Hiram M. Chittenden

Hiram M. Chittenden, 1916

Hiram Martin Chittenden (1858–1917) is the Seattle District Engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers (April 1906 – September 1908) for whom the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Seattle, Washington are named.

Chittenden was born on October 25, 1858 in Yorkshire, New York. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in June 1884 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He reached the rank of Brigadier General in 1910. He died on October 9, 1917 in Seattle, Washington.

With the Army Corps of Engineers, Chittenden was in charge of many notable projects throughout the United States:

Yellowstone National Park (1891-1892, 1899-1906): roadwork, improvements, basalt arch at north entrance, single span bridge (Chittenden Bridge, formerly the Melan arch bridge) across the Yellowstone River.
Yosemite National Park: commissioned by the Secretary of the Interior to determine boundary changes
Lake Washington Canal Project, Seattle, Washington (1906)

Chittenden was also an author, penning historical volumes, tour guides, and poetry:

The Yellowstone National Park, Cincinnati: Stewart & Kidd Company, 1895.
The American Fur Trade of the Far West, New York: F. P. Harper, 1903. (Three volumes)
History of Steamboats on the Missouri River, 1903. (Two volumes)
Life and Letters of Father de Smet’ with A. T. Richardson, 1905. (Four volumes)
War or Peace, 1910.
Verse, Seattle: Holly Press, 1916. (poetry)