WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



numbers of years past, Doctor McGee, by consensus of opinion, has 

 been the most indispensable factor in the growth and usefulness of 

 that influential organization. To his far-seeing and analytical mind 

 were due, almost entirely, the reorganization of the Congress, through 

 which its activities were extended throughout the interval between 

 sessions, and through which its direction was conferred upon a small 

 representative, and effective Board of Governors; and to his practical 

 and scientific insight was to be attributed the fact that the programs 

 of the Congress came to be of great practical worth and benefit to the 

 irrigator At the request of his- co-laborers, he read many papers and 

 delivered many addresses before the Congress, all of the greatest prac- 

 tical and technical value. There was no man upon whom the Irriga- 

 tion Congress leaned so heavily. No man has ever been identified 

 with that organization, whose loss is proving or could prove 

 serious to its welfare. 



We of the Congress, loved Doctor McGee for his unf aikng courtesy, 

 appreciation, and solicitude our sorrow is not merely official, it 



deeply personal . 



On the occasion of his visit to Salt Lake City in February, 1 12, 

 he informed me of his serious illness and in reply to my expressed de- 

 sire to see him at the session to be held in the following October, r 

 informed me that he should not be present, adding that he had but six 

 or seven months longer to live. I told him that I was shocked at hi 

 statement and that surely there must be some mistake, 

 that there could be no mistake; that he had consulted the most skill- 

 ful surgeons and was but reflecting their experienced judgment, 

 last saw him in Washington in the summer, only a few weeks before 

 his demise. He was, as ever, patient, solicitous of the welfare of the 

 Congress, and keenly alive to the problems of the day. 



