San Francisco County
Biographies
JOHN HENRY
DOCKWEILER
DOCKWEILER JOHN
HENRY, Civil Engineer, San Francisco, California, was born in Lancaster, New
York, February 20, 1864, the son of Henry Dockweiler
and Margaretha (Sugg)) Dockweiler, the former of whom came from Bavaria while the
latter was an Alsatian by birth. Mr. Dockweiler was
married in Los
Angeles,
October 21, 1902, to Miss Martha A. Schultheis.
Mr. Dockweiler
went to Los
Angeles
when he was but six months old, and may therefore be classed as a Native Son.
He first attended a preparatory school there, and from 1872 to the end of 1878
was a student at St.
Vincent’s
College in the same city. For a period of eighteen months, beginning in 1879,
he was employed in a hotel in Los Angeles as a bellboy and storeroom keeper. He then
entered the office of the City Surveyor of Los Angeles, where h e remained
until September, 1881, when he joined a railroad surveying party and worked
under locating and constructing engineers to the end of 1883.
He re-entered St. Vincent’s College at the beginning of 1884,
remaining there two years. At the
beginning of 1886 he again secured employment in the office of the City
Surveyor, but left in the spring of 1887 to open an office for himself, engaged
in the general practice of surveying. During this period he was employed as one
of the engineers on the construction of the cable railway system in Los Angeles.
In 1891 he became City Engineer of Los
Angeles, serving four years, until the end of 1894. In 1895 and 1896 he was
engaged in general engineering work, and in 1897 again became City Engineer,
serving for two years. While City Engineer he devoted considerable time to the
problems of water supply for the city and the litigation connected therewith.
He resumed private practice in 1899 and for the next five years was active in
general engineering and in the investigation of mining properties. In January,
1904, he went to San
Francisco in the
capacity of consulting engineer to the City Attorney of that city, in the
litigation pending between the Spring Valley Water Works and the City of San Francisco, and has held that position to the
present date. He became consulting engineer in 1906 to the city of Oakland in the litigation between the Contra
Costa Water Company and the city of Oakland, which position he still retains. In
1908 he was appointed consulting engineer to the City Council of Oakland in the
matter of water rates, which position he still holds. He also served in a
consulting capacity to other communities in the matter of water supplies. In
1906 he proposed the project of the formation of a municipal water district for
all cities around the Bay
of San
Francisco,
which was put into legal shape by the City Attorney of San Francisco, Percy V.
Long, and the City Attorney of Oakland, the later John E. McElroy. This law is
known as the Municipal Water District Act and was passed by the Legislature of
California in 1909. This is the pet project and hobby of Mr. Dockweiler, and is the only solution which, in his opinion,
will settle the water problem which is confronting the ever increasing
population in the region of the Bay of San Francisco.
His card index is an object lesson of the
ease with which the minutest detail in connection with important lawsuits
running over many years can be instantly located. The testimony given in two of
the principal water rate suits has been typed on more than 75,000 cards, which
have been indexed and cross-indexed under thousands of
headings.
His military, social and technical
connections may be summed up in his membership of the Corps of Engineers of the
National Guard, with the rank of Major; Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, American Society of Civil Engineers and
Engineers and Architects’ Society of Southern California.
Transcribed by Gloria (Wiegner) Lane.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, PAGE 363, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2007 Gloria
Lane.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library