Reclamation History

Frederick Newell, along with Francis Newlands, Gifford Pinchot, and John Wesley Powell, is remembered as a pioneer of the movement to reclaim the American West. Born in Pennsylvania in 1862, Newell graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Mining Engineering in 1885. He worked as an engineer in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Virginia from 1885 to 1889. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) appointed Newell Assistant Hydraulic Engineer in 1889. While still in the employ of the Geological Survey, Newell became Chief Engineer of the new United States Reclamation Service (USRS) in 1902. After the Reclamation Service broke away from the Survey, Newell became the first Director of the USRS on March 9, 1907. In 1907, Reclamation accomplished its first deliveries of water on the Yakima and Salt River Projects. Newell continued as Director until December 1914. He remained with the USRS in the capacity of Consulting Engineer to the Reclamation Service from 1914 until November 1923. Newell died in 1932.