Wikipedia
1879–1967
John Lucian (Jack) Savage was born on a farm near Cooksville, Wisconsin on December 25, 1879. He was the son of Edwin Parker and Mary Therese Savage. After growing up in Wisconsin, he graduated from Madison High School, and then attended the University of Wisconsin (Madison), graduating with a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering in 1903.
In 1903, Savage joined the newly created U.S. Reclamation Service (USRS) and worked as an engineering aid and designer on the Minidoka Project in Idaho’s Snake River Valley. During that early period, Savage worked on the Payette-Boise Canal System, the Boise River Diversion Dam, and the Upper and Lower Deer Flat Dams. In 1908, he left the USRS and worked with consulting engineer A.J. Wiley for eight years in the Boise, Idaho area. Their engineering practice boomed because of the increased water use by the private sector for agriculture. Savage spent the majority of his time in the association inspecting and consulting on projects. During his time with Wiley, Savage worked on the Salmon River Dam, the Swan Falls Power Plant on the Snake River, the Barber Dam on the Boise River, the Twin Falls North Side Canal System, and the American Falls Power Plant. Savage also designed the gates for the USRS’s Arrowrock Dam on the Boise River.
In 1916, Savage rejoined the USRS, becoming the first designing engineer under the Chief Engineer at the Denver Office. In 1924, Savage was named the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (USBR) Chief Designing Engineer and he continued in that capacity until his retirement in 1945. During that lengthy period, Savage supervised the designs for over 60 concrete and embankment dams built by the USBR, which included being in charge of all civil, electrical, and mechanical design work. This work for the USBR included the designs of large projects, such as Hoover Dam (an ASCE National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, NHCEL), Parker Dam, Shasta Dam, the All American Canal System (NHCEL), and Grand Coulee Dam (NHCEL). Savage also directed the designs for the first ten dams built by the Tennessee Valley Authority. As Chief Designing Engineer, Savage also directed the analytical and model studies for the more complex structures such as Hoover and Grand Coulee Dams. Savage also invented or co-invented several devices associated with grouting systems, needle valves, and other hydraulic equipment. He authored and co-authored several well-known USBR publications, such as “High-Pressure Reservoir Outlets: A Report on Bureau of Reclamation Installations” (1923) and “Arch Dam Design Checked by Tests of Small-scale Models” (Civil Engineering, May 1931).
While with the USBR, Savage became a renowned expert on dams and civil engineering; he consulted in 19 countries on hundreds of projects. In 1938, the Government of New South Wales asked Savage to consult on the Burrinjuck Dam in Australia after fears that the dam wall was unstable. Initially, Savage was not allowed to go because of a U.S. law forbidding federal employees from accepting money from foreign powers. Savage refused any payments and offered his services anyway, writing his superiors: "Any assistance will be gratis and I shall not accept any reimbursement for expenses. An overdue vacation will be sufficient gratuity.”
After serving Mexico in 1941, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed legislation allowing Savage to officially consult in India, Australia, and other countries. In Australia, Savage was consulted during the construction of the Upper Yarra and Warragamba Dams. Savage consulted on several irrigation dams in Afghanistan. In Switzerland, he consulted on the design and construction of the Grande Dixence Dam. He also consulted on numerous projects in India, Palestine, and Spain. After a trip to China during World War II (1944) to help with the design of the proposed Yangtze Gorge Dam (subsequently called the Three Gorges Dam), Savage retired from Federal service with the USBR in 1945.
After retiring from the USBR, Savage continued to work as an international consultant on dozens of dams, hydropower facilities, and other structures in countries such as Switzerland, Palestine, Turkey, Mexico, Ceylon, Spain, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, India, Singapore, Formosa, Japan, and Canada. During his career, Savage supervised the designs for a total of 93 dams, including numerous dams, hydropower plants, and canals throughout the western United States.
Savage was elected an Associate Member of ASCE in 1907, a Member in 1916, and an Honorary Member in 1941. Savage was also a member of: ASTM, the Colorado Society of Engineers, the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and Great Britain’s Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Savage was the American Vice-President of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) during the years 1937-39 and 1946-47, and was on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Committee on Large Dams (USCOLD) during 1946-47. Savage received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1934. In 1946, he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Denver and in 1947, he received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Colorado. In 1945, Savage received the John Fritz Medal for notable scientific achievement from the American Association of Engineering Societies, the Gold Medal Award of the National Resources Commission of Nationalist China, and the Henry C. Turner Gold Medal Award from ACI. In 1949, Savage received the Washington Award from the Western Society of Engineers and was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1950, Savage was awarded the Department of the Interior’s Gold Medal, the agency’s highest individual award. In 1958, Regis College of Denver selected Mr. Savage as one of 17 recipients of its Civis Princeps (First Citizen) Award. The Colorado Engineering Council, representing all engineering organizations in the state, presented him its Gold Medal for Outstanding Engineering Service – an award which is made only once in a 10-year span. In 1960, Savage was awarded the Golden Beaver by the western construction fraternity, the Beavers.
Jack married Jessie Burdick Sexsmith of Boise, Idaho on June 1, 1918; she passed away on July 17, 1940. Jack then married Olga Lacher Miner of Spokane, Washington on January 14, 1950. Mr. Savage died on December 28, 1967, in Englewood, Colorado.
References
- Savage, John Lucian, Engineering Legends, by Richard G. Weingardt, Leadership and Management in Engineering (ASCE), Vol. 8, Issue 3 (July 2008), pgs. 162-166.
- Memoir on John L. Savage, ASCE Transactions, Vol. 134, 1969, pg. 968.
- Wikipedia Entry for John L. Savage: October 19, 2022