Kenneth F. Vernon
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ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS KENNETH F. VERNON APRIL 1995 HAYWARD, CALIFORNIA Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë STATUS OF INTERVIEWS: OPEN FOR RESEARCH Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Interviews Conducted by: Brit Allan Storey Senior Historian Bureau of Reclamation Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM BUREAU OF RECLAMATION Processed: 2002-2006 Printed and Bound: 2006 SUGGESTED CITATION: VERNON, KENNETH F. ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW. Transcript of tape- recorded Bureau of Reclamation Oral History Interviews conducted by Brit Allan Storey, Senior Historian, Bureau of Reclamation, during April 1995, in Fullerton, California. Transcription by Deborah Lattimore, TechniType Transcripts of Pacifica, California. Edited by Brit Allan Storey. Repository for the record copy of the interview transcript is the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland. Record copies of this transcript are printed on 20 lb., 100% cotton, archival quality paper. All other copies are printed on normal duplicating paper. i Table of Contents Table of Contents........................................................... i Statement of Donation of Oral History Interviews: Kennethf.vernon................. xix Portrait: Kenneth F. Vernon ................................................. xxi Brief Chronology of Career and Life ......................................... xxii Missouri Basin Coordination Committee ..................................... xxiv Portrait: William E. Warne .................................................xxv Photograph: Wesley R. Nelson ............................................. xxvi Introduction ........................................................... xxvii Oral History Transcript ......................................................1 Born in Spokane, Washington ...........................................1 Family homesteaded in North Dakota in the 1880s ...........................1 Related to Brigadier General John Fraine and jurist George Fraine both of North Dakota .............................................................1 Family moves to Spokane in 1909 ........................................1 “I was born October 16, 1910, at home, the last of seven children.” .............2 Father retired in 1923 and moved the family to Elverta, California, outside Sacramento .............................................................2 Attended Harkness Junior High School in Sacramento ........................3 “I knew that I wanted to be an engineer. .”................................3 Rode the interurban train to high school ...................................3 Stayed out of college for one year and worked..............................4 Father ran a poultry operation on his farm .................................4 Enrolled in Sacramento Junior College in September 1928 ....................4 Sophomore year took the civil service exams for the state highway department ....5 Worked for the state highway department in the Santa Cruz Mountains for two years .............................................................5 Saved money to go back to college.......................................5 Became aware of efforts to protect old growth redwoods .....................5 Worked on location of highway from Richmond, California to the Carquinas Strait Bridge........................................................6 Worked on locating highway Hayward to Livermore.........................6 Kenneth F. Vernon ii Worked locating the highway from Livermore over Altamont Pass to Tracey ......6 Surveyed the relocation of Route 17 between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz .........6 In 1932 enrolled in University of California - Berkeley and majored in irrigation engineering, transportation, and buildings ............................7 Took courses outside engineering ........................................7 Summer of 1933 worked on highway construction ...........................8 Later in the summer of 1933 worked on the approaches to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge....................................................8 Attended college while working on the bridge ..............................8 Looked at running the Southern Pacific across the bay on the bridge .............8 The two transportation systems in the East Bay .............................8 “my wife used to take a streetcar. from Berkeley. down to . catch one of the Key System boat trains, . then take a streetcar to her office . .”............9 “I was correcting papers for two professors . as well as working 16 hours a week in the Bay Bridge, as well as taking 22 hours of course work” ..............9 Christmas holiday worked for the survey crew full-time on the bridge ...........9 school .............................................................11 Bank in which he had saved his money from working in 1932-3 closed its doors . 12 “So I was without a nickel, without a penny, even a penny. .” ...............12 Advanced money by Charles Scheidel ...................................12 I graduated in May of 1934 at the top of my class. .......................13 After graduation went to work for the highway department...................13 They were widening the streets in San Francisco...........................14 Moving emergency earthquake fire hydrants in San Francisco was an interesting problem .....................................................14 During his last semester took a graduate course under Professor Bernard A. Etcheverry ............................................................15 Etcheverry focused on structures and organization and his associate, Sidney T. Harding, on farm irrigation..............................................16 “So I had asked Professor Etcheverry, after graduation, could he give me a good word with the Bureau of Reclamation . .”...............................16 Offered job with Reclamation..........................................16 Problems with Arizona over Davis Dam result in change in assignment for first Reclamation job...............................................17 Marries Helen Garlinghouse ...........................................17 Reported to the canals division under McBirney............................18 Worked with Howard Curtis and Arthur “Bud” Reeves......................18 In Denver soon roomed with Brooks Morris in a boardinghouse hotel ...........18 Married on December 29, 1934 .........................................18 Became involved with Hinman School of Music (later the Lamont School of Music) and performed in operas at Cheesman Park.............................19 Wally Schneider and Loyce Johnson of the Canals Division also participated.....20 Bureau of Reclamation Oral History Program iii “In other words, I had other interests than besides just engineering. .” ........20 Worked on several interesting projects in the canals division..................20 Oldest son born in 1936 ...............................................20 Because of Etcheverry’s class, followed the development of the Central Valley Project ............................................................21 Offered job on the Colorado-Big Thompson Project by Mills Bunger ...........21 “I was anxious to get back to California if I could. .”......................21 Went on vacation and approached Walker Young about a transfer to the Central Valley Project ......................................................22 Offered job on the Delta Division by Walker Young ........................23 Reported to Oscar T. Boden in Antioch, California .........................23 Worked on the Central Valley Project 1936-1944 ...........................24 Overview of canals of Central Valley Project..............................24 Pumping plants on the Contra Costa Canal were located to increase irrigable acreage ............................................................25 Contra Costa Canal designed to deliver water to Antioch.....................26 Did cost estimating and preliminary structure design........................26 Worked with Barney Bellport ..........................................26 Canals in the boggy areas were designed to float ...........................27 Excavation of the Contra Costa Canal in the initial boggy sections .............27 Canal trimming and lining after the first pumping plant on the Contra Costa Canal ............................................................28 Curing compounds for concrete were just coming into use ....................29 The problem with black asphaltic-hydrocarbon compounds ...................29 We experimented with a white compound .................................30 The canal trimmer ...................................................30 “at that time, the Bureau had its own master mechanic and master electrician, and we did not employ contractors to install the machinery in the [pump] building. .” ............................................................32 Problems in installing pumping plant equipment because of a nearby railroad ....32 “The Bureau wanted things done correctly. .” ............................33 Assigned to review a new estimate for the Contra Costa Canal ................33 Error in review of Boden’s estimate .....................................34 “And so, I learned you don't take anything for granted. .” ..................35 World War II affects the project ........................................35 Accident at Port Chicago during World War II.............................36 Operated the partially completed Contra Costa Canal to provide water to war industries ............................................................36 Deferred