacity with the Quaker Hill
Gold Mines Company and the Murchie Mines Company.
On
the 14th of December, 1912, Mr. Englebright
married Miss Marie Grace Jackson, a native of Nevada City, California, and they
are the parents of a son, Harry Jackson.
Mr. Englebright has long figured prominently
in public affairs and for several years acted as secretary of the Republican
county central committee. He was elected
to the sixty-ninth congress at a special election held August 31, 1926, and
reelected November 2, 1926, without opposition, to the seventieth congress of
the second California district. He was
again elected to the seventy-first congress and won victory at the primaries on
August 26, 1930, so that he is assured of a set in the seventy-second
congress. Only one other congressman
from the second California district, Hon. John E. Raker,
has been chosen member of congress since the death of his father, Hon. William
F. Englebright.
Congressman Harry L. Englebright is a staunch
supporter of the Boulder Canyon dam project and has also promoted considerable
constructive legislation looking toward the education of the Indians. He is the author and introducer of the Englebright fire bill, which proposes to protect the
National Forests from their greatest destructive menace—forest fires,
appropriating one hundred million dollars for building roads and trails and
fire-fighting equipment to be spent at the rate of four million, five hundred
thousand dollars per year, extending over a period of twenty years. In a speech delivered before the Washington
House of Representatives on the 3rd of July, 1930, he demonstrated
his thorough knowledge and comprehensive understanding of the subject of fire
prevention in the National Forests. He
is particularly interested in good roads and in the maintenance of the Yosemite
and Lassen National Parks. He is a
member of the American Mining Congress and fraternally is identified with Lodge
No. 518 of the Benevolent and Protect Order of Elks in Nevada City and with
Wyoming Tribe No. 49 of the Improved Order of Red Men, of which he is past
sachem. From 1924 to 1926 he was great
sachem of the Improved Order of Red Men for the state of California. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian, and
his life has ever been guided by high ideals.
He has won an enviable reputation as a statesman of wide knowledge and
experience and a man of unusual ability and of unblemished integrity.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 134-136. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Nevada County Biographies