John G. Claybourn
| John G. Claybourn | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
May 23, 1886 Albert Lea, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | June 26, 1967 |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
| Occupation | Canal engineer |
| Parent(s) | John Bethel Claybourn (1846–1923) Mary Ellen Claybourn (1848–1940) |
John Geronald Claybourn (May 23, 1886 - June 26, 1967) was a civil engineer and Dredging Division Superintendent of the Isthmian Canal Commission. He was the original designer of Gamboa, Panama. During his career on the Panama Canal and after his retirement, Claybourn was involved as a consultant in river and harbor improvement projects in several countries, primarily in Latin America.
John Claybourn was born on May 23, 1886, in Albert Lea, Minnesota, to John B. and Ellen Claybourn, members of the Claybourn – Claiborne – Clayborn family. His uncle Ephraim Claybourn and cousin Vern Claybourn both held positions of prominence with the canal, making work there a family business of sorts. John graduated from high school in Albert Lea and then attended the College of Engineering at the University of Minnesota for three years. Claybourn was married to Regina Flores, a native of Colombia, from 1913 until about 1927. In 1928 he then married Elsie Kathryn Grieser, a stenographer on the canal who had attained a measure of celebrity in her youth as a long-distance swimmer and canoeist.
Claybourn began working with the dredging division of the Panama Canal in 1914. He was then promoted to junior engineer (1917-1918), assistant engineer (1919-1920), and finally superintendent of the division (1921-1948). In the 1930s he developed a plan to add a third set of locks, along with a 1940s plan to replace the canal with a parallel sea-level canal.
On July 30, 1923, two years after taking the role of superintendent of the Dredging Division, Claybourn wrote a memo to Jay Johnson Morrow, Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, recommending that the Dredging Division shops be moved from Paraiso to Gamboa for two reasons: "First, as a safeguard in case of obstruction of the Cut by slides, the logical location being between any possible dredging and the dumps at Gatun Lake; second, increased Canal traffic, as well as the size of ships, introduces a serious menace to our fleet when moored in the comparatively narrow confines of the Cut at Paraiso." Three months later his concerns were validated when the USS O-5 (SS-66) entered Limon Bay, preparatory to transiting the Panama Canal, and was rammed by the United Fruit Company steamer Abangarez and sank in less than a minute. Three men died; 16 others escaped.
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