Alameda County Biographies

W. A. Cattell C. E.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 

	W. A. Cattell is one of the foremost construction engineers of the Pacific coast, being 
located in San Francisco. He now tends to a large general practice, and is also consulting 
engineer to many enterprises, his activities having an important influence upon the development 
of Alameda county and other parts of the state of California. Mr. Cattell was born in Princeton, 
New Jersey, June 16, 1863, and is a son of Thomas W. and Anna C. (Ashburner) Cattell. He 
attended various public and private schools until 1880, when he entered Lafayette College. 
From that year until 1884 he took the four years' course in civil engineering in the Pardee 
scientific department of Lafayette College, graduating in 1884 with the degree of civil engineer.
	He then accepted employment with the State Board of Railroad Assessors of New Jersey, 
becoming an assistant engineer under Colonel James Allen and later serving under Edlow W. 
Harrison in making resurveys and valuations of the railroad and canal property in the state. 
He was also later employed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company on preliminary 
and location surveys in Kansas and Indian Territory. In 1889 Mr. Cattell accepted the position 
of assistant chief engineer of the Long Island Railroad, being in charge of the construction 
department. He had supervision of the design and construction of bridges, buildings, docks, 
piers and terminals and the location and construction of the new lines. During this period, the 
road was practically reconstructed, many miles of new lines and double track were added and 
extensive improvements effected.
	Mr. Cattell remained as assistant chief engineer with the Long Island Railroad until 
1897 and from that year until 1905 was engaged in general practice as consulting engineer in 
New York city. He acted in that capacity for the Brooklyn park department, supervising the 
construction of steel and masonry bridges; for the Ohio Southern Railroad, on bridges and general 
improvement; and for the Manhattan Beach Company, on the installation of the electric light, 
power and refrigerating plants, the electric railroad, marine bulk�heads and shore protection. He 
assisted William Barclay Parsons and H. de B. Parsons in the valuation of a number of large 
manufacturing plants, aggregating many million dollars in value, among them the Rogers Locomotive 
Works and the William Cramp shipbuilding plant at Philadelphia; also on the report on a high-speed 
electric railway projected to run from Philadelphia to Atlantic City. He made examinations, estimates 
and reports on a large number of existing and projected railroads, including a belt railway for the 
city of St. Louis and the proposed terminals for the Southern Railroad at Pensacola, Florida. He 
reported on the extensive irrigation project in New Mexico now being constructed by the United States 
reclamation service and on a number of minor water supply and power projects in various parts of the 
United States. He made complete and detailed designs for the buildings and mechanical installations 
of several manufacturing plants, including a plant for the manufacture of sewer pipe which was 
erected at Shawmut, Pennsylvania. He prepared the estimate for bids for various construction 
concerns on extensive improvements, among them the Atlantic Avenue improvements of the Long Island 
Railroad and the section of the New York Rapid Transit Subway from the City Hall, New York, to 
Flatbush avenue, Brooklyn, including the tunnel section under the East river. He also made the 
estimates for the track elevation of the New York Central Railroad, Schenectady, New York. He 
assisted H. de B. Parsons in the examination of the new filtration plants, pumping stations and 
the aqueduct tunnel of the Philadelphia waterworks system in connection with the charges of graft 
in the construction of these works. He was appointed chairman of the commission to determine the 
cause of a fatal building collapse in Albany, New York, by the mayor of that city. He prepared 
preliminary plans for extensive improvements at Manhattan Beach, involving reinforced concrete sea 
walls, a large amount of hydraulic filling for reclamation, complete water supply and sewerage 
system, power plant and railway terminal facilities; also prepared the plans for a number of 
buildings, private residences, a casino and a hotel.
	During 1905 and 1906 Mr. Cattell was consulting engineer for E. H. Rollins & Sons (municipal 
and corporation bonds) of San Francisco, California, making examinations and reports on various 
steam and electric railroads, existing and projected, including the Western Pacific Railroad, and 
on many of the important hydro�electric developments of the state. He was president of the Petaluma 
& Santa Rosa Electric Railroad, operating thirty-four miles of inter�urban line, and also president 
of the Marin Terminal and Santa Rosa and Northern Railroads when they projected to build sixty-five 
miles of additional high-grade interurban lines. Construction work on these lines had been started 
shortly before the earthquake, but was suspended at that time and has never since been resumed. Since 
1908 Mr. Cattell has been engaged in general practice as consulting engineer in San Francisco. He was 
chief engineer of the Clear Lake power and irrigation project; made a reconnaisance survey and report 
for the Hirsch Syndicate, Ltd., of London, on the Valdez-Yukon Railroad project in Alaska (one hundred 
and sixty-four miles); a report on the terminal pier of the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railways, 
a double-track structure extending three miles out into San Francisco bay, with a special investigation 
of the effect of sea water on the concrete cylinders which supported a portion of the structure; and a 
reconnaisance survey for the United States forest service of a railway line along the Klamath river, 
California, seventy-two miles in length. At this writing Mr. Cattell is chief engineer of the Trona 
Railway, a standard-gauge steam railroad in California of which thirty miles are nearly completed. He 
is consulting engineer for the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railways, operating two hundred and 
fifty-six miles of line in Oakland and adjoining cities, and engaged in the design and construction of 
the new terminals and harbor improvements for that company. He is consulting engineer for the People's 
Water Company in connection with the litigation now in progress in the federal courts over water rates. 
He is consulting engineer for the Los Angeles Railway Corporation, operating three hundred and sixty-four 
miles of line in Los Angeles, California, in connection with the valuation of the property in the case 
now at issue before the State Railroad Commission.
	Mr. Cattell is connected with the following scientific and professional associations: American 
Society of Civil Engineers, of which he is a director; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; 
American Institute of Consulting Engineers; Pacific Association of Consulting Engineers; American Water 
Works Association, and Engineers' Club of San Francisco. His work has been of the greatest importance to 
the growth and development of Oakland and Alameda county, and his accomplishments will for years to come 
contribute to the prosperity of its residents.

Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914, p. 410