George Chaffey

George Chaffey

George Chaffey (28 January 1848 – 1 March 1932) was a Canadian–born engineer who with his brother William developed large parts of Southern California, including what became the community of Etiwanda and cities of Ontario, and Upland. They undertook similar developments in Australia which became the city of Mildura, and the town of Renmark and Paringa.

Biography

Chaffey was born in Brockville, Ontario and attended Kingston Grammar School on Lake Ontario. Chaffey's family was of Scottish heritage. Although not interested in schoolroom instruction, he read engineering books from the local library. Chaffey left school at 13 years of age, was fascinated by the shipbuilding yard of his father and became an apprentice marine engineer in May 1862. By 1880 he was well established as a designer of ships for Great Lakes traffic. While visiting his father in California that year, however, he became interested in the Riverside irrigation colony. By 1886 he and his brother William had established the irrigation colonies of Etiwanda, Ontario, and Upland, which were extremely successful, thanks in large part to innovative features such as hydroelectric systems using mountain water, mutual water companies which eliminated disputes over water, and a college endowed by the Chaffeys. His innovative electrical system at Etiwanda led Los Angeles to hire him to install its first street lights. He eventually became president and engineer of the Los Angeles Electric Company.

In 1886, at the invitation of the South Australian and Victorian colonial governments, the Chaffeys undertook several irrigation projects in Australia, establishing colonies at Renmark and then Mildura. These were financial failures, however, and George Chaffey returned to California. William remained in Mildura, which eventually became successful. Later, George joined the California Development Company as chief engineer and undertook a project to irrigate the Colorado Desert. The Colorado Desert was renamed by the Canadian party and is now known as the Imperial Valley. Chaffey along with the other pioneers believed this name would bring more people to this southwestern part of California.

In 1905, Chaffey purchased the ranch of John Shepherd at Manzanar, California, located in California's Owens Valley. Chaffey subdivided the ranch, along with other adjacent ranches, and founded the town of Manzanar in 1910. Chaffey's Owens Valley Improvement Company built an irrigation system and planted thousands of fruit trees, and by 1920, the town had more than twenty-five homes, a two-room school, a town hall, and a general store. Also at that time, nearly 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) of apple, pear, and peach trees were being grown, along with grapes, prunes, potatoes, corn, alfalfa and large vegetable and flower gardens.

In 1912, Chaffey moved to Whittier, California, joining his son John, where he lived for a number of years while tending to his invalid wife Ann. Chaffey later retired to San Diego, California. He died in Ontario, California on 1 March 1932 and was buried at Bellevue Memorial Park in Ontario.

Ben Chaffey

A son, Ben Chaffey (1876 – 3 March 1937) was born in Kingston, Ontario, came to Australia in 1885 and lived with his parents in Mildura. He worked as a butcher, but his fortune started with a winning gamble on his horse "Mavis", became the owner of Moorara station in New South Wales, followed by Tapio, Culpaulin, Cuthero, Avoca. Kilfera, Manfred, Tolarno and other properties, most of which were subsequently taken up by the Crozier family.

He was elected chairman of the board of directors of United Distillers Pty. Ltd., a director of Goldsbrough, Mort and Co, and managing director of Manfred Pastoral Co. He was a member of the Australian Club and various sporting clubs. He was the owner of several successful racehorses, including Caulfield Cup winners Manfred and Whittier, and in 1930 served as chairman of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club. He married Cowra Crozier, a daughter of Elliot Crozier. They had a daughter, Mavis (Mrs. Albert Campbell). He died at his home in Tullamarine, Victoria.

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  Statue of George Chaffey in front of the Upland civic center

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  George Chaffey Bridge over Murray River, Mildura

See also

• Alamo Canal
• California Development Company
• Imperial Land Company
• Salton Sea

Sources

• www.chaffey.org, article by Robert E. Ellingwood and Marie Boyd
• Ontario Heritage Foundation
• Government of Canada digital collections

Further reading

• Alexander, J. A. (1928) The life of George Chaffey; a story of irrigation beginnings in California and Australia. Melbourne: Macmillan & co. ltd.
• Tyrrell, Ian. (1999) True gardens of the Gods : Californian-Australian environmental reform, 1860-1930. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21346-7