Utah Construction Company
Encyclopedia
Edmund Orson Wattis, Jr
Edmund Orson Wattis, Junior , was oldest of the Wattis Brothers and founders of the Utah Construction Company....
, Warren L. Wattis and William. H. Wattis
William Henry Wattis
William Henry Wattis, also known as W. H. Wattis , was one of the three Wattis Brothers who founded Utah Construction Company in 1900.-History:...
in 1900.
History
A short four years after its founding, the company was awarded the contract to build the Feather RiverFeather River
The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is about . Its drainage basin is about...
rail route between Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
and Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
. This $60 million contract was challenging, but after five years, very profitable. The Feather River
Feather River
The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is about . Its drainage basin is about...
route was completed for the Western Pacific Railroad
Western Pacific Railroad
The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California...
in 1911. The Utah Construction Company thrived, and soon captured a large share of the tunneling, grading, and track projects for the rapidly expanding railroads in the mountain west. Seeing the end of railroad expansion, the Wattis brothers looked for ways to diversify their construction risks.
In 1917, Utah Construction Company was awarded the $7 million O'Shaughnessy Dam
O'Shaughnessy Dam
The O'Shaughnessy Dam is a curved gravity dam on the Tuolumne River in the Hetch Hetchy Valley of California's Sierra Nevada. The dam is located in Yosemite National Park, and creates the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It is named for former San Francisco chief engineer and the original chief engineer of...
contract, a controversial project that impounds the Tuolumne River
Tuolumne River
The Tuolumne River is a California river that flows nearly from the central Sierra Nevada to the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley...
in the Hetch Hetchy Valley
Hetch Hetchy Valley
Hetch Hetchy Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in California. It is currently completely flooded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Tuolumne River fills the reservoir. Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The reservoir...
of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's Sierra Nevada mountains. Success with the O'Shaughnessy Dam
O'Shaughnessy Dam
The O'Shaughnessy Dam is a curved gravity dam on the Tuolumne River in the Hetch Hetchy Valley of California's Sierra Nevada. The dam is located in Yosemite National Park, and creates the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It is named for former San Francisco chief engineer and the original chief engineer of...
convinced the Wattis brothers to bid on more dam projects. In 1922, Utah Construction Company formed a partnership with the Morrison-Knudsen Company of Boise
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
. With Frank Crowe
Frank Crowe
Francis Trenholm Crowe was the chief engineer of the Hoover Dam. During that time, he was the superintendent of Six Companies, the construction company that oversaw the construction project....
as the chief engineer, the MK-UC partnership successfully built dams throughout the American west.
In 1931, the Wattis Brothers spearheaded the formation of Six Companies
Six Companies
Six Companies, Inc. was a joint venture of construction companies that was formed to build the Hoover Dam across the Colorado River in Nevada and Arizona....
to build the Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
which was the largest construction project ever tackled by the US Government up to the time. Including the Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
, Utah Construction built 58 dams between 1916 and 1969.
In 1942, several weeks after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, Japanese warships were sighted in Alaskan waters. No overland route existed connecting Alaska with the contiguous United States. This situation spurred the American Government to plan and build the Alaskan Army Highway, later renamed the Alaska Highway
Alaska Highway
The Alaska Highway was constructed during World War II for the purpose of connecting the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon...
. US Army and civilian contractors, led by Utah Construction, completed the 1500 miles (2,414 km) arctic highway in just seven months and 17 days.
In the 1950s, Utah Construction diversified into mining, becoming the Utah Construction & Mining Co. These ventures included the Marcona iron mine in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, the Lucky Mc uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
mine in Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, and the Navajo coal mine and power plant in the Four Corners area of the United States southwest.
Utah Construction also diversified into land development. Through a series of acquisitions, Utah Construction purchased the Moraga Ranch in the San Francisco Bay Area. This 3,000 acre (12 km²) ranch was developed into Moraga, California
Moraga, California
Moraga is a suburban incorporated town located in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named in honor of Joaquin Moraga, whose grandfather was José Joaquin Moraga, second in command to Juan Bautista de Anza...
. Utah also filled in 400 acres (1.6 km²) of the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
to create much of the area of present day south shore in Alameda
Alameda, California
Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...
.
The 1960s brought further military construction with Utah Construction the lead contractor for the US Minuteman Missile hardened silos
LGM-30 Minuteman
The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U.S. nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile . As of 2010, the version LGM-30G Minuteman-III is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States...
throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In 1969, Utah Construction went public on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
with the symbol UC. The construction business was sold to the Fluor Corporation in 1969. In 1971, the company changed its name to Utah International. The company merged with the General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
company in 1976 for a value of over $2.2 billion, the largest corporate merger in history at that time. It continued to operate as a distinct entity however, and in 1984 GE sold the company to BHP
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
.
The Wattis brothers received funding from the David Eccles
David Eccles (businessman)
David Eccles was an American businessman and industrialist who founded many businesses throughout the western United States and became Utah's first multimillionaire.-Biography:...
, Thomas D. Dee
Thomas Duncombe Dee
Thomas Duncombe Dee was a Utah businessman.Dee was born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales. His parents converted to the Mormon faith in 1856, and the family relocated to Ogden, Utah in 1860....
, Joseph Clark
Joseph Clark
Joseph Clark may refer to:*Joe Clark , Canadian political leader*Joe Clark , Australian politician*Joseph Clark , American tennis player; 1885 U.S...
and James Pinegree family. Thomas D. Dee
Thomas Duncombe Dee
Thomas Duncombe Dee was a Utah businessman.Dee was born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales. His parents converted to the Mormon faith in 1856, and the family relocated to Ogden, Utah in 1860....
served as the first president of Utah Construction until his death in 1905, David Eccles
David Eccles (businessman)
David Eccles was an American businessman and industrialist who founded many businesses throughout the western United States and became Utah's first multimillionaire.-Biography:...
served as the second president, and David Eccels
David Eccles (businessman)
David Eccles was an American businessman and industrialist who founded many businesses throughout the western United States and became Utah's first multimillionaire.-Biography:...
son Marriner Stoddard Eccles became the president of Utah Construction concurrently with being the Federal Reserve
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
Chairman. The shareholders and Val A. Browning
Val A. Browning
Val Allen Browning was a noted Utah industrialist, philanthropist, and third generation gun innovator. His grandfather, Jonathan Browning, opened a gun shop in Ogden, Utah in 1852 and his father, John Browning, is considered by many to be the most important gun inventor in history.-Life:Born in...
acquired the shares of Warren Wattis in the 1940s. The Wattis Brothers original $8,000 investment, in 1900, grew to $478 million after the 1976 acquisition by the General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
company.