Lyman Dwight Wilbur

Lyman Dwight Wilbur (1900 – April 5, 2001) was an American civil engineer and construction executive whose career with Morrison–Knudsen encompassed major transportation, water-development and military-construction projects in the United States and overseas. He became a vice president of Morrison–Knudsen and simultaneously served as president of its International Engineering Company subsidiary.

Wilbur directed construction of the railroad causeway across the Great Salt Lake, developed a stabilization system during construction of San Francisco's Broadway Tunnel, and managed foundations for the bridge across the Tagus at Lisbon. During the Vietnam War, he headed the civilian joint venture responsible for a rapidly expanding United States military-construction program in South Vietnam. Engineering News-Record selected him as its first Construction Man of the Year in 1966, an honor now known as the Engineering News-Record Award of Excellence. He was the recipient of the 1973 John Fritz Medal.

Early life and education

Wilbur was born in California in 1900. He was a son of Curtis D. Wilbur, who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of California, United States Secretary of the Navy under President Calvin Coolidge, and a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His uncle, physician and educator Ray Lyman Wilbur, was president of Stanford University and later United States Secretary of the Interior.

Wilbur studied civil engineering at Stanford, graduating with the class of 1921. His early engineering papers document work associated with the Hetch Hetchy water system, the Exchequer Dam and power plant, the Merced Irrigation District, the Mokelumne River water-supply project, the Puget Sound Navy Yard, and proposed dams and flood-control works in California.

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Wilbur worked on irrigation engineering in Soviet Central Asia. He spent approximately two years examining works along the Amu Darya and in the regions of Khwarazm and the Fergana Valley. His account of the journey, illustrated with his own photographs, appeared in the June 1932 issue of National Geographic under the title "Surveying Through Khoresm". A contemporary geographical bibliography described the article as an engineer's account of irrigation projects in the Amu Darya region.

Morrison–Knudsen career

Early assignments

In 1932, Harry Morrison hired Wilbur to work for Morrison–Knudsen in Los Angeles. The appointment began a 39-year association with the Boise-based engineering and construction company. His early Morrison–Knudsen assignments included irrigation and water projects in California and the Mecca Pass tunnels near Los Angeles.

Wilbur later rose to vice president responsible for engineering and foreign operations. He also became president of International Engineering Company, a Morrison–Knudsen subsidiary providing engineering and consulting services internationally. His papers include engineering manuals, estimates, field reports and correspondence concerning dams, tunnels, bridges, hydroelectric developments and transportation projects on several continents.

During the 1940s, he was associated with Morrison–Knudsen's work at Camp Roberts, California. In the postwar period he assumed increasingly senior responsibility for the company's engineering organization and international operations.

Broadway Tunnel and Great Salt Lake causeway

During construction of the Broadway Tunnel through Russian Hill, San Francisco, in 1951–1952, unstable ground began slipping toward the excavation. Wilbur designed a support and excavation system intended to restrain the moving earth and permit tunneling to continue. Boise State's biographical account identifies the system as one of the notable engineering innovations of his career.

In 1953, Wilbur prepared or directed foundation investigations and alternative structural designs for a new Southern Pacific railroad crossing of the Great Salt Lake. The resulting project replaced portions of the older wooden Lucin Cutoff trestle with a rock-and-earth causeway. Wilbur subsequently directed construction of the crossing. His archived project records include foundation investigations, quantities, cost estimates and comparisons of alternative structures.

International projects

Wilbur's overseas responsibilities included Morrison–Knudsen projects in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Latin America. In the early 1950s, Morrison–Knudsen sent him to Morocco to reestablish administrative control over a troubled construction operation. A history published by the United States Army Corps of Engineers identifies him at the time as a senior vice president and partner in the company.

In 1957 and 1958, Wilbur inspected Morrison–Knudsen's work in the Helmand Valley of Afghanistan. The development included three dams, irrigation canals and a planned agricultural settlement. Wilbur and his wife, Henrietta, kept diaries during the journeys, and he photographed Afghan cities, construction works and rural life. Their diaries and photographs were later deposited at Boise State University.

In Portugal, Wilbur managed construction work on the bridge over the Tagus River at Lisbon, now called the 25 de Abril Bridge. The bridge foundations included piers extending approximately below high-water level, described as the deepest bridge-pier construction completed to that time.

Vietnam construction program

In May 1965, Wilbur was sent to South Vietnam to lead the expanding military-construction program operated by Raymond International and Morrison–Knudsen. When Brown & Root and the J.A. Jones Construction Company joined the venture in August, it became known as RMK–BRJ.

The joint venture built airfields, ports, roads, hospitals, warehouses, cantonments, fuel installations and other facilities required by the rapid buildup of American forces. The work was administered by the Navy's Officer in Charge of Construction and ultimately coordinated with the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Time described Wilbur as the overall civilian head of the undertaking and reported that he directed it from the joint venture's Saigon headquarters.

Wilbur remained in charge until February 1966, when he was succeeded by Morrison–Knudsen vice president Bert Perkins. Engineering News-Record selected Wilbur as its 1966 Construction Man of the Year for managing the emergency program. He was the first individual to receive the publication's annual top honor, which was subsequently renamed the Award of Excellence.

Later career and consulting

Wilbur retired from Morrison–Knudsen in 1970. He remained in Boise and continued working as an independent engineering consultant into his eighties. His post-retirement records document consulting or technical review connected with the proposed sea-level Panama Canal, Dworshak Dam, Tarbela Dam, the Guri hydroelectric development in Venezuela, the São Simão project in Brazil, the Itaipu development on the Brazil–Paraguay border, and several municipal water and power projects.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers retained Wilbur to investigate questions concerning the safety of Dworshak Dam in Idaho. The review included examination of project records and consultations with engineers familiar with the structure.

Wilbur also participated in professional discussions about a proposed sea-level canal across the Isthmus of Panama. In 1968, he was among the engineers who published a discussion of "Construction Planning for a Sea-Level Panama Canal" in the American Society of Civil Engineers' Journal of the Waterways and Harbors Division.

Honors

Wilbur was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and was recognized as an honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The University of Idaho awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1967.

His principal awards included:

• Engineering News-Record Construction Man of the Year, 1966;
• the 1973 John Fritz Medal for scientific or industrial achievement; and
• the ASCE Presidents' Award in 1980.

Personal life and death

Wilbur married Henrietta Shattuck, a daughter of Herbert A. Shattuck, who had worked as a publicist for Thomas Edison at Stanford University. Wilbur served on the advisory board associated with preservation of the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Vermont. Henrietta accompanied him on his engineering inspections in Afghanistan and recorded portions of their travels in a diary.

After Henrietta's death, Wilbur married Pauline, who also predeceased him. He had a daughter, Olive G. Waugh, who attended Stanford and donated his papers to Boise State University after his death.

Wilbur died on April 5, 2001, aged 100. In addition to his daughter, his survivors included two granddaughters, a great-grandson, a stepson and a stepdaughter.

Selected works

Archives

The Lyman D. Wilbur Papers are held by Boise State University Special Collections and Archives. The collection consists of approximately 28 linear feet in 30 boxes and includes correspondence, engineering reports, maps, notebooks, speeches, publications, photographs, financial material and records of his work for Morrison–Knudsen and as an independent consultant.

A separate digital collection contains Wilbur's color slides and diary entries from his visits to Afghanistan in 1957 and 1958.