FINKLE, FREDERICK CECIL. World-renowned Consulting Engineer and Geologist, he was born in Viroqua, Wisconsin on May 3, 1865. He was the son of Thurston (born Torstein Finkelsen) and Amalie Sophie (born Michelet) Finkle. On his father’s side he was of Norwegian descent. His father and grandparents emigrated to the U.S. in 1850 from Vestre Slidre in the Oppland. His mother’s side is a branch of the French Michelets who emigrated from Metz, France, to Norway in the 1600s. His mother's family also emigrated in 1850 from Lillehammer in the Oppland to the U.S. Both families were awarded land grants in Wisconsin where they settled and farmed. Frederick Cecil Finkle (baptized as Frederick Christian Finkle) was educated at the district grammar schools and high school of Westby and Viroqua, Wisconsin. He attended and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1882-1887, where he majored in hydraulics and geology.
Upon graduation, he moved to California. He was married in 1889 to Louis Thoma Beckstead. He had two children by this marriage, William and Roy. Later he married Priscilla Ann Jones on September 18, 1901 in San Francisco. There was one child from this union, Frederick, Jr. On October 10, 1924, he married Henrietta Catherine Billette. They adopted a daughter Yvette Catherine.
He began his career as a hydraulic engineer and geologist in January, 1887. He served as Chief Engineer of North Riverside Land & Water Co. from 1887 to 1890 in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California; City Engineer of San Bernardino, California, from 1890 to 1892; Chief Engineer of water resources and sanitation for California State Public Institutions from 1894 to 1895; Redlands Electric Light & Power Co.from 1895 to 1896; Southern California Power Co. and California Power Co. from 1896 to 1901; Chief Hydraulic Engineer and Geologist for Southern California Edison Co., Ltd., from 1901 to 1908; Consulting Engineer and Geologist for Southern California Edison Co., Ltd., from 1908 to 1914, during which years he was also Consulting Engineer and Geologist for The Central Colorado Power Co. and Denver Union Water Co. of Denver, Colorado; Mount Hood Railway and Power Co. of Portland, Oregon; Arrowhead Lake Co. of San Bernardino, California, dividing his time among all of these. From 1914 on he was in private practice as a consulting engineer and geologist, during which time he served as consulting engineer for many cities, among them, Denver, for the Denver Union Water Co., before the City of Denver acquired its properties; and consulting engineer for the cities of San Bernardino, San Diego, Glendale, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Ontario and others in the State of California. He was Chief Engineer or Consulting Engineer on eighteen important dams to impound water for domestic use, power and irrigation in California and other Western States; he had charge of flood protection works on the Colorado River, after the great flood and overflow in 1922; was consulting engineer for the Imperial Valley Irrigation Project for three years.
He was considered an international expert in hydraulic engineering and historical and structural geology, and one of the highest authorities on the market value of water rights for power and irrigation in the Western States. He held the world’s record for expert testimony on hydraulics and geology, having testified for 121 days in court during 1927-28 in the trial of the water rights case of Rancho Santa Margarita vs. Vail Co., et al., in San Diego County, California. He reported on the defects in design and construction of the St. Francis Dam for Los Angeles, and predicted its failure four years before it failed with property loss of $20,000,000 and the loss of 631 lives. He also reported on the defects of Mulholland Dam in Hollywood, which was reconstructed to make it safe by strengthening the down slope, and lowering the spillway.
During his long professional career, He consistently reported against all political schemes which were not for public benefit. This resulted in attacks upon him by politicians, against all of which he successfully defended and completely vindicated himself. The following are a few examples: In 1927-28, when the “Forks Dam” project was proposed on San Gabriel River by Los Angeles County, but condemned by him as impracticable, which was later demonstrated as so after wasting $5,000,000 on the project, he was employed as expert in a suit whereby most of the money was recovered for the taxpayers, and was presented with an engraved resolution of commendation by the Harbor District Chambers of Commerce. Politicians in Orange County, California, had one of their number publish a libelous attack on him, when he reported against the location they proposed for the Prado Dam on Santa Ana River. Mr. Finkle brought suit against the signer of the libelous letter, in which suit, case No. 26483 in Orange County. He was vindicated by securing judgment for both actual and exemplary damages with costs. This happened in 1929-30. Later, the U. S. Army Engineers sustained Mr. Finkle by rejecting the location he had condemned and constructing the Prado Dam where he had suggested. During 1941, he gave a 49 day deposition in ease No. 764-RJ-Civil, in the U. S. District Court, Southern District of California, Central Division, as an expert on the values of water rights sold by the Nevada—California Electric Corp. to the City of Los Angeles, which involved capital gains tax on profit from the sale. Because Mr. Finkle’s testimony showed that the government appraiser was not qualified and his figures were erroneous, this agent secured a secret indictment from the Grand Jury charging perjury. This indictment was nullified by the 1942 Federal Grand Jury upon his appearance before it, and the U. S. Attorney General directed the dismissal of the whole matter, which order was entered by Judge Holzer of the U. S. District Court, September 11, 1942.
Active in civic affairs, he served as President of the Southwest Chamber of Commerce (name subsequently changed to Southside Chamber of Commerce) from 1924 to 1925. He was a member of the Los Angeles Rapid Transit Commission from 1925 to 1926; Vice President of the Harbor District Chambers of Commerce from 1928 to 1931, and its President during the year 1941. He was also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Association of Engineers, American Water Works Association, and a life member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He served as Treasurer of the Harbor District Chamber of Commerce, and Chairman of its Committee on Finance and Taxation in the mid-1940s. He was a member of the California Club, Los Angeles, and the Elk’s Club of Los Angeles. Lodge B.P.O.E. No. 99, both of which he was a member for over 40 years.
He contributed articles to some of the “Water Supply and Irrigation Papers” published by the United States Geological Survey, and to the National Irrigation Congress, Engineering Magazine and Engineering News-Record.
His hobbies were automobile touring and mountain travel. He maintained a cabin in Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains in San Bernardino County. He was a vigorous and vocal opponent of Prohibition (a website on this subject has a letter he wrote to President Hoover urging him to support modifying the restrictive liquor laws that he believed were adversely affecting the vitality and economic life of the nation (http://classprojects.cornellcollege.edu/Stewart/Hoover2/letters6.htm)).
He passed away on April 7, 1949. At the time of his death, he resided in Beverly Hills, California, and was survived by his wife Henrietta.
References
edit- Biographical Encyclopedia of the World (1948), pages 135-6
- Who's Who in America (1948-49), page 797
- Press Refernce Library (Southwest Edition (1912), Page 35 (http://books.google.com/books?id=j-IDAAAAYAAJ&dq=press+reference+library&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=09RMncWV4I&sig=piXblyguDkmKFdRetHOPvo1qZ3w&hl=en&ei=dvptSoqNBtGLtgfw6viIDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3)