Elwood Mead (January 16, 1858 – January 26, 1936) was a professor, politician and engineer, known for heading the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) from 1924 until his death in 1936. During his tenure, he oversaw some of the most complex projects the Bureau of Reclamation has undertaken. These included the Hoover, Grand Coulee and Owyhee dams.
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Mead was born in Patriot, Indiana and graduated from Purdue with a Bachelor of Science in 1882. He then earned his Doctorate in Civil Engineering from Iowa State College a year later, in 1883.
From there he started work as a professor by teaching mathematics at Colorado Agriculture College from 1883 until 1884, and again from 1886 to 1888.[1]
In 1888, Mead became the territorial and state engineer of Wyoming. From 1888 until 1899, he was key in drafting the water laws for Wyoming and Colorado. He was also a key supporter of the Cody Canal, one of the nation's first Carey Act projects undertaken by a group of investors, including William F. Cody.[2]
In 1907, Mead was appointed Chairman of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission in Victoria, Australia. He served there for four years.
In 1911, he returned to the United States to become the professor of Rural Institutions, University of California, and chairman of the California Land Settlement Board. His ideas about developing efficient rural communities would later influence what would become the Resettlement Administration communities of the New Deal.
He continued to serve in California until 1924, when he was appointed Chairman of the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) by President Calvin Coolidge's administration. In 1923 and again in 1927, he went to Palestine to help the Zionists develop irrigation and development plans.[3] At the BOR, Mead oversaw the planning and execution of construction of major water control and irrigation projects in the West: the Hoover, Grand Coulee and Owyhee dams.[4]
Mead died on January 26, 1936 at the age of 78 in Washington, D.C. from thrombosis, just four months after the completion of Boulder Dam. He is buried at National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia.