| George Chaffey Jr. was born January 28, 1848, the
first child in the family of George and Anne Leggo Chaffey of Brockville,
Ontario, Canada. The life that began that day left a legacy still felt on two
continents today, one hundred fifty years later.
From the banks of the St. Lawrence River, George Chaffey Jr moved restlessly to ever hotter and more arid lands. He found the waters that lay hidden or unharnessed, and brought them to work on the land. Barren lands became orchards, vineyards, and towns which still bear his imprint. A Family of Doers The Chaffeys, an English family with roots in the times of William of Conqueror, came to Canada in 1812. Benjamin Chaffey, with his wife and family, settled in the backwoods town of Brockville, Ontario, on the St. Lawrence River. His son Benjamin Jr became a builder and -- by necessity -- an engineer. Contracting in 1854 to oversee masonry work for a section of Montreal’s great Victoria Bridge, he found the English machinery unusable and had to design his own. The resulting Chaffey traveling crane and Chaffey derrick worked so well that Benjamin’s role in the project grew. Benjamin Jr’s brother George built boats to serve the growing Great Lakes shipping trade. He married Anne Leggo, and they named their first child George Chaffey Jr. The boy grew up among practical people who learned by doing and saw problems as opportunities. The lives of George Jr’s brothers and sisters remained intertwined with his own. Elswood Chaffey practiced medicine in Ontario, California, in Santa Monica, and in Mexico. William Benjamin Chaffey (born in 1856) was George Jr’s partner in the Etiwanda, Ontario, and Australia enterprises. Charles Francis Chaffey took charge of the Renmark colony in 1888, remaining some years after the Chaffey Brothers company folded, eventually moving on to British Columbia as a land inspector. Emma Chaffey joined her brothers in Australia and in 1889 married Peter McLaren, whose family manufactured agricultural machinery. Chaffey's three sons excelled at business in ways that their father, for all his engineering genius, did not. Andrew McCord Chaffey returned to America less than a year behind his father, inspired by his experiences in the Australian system of branch banking. Beginning in 1901 with the First National Bank of Imperial and in 1902 with the First National Bank of Ontario, Andrew and his father founded or purchased a number of banks. By 1920 a series of consolidations had formed the California Bank, with Andrew the president. This later became First Interstate Bank. Andrew’s bank was the first in California to have branches. Ben Chaffey remained in Australia, and built up large agricultural holdings in the Murray River region. He owned some of the fastest race horses in Australia during the early Twentieth Century. The youngest son, John Burton Chaffey, became a prominent Los Angeles businessman. During and after the First World War, he served in the Army Quartermaster service, working his way up to Lieutenant Colonel. He built Camp Fremont on the grounds of Stanford University, and was Constructing Quartermaster at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he oversaw construction of buildings, roads, and water systems. He also served on the Whittier City Council. Timeline He grew up alongside the water -- in Kingston, Ontario, where the St. Lawrence River, with its Thousand Islands, begins to open up into Lake Ontario. "Ontario" itself comes from an Iroquois word for sparkling water. And in water his life found its theme. Young George was a sickly child, and his parents took him out of school at thirteen. From then on he was self-taught -- from engineering textbooks and blueprints and the machinery in his father's shipyard. It was a time of inventors and the great wonders of the day were machines, ever bigger, grander, more efficient. Still in his teens, George was making his own improvements to the screw propellers that were revolutionizing steamship design. A few more years, and he was designing the whole ship: light-draft vessels suited for the variable depths of the Great Lakes and the rivers that fed them. His ships, it was said, would float in a heavy dew. And yet . . . His was a restless mind, always seeking problems to solve. Surely there were greater challenges to be found. Across the continent, in Riverside, California, a small colony of Canadians was beginning to form. George's parents had retired here, bringing along his sister and two of his brothers. Only a decade old, Riverside was one of the most successful of a new kind of Western town -- the irrigation colony. Canals brought water to lands once thought so dry as to be worthless. While the "wild West" still roared elsewhere, in Southern California a paradise of orange groves and vineyards was springing up, drawing Easterners and Northerners like a magnet. George Chaffey came to visit his family in 1880. He never returned to live in Canada. There were challenges for him here, and challenge and opportunity always meant the same thing to him. The next generation of irrigation colonies would be more difficult than Riverside: higher, drier, away from the major river channels. The creeks coming down from the San Gabriel Mountains were intermittent, at least on the surface. Land in those places was cheap -- but what if there was water, somewhere, deep and hidden? The two colonies he and his brother W.B. planted on the Cucamonga Plain, Etiwanda and Ontario, were triumphs of both engineering and water policy, solving the water rights controversies that plagued Riverside and other towns. The Chaffey Brothers could have settled in and prospered as their towns grew. Instead, they grew restless again, wondering what bigger challenge they could conquer. The challenge, it turned out, was Australia. A government commission sent to study American irrigation practices was enchanted by what the Chaffeys had accomplished within the span of a few years. Before long, the image of South Australia's Murray River -- a Mississippi flowing through a vast desert -- drew George like a magnet to investigate. In 1886, the Chaffey Brothers sold their holdings in Etiwanda and Ontario and moved to the banks of the Murray, bringing scientific irrigation to Australia for the first time. On this larger canvas, the Chaffeys founded the towns of Mildura and Renmark, which thrive today. However, the combination of a contentious political climate, a recession, and a drought laid the Chaffeys low. After the liquidation of the Chaffey Brothers enterprise, W.B. remained in Mildura and George returned to America in 1897, smarting from a defeat but eager for new ventures. For nine years, the California Development Company had promoted the mind-boggling project of reclaiming the lower Colorado Desert. By 1899 the company was at the point of failure, both financially and in its engineering. George Chaffey designed an entirely new canal system and contracted to build it with money he obtained himself. In return, he would become president and manager of the company. His son Andrew foresaw the business dangers of the deal, which came with some unscrupulous people attached. But Chaffey was entranced by the scale of America’s grandest reclamation project. "Let me do one more big thing before I die," he said -- and he did. The Colorado Desert became the Imperial Valley, one of the world’s great agricultural regions. However, as Andrew had foreseen, some of Chaffey’s partners turned on him, and he sold his interests in 1902. Chaffey’s irrigation project in the La Habra/Brea area was less spectacular, but more lucrative personally. Then, in 1905, Chaffey laid out the fruit-growing town of Manzanar in the Owens Valley -- just as the City of Los Angeles launched its scheme to siphon the valley’s water away. Chaffey spent more time now with Andrew’s various banking projects. After Annette’s death in 1917, he drifted into semi-retirement. In the meantime, his legacy -- cities and croplands on two continents, engineering feats still operating today, and a fine family -- only continued to grow. Community-Maker In the arid West and Australia, communities began with the bringing of water. But Chaffey’s contributions did not end there. He laid out his towns thoughtfully, endowed them with the latest in technology, and sought to provide residents with the makings of a prosperous and virtuous life. Inventor and Innovator George Chaffey was a relentless improver. From his teenage experiments with the screw propeller through the rest of his life, he always sought ways in which things could be done better. The Chaffey Brothers laid out four guiding principles for their Model Colony, Ontario:
The main thoroughfare, Euclid Avenue, was laid out as "a thing of beauty forever." Chaffey College was endowed to provide agricultural and general education. In an age of rough frontier towns, the best class of settlers were sought, through prohibition of the sale of alcoholic beverages, and through offering free land to churches. The Chaffey Pumps would not be ready for two years. In the meantime, he converted this old steamboat, the Jane Eliza, into a pumping barge, allowing colonization to begin. Etiwanda, California was the first development to combine irrigation with hydroelectric power. Chaffey fitted an arc lamp on a 70-foot tower; it could be seen as far away as Riverside. He also installed the first long-distance telephone line -- all the way to San Bernardino. An admirer of Thomas Edison, Chaffey wired the old Garcia house for incandescent lighting, and his wiring passed inspection thirty years later. Chaffey designed about twenty steamships for the lake and river trade. Among them, the Geneva and the Sunbeam were especially famed for their combination of speed and suitability for shallow waters. Organizing the Los Angeles Electric Company in 1882, Chaffey lit the then-tiny city of Los Angeles with five arc lamps on 150-foot towers. Los Angeles laid claim to the distinction of being the nation’s first city lighted exclusively by electricity. Etiwanda, California 1882 Ontario, California 1882 Etiwanda and Ontario were the Chaffeys’ attempt to bring order to the disorderly American West. The agricultural colonies of Southern California were not as wild and violent as many other western towns -- but even a seemingly "ideal" colony like Riverside, where the Chaffey family lived, had deep problems. Outdated laws on water rights set every man for himself and were tearing the town apart. The Chaffeys gained enough uncontested water rights to supply their settlements. They then parceled those water rights out to land purchasers in the form of shares in innovative Mutual Water Companies. Everyone got the water they needed. In Etiwanda and Ontario, the virtues of rural life were joined by the advantages of city life. The latest technological advances like electricity and telephones, made everything up to date. Mildura, Australia, 1886 Renmark, Australia 1887 Prompted by an Australian commission, the Chaffey brothers, George and W.B., tried to recreate the Etiwanda/ Ontario miracle in the Province of Victoria. They met the challenge of raising water from the Murray River onto the arid plains above. They laid out a pleasant and orderly town in a wild and isolated location. They battled problems they had not seen in America, such as salt water welling up from underground and crayfish burrowing in canal walls. Difficulties with the provincial government prompted a foray down the river to the province of South Australia to found Renmark along similar principles. But a drought and a recession led to financial ruin. The towns finally weathered the bad times, as did W.B., who remained and rebuilt his career in the dried fruits industry. George’s comeback would be in America. Remembered The Chaffeys and their legacy are remembered with admiration on two continents. Below, George sits in front of Ontario’s Chaffey Library. Ten years after his death, a Liberty Ship -- on of the fleet of cargo ships which did so much to help win World War II -- was launched in San Pedro with the name U.S.S George Chaffey. In the Australian towns, the Chaffey reputation continues to grow, with many historic sites interpreting their accomplishments. W.B. Chaffey’s house in Mildura has become a museum. Memorials have been set up to both brothers. Family members and friends fondly remember George Chaffey the man more than the engineer. George Chaffey preferred to let his work speak for him. As the memorial in Mildura says, "It is all around you." In both Mildura and Renmark, the Chaffeys laid out a wide double boulevard similar to Ontario’s Euclid Avenue. Mildura’s Deakin Avenue is shown in the early days and in the 1920s. The aerial view is from the 1960s. This exhibit would not have been possible without the efforts of Guest Curator Robert E. Ellingwood. His knowledge and enthusiasm for the Chaffey spirit has led museum staff members to call him "George" by accident now and then. It has been a pleasure working with him. Thanks, Bob! The Chaffey family portrait taken on George Chaffey’s 65th birthday, 1913, on the steps of Chaffey’s Whittier residence. Top row: Andrew with son Stewart, Maude, Benjamin, Emma Chaffey, woman believed to be Annette’s nurse, Peter McLaren, Olive, Colonel John Burton, Frederick McLaren. Sitting: Jane McCord, Annette McCord Chaffey, George Chaffey Jr, Cowra. Bottom row: Isobel McLaren, Elswood, Mavis, John, Ben, Bob, and Kathleen. The George Chaffey story touches many communities on two continents. This map shows important places in his life. La Habra Brockville and Kingston, Ontario Imperial Beach Right and above: 1905 panoramic photos taken during the planning of Manzanar, of valley floor and reservoir site. Model of Ontario and its irrigation system, shown at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, where the U.S. Government hailed Ontario as the model western irrigation colony. Photo courtesy of San Antonio Water Co.
Above: Benjamin Chaffey Jr., whose inventiveness inspired young George. Right: Benjamin Sr. and George Chaffey Sr., George’s grandfather and father. Commemorative spoons from Mildura and Renmark, Australia. Loan courtesy of Robert E. Ellingwood |