Biographies
HARMON STORER BONTE
A busy and useful career has characterized
the life of H. S. Bonte, who has followed the
vocation of surveyor and civil engineer with signal success. He is a native of
Sacramento, the son of Charles C. and Anna H. Bonte,
the father having been born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857. It was in his native
city that Charles C. Bonte received his education,
attending the public schools, and in 1873 he accompanied his parents to
Sacramento, where they made their home. He was a student at Augustin
College at Benicia until 1877, returning then to Sacramento to become a clerk
in the motive power department of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, with
whom he worked for many years and eventually became superintendent of that
department. This position he held until 1903, when he was transferred to San
Francisco to become assistant general superintendent of motive power of the
Pacific system of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and he is at present
serving in that capacity.
H. S. Bonte
received his early education in the public schools of Sacramento and was
graduated from the high school in 1901. He then became a student at Stanford
University, until 1906, giving close attention to his special branch and
becoming thoroughly grounded in the theories of his chosen work. Naturally
gifted in the solving of many problems which confront the civil engineer he
early proved his fitness for that special work, and in 1906, 1907 and 1908 was
in charge of a preliminary survey for the hydraulic system of the Guggenheims,
with headquarters at Dawson City, Alaska. In 1908 he went to Aberdeen, Wash.,
in the capacity of locating-engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad, and in the
following year returned to Sacramento to become chief engineer for the Vallejo
Northern Railway Company, in which position he has ever since served with
marked success. Mr. Bonte was married at Oakland,
February 3, 1908, to Miss Warfield, and they have a son, John Warfield. A
Republican in politics, Mr. Bonte takes a patriotic
view of all questions of national policy, and his interest in local matters is
ever for the welfare of the citizens of his native city.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Page 1042. Historic Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.