San Francisco County
Biographies
EDWIN
DURYEA JR.
DURYEA, EDWIN, JR.,
Engineering (firm of Duryea, Haehl & Gilman), San
Francisco, California, was born in Craigville, Orange
County, New York, July 12, 1862, the son of Edwin Duryea and Hannah (Rumsey) Duryea. His first paternal ancestor to reach
this country, in 1675, was of Huguenot origin, while the Rumseys
were English residents of the isle of Guernsey. Mr.
Duryea married Miss Roberta Vincent Taylor, in December 1888, at Ithaca, New York, and five children have been born of the union, Robert,
Margaret, Anne, Philip and Helen Duryea.
Mr. Duryea had his
first schooling in Craigville, in the district
school, from 1866 to 1876. He was graduated in 1879 from the Chester
Academy, and from Cornell
University with the class of ‘83 and the degree of
B.C.E. Soon afterward he started, and from 1883 to 1885 was employed by
the Northern Pacific Railroad, first as townsite and
special surveyor, and later on the construction of a large bridge at Duluth, Minn. The following year, while engaged on a bridge to
span the Mississippi River, near Burlington,
Iowa, he rose from the position of transit man to the superintendency of the work. The next few years found
him on the construction of costly bridges crossing the Missouri, Mississippi
and the Ohio rivers, and involving difficult problems of foundation work, as
well as “river control” and “day’s labor” under the engineer’s direction.
In 1889 he shifted
the scene of his operations to Kansas and Michigan,
on railroad surveys and construction, and until 1891 was engineer of bridges
and building for one thousand miles of railroad system in the latter
State. His next move along the curve was to what his profession deems the
important post of contractor’s engineer, or superintendent. In this
capacity he made surveys and designs for two large stockyards near Chicago, including plans for sewerage, water supply harbors,
etc., and subsequently was associated with the same firm on the change of the
horse car line on Third
avenue, New
York city, to a
cable system. Toward the close of this period, 1891-1895, he was
contractor’s engineer for a $1,000,000 dam for the same city, and contractor’s
superintendent for other dams for the water supply of New York, in which work he had charge of at least 400 men.
From 1895 to 1900 Mr.
Duryea was resident engineer at times on the Brooklyn
end of the Williamsburg suspension bridge over the East River,
between New York and Brooklyn, and during the latter part of this period acted as
assistant engineer on plans and estimates for a proposed bridge over the Hudson River
at New York city. Among
his notable achievements while in private practice may be mentioned his plans
for foundation of Harlem bridge, designs for rapid transit tunnel under Harlem river, and report to district attorney on safety of New York and Brooklyn suspension bridge and on responsibility for neglect
involved.
In December, 1902,
Mr. Duryea came to California as chief engineer for the Bay Cities Water Co., and has
since been associated with this corporation and with its allied
interests. In this connection his work has been largely in the field of
water supply and power transmission; and his plans for the Santa Clara County
water supply, his expert duties as engineer for San Francisco in the water rate
suit with the Spring Valley Company, and his testimony for the New Liverpool
Salt Company in their famous suit for damages against the Canal Company of the
Imperial Valley, wherein the judgment depended chiefly upon the engineer’s
opinion, and has since been affirmed by the Court of Appeals in favor of the
plaintiff, are among the many factors contributing to the reputation which he
brought to this coast.
After the great fire
of 1906 Mr. Duryea was a member of the “Committee of Forty” to advise on the rehabilitation of San Francisco. He was also chairman of the sub-committee on water
supply, the general chairman of the committee formed to report on the damage to
structures.
His latest big
appointment is that of engineer in charge of the South San Joaquin irrigation district.
Among his civic and
social connections may be mentioned his four years’ trusteeship of Palo Alto
and his membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Brooklyn
Engineers’ Club and the Cornell Association of Civil Engineers of New York.
Mr. Duryea is a
thirty-second degree Mason, Scottish Rite.
Transcribed 11-24-06 Marilyn R. Pankey
Source: Press Reference Library, Western
Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 159, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.
California
Biography Project
San
Francisco County
California
Statewide
Golden
Nugget Library