Arthur De Wint Foote
| Arthur de Wint Foote | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1849 Guilford, Connecticut |
| Died | 1933 |
| Residence | Grass Valley, California |
| Education | Yale College |
| Occupation | Civil engineer; mining engineer |
| Known for | Foote's Crossing Road; Foote's Crossing Road high bridge; North Star Mine Powerhouse; North Star House |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Hallock Foote |
| Children | Arthur Burling Foote Agnes Foote Betty Foote |
Arthur De Wint Foote (1849–1933) was a civil engineer and mining engineer who impacted the development of the American West with his innovative engineering works and entrepreneurial ventures. In northern California in the late 1890s, he designed and built the North Star Mine Powerhouse, the highest capacity impulse-turbine power-plant of the time, and now a California historic landmark; within that plant he designed and installed the then-largest Pelton wheel turbine. Later, he designed and built Foote's Crossing, a high bridge, and Foote's Crossing Road, both now memorialized as California and US landmarks.
Foote was born in 1849 in Guilford, Connecticut; his ancestry was English—from Yorkshire before 1630. After preparatory schooling as a youth, he attended Yale College's Sheffield Scientific School, but left in 1868 before graduating. From there he began his early career in business and construction ventures along the eastern seaboard of the US and in the West Indies basin.
Immersing himself in learning the civil engineering practicum, with application in mining operations, young Arthur Foote became an exemplar of the motto "Go West, young man"; he aspired to making his career and fortune in the 'new' West.
In 1873, he landed in San Francisco, seeking work. In quick succession he worked on the Sutro Tunnel site in Virginia City, Nevada—where he assisted with installing the first industrial air compressor in a tunnel or mine in the US West; then on the Eldorado Canal of the American River, which supplied water to new hydraulic mines near Placerville, California. And, in 1874, working for the Southern Pacific Railroad, he assisted the chief engineer building the Tehachapi Loop, the celebrated climbing railway spiral—and now a popular railfan site and National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
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