1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



105 



ARTHUR POWELL DAVIS, 



SUPERVISING ENGINEER OF THE U. S. RECLAMATION SERVICE. 



ARTHUR POWELL DAVIS was born at Decatur, 111., February 9, 1861, the son of John 

 and Martha P. Davis. He was educated at the Junction City 'Kans.) High School, 

 afterward graduated at the State Normal School, Emporia, Kans., and still later studied 

 engineering subjects at Columbian University, Washington, D. C. From 1884 to 1894 he was 

 a topographer in the Geological Survey, conducting surveys and explorations in Arizona, New 

 Mexico, and California. From 1895 to 1897 he was a hydrographer in charge of government 

 stream measurements, and has been in charge of the hydrographic examination of the Nica- 

 ragua and Panama Canal routes since 1898. 



While Mr. Davis has been closely identified with the reclamation work as a whole, his 

 efforts in connection with the Ton to Basin project in the Salt River Valley, Arizona, have at- 

 tracted wide attention, as it is an extremely interesting piece of work, both from an engineering 

 and economic standpoint. His present high position has been attained at an early age, which 

 assures the country his services for many years to come. 



*Both by training and inclination Mr. Davis is well fitted for a leading part in the great 

 work of government reclamation of arid lands, which is now well under way. He is of that type 

 of men which have built up the U. S. Geological Survey into what has come to be very generally 

 considered the most effective bureau in the government. For the last twenty years, during 

 which the Survey has made its greatest advances, Mr. Davis has been in its service continuously. 



