Anthony Chabot (August 13, 1813 - January 6, 1888) was a nineteenth-century businessman and entrepreneur, renowned for his contributions in developing hydraulic mining and for building water systems, especially in the Bay Area, so much he was known for as the "Water King".
Video Anthony Chabot
Biography
Chabot grew up on a farm in La Presentation, near Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada. He is one of sixteen children and the son of a farmer. When he was sixteen, he left home, eventually settling in California in 1849.
He started working in the mining industry in Nevada City, building trenches to supply mines with water. In 1852 and 1853 he and Edward Matteson, while working at Buckeye Hill and American Hill, designed the first hydraulic mining technology. It consists of a wooden tool held together by an iron clamp that allows miners to direct a water column as high as fifty feet in a gravel bank using a canvas hose, which breaks gravel and washes it into a series of heavy gold chip shells. solved from a lighter earth. Despite revolutionizing gold mining, this technique also causes severe environmental damage. The large amount of sediment released on the blast washed downstream, burying homes and farmland. The angry farmers finally ended hydraulic mining when they scored victory in federal court in 1884.
In 1854 Chabot also established two sawmills in Sierra County. Two years later he left the mining business and went to San Francisco, where he built the city's first public water system, bringing water from Lobos Creek to San Francisco. This led to projects supplying other cities with water, including Portland, Maine and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Chabot founded the Contra Costa Water Company in 1866, which developed a water supply monopoly to Oakland and the surrounding area. First he built a dam at Temescal Creek, creating Lake Temescal. He began working at the larger dam at San Leandro Creek before the Temescal dam was completed. In 1870, his company completed the San Leandro Creek dam, creating a reservoir that would later be named Chabot Lake, in the Castro Valley today.
In or about 1869, Chabot built a waterway for the city of San Jose, and at about the same time built it for the provision of Vallejo. He was involved in several other businesses during this time, including paper mills in Stockton, Judson Manufacturing Company in Oakland, Pioneer Pulp Mill Company near Alta (Placer County), Puget Sound Iron Company, and extensive land in Washington State for cranberry cultivation.
In 1883, Chabot donated telescopes and funds to build an observatory to the city of Oakland. The observatory is called the Oakland Observatory but is quickly recognized as the Chabot Observatory. The original observatory was built in Lafayette Square, near downtown Oakland, and moved in 1915 to Oakland Hills. In 2000 he moved 2 miles north to a higher altitude on Skyline Boulevard. At that time experienced a significant expansion and known as Chabot Space & amp; Science Center.
Other charities include building housing for veterans in Yountville and shelters in Oakland for unemployed women and daycare for working girls.
He died on January 6, 1888 and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.
Maps Anthony Chabot
Legacy
There are several San Francisco Bay Area locations named for Anthony Chabot:
- Chabot & amp; Science Center, public science center and planetarium in Oakland, California
- Chabot College, a community college in Hayward, California
- Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, where Chabot College is part
- Anthony Chabot Regional Park, a regional park in Oakland, California
- Anthony Chabot Elementary School in Oakland, California
- Lake Chabot, man-made lake located in the northern Castro Valley, California.
- Chabot Lake, a man-made lake located in northern Vallejo, California.
- Lake Chabot Road, the road between San Leandro, California, and Castro Valley, California.
- Chabot Drive, down the street in Oakland, California.
- Chabot Drive, road in Pleasanton, California
- Chabot Cinema, cinema in Castro Valley, California
- Chabot Elementary School, in Castro Valley, California
References
Further reading
-
History of Alameda County, California..., Oakland . M.W. Wood Publ. 1883. pp.Ã, 861-862. Ã,
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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