The history of the Wattis brothers (as pictured: Edmond, William, and Warren) is the history of Utah Construction Company. Based in Ogden, Utah, the company began by laying tracks for the expanding railroad industry at the beginning of the 20th century. At one time the Utah Construction Company was the had the majority of the construction work in the west. Early investors in the company were David Eccles and Thomas Dee. The company also became involved in ranching, having over 600,000 acres in Nevada grazing sheep and cattle. By the end of the 1920s the company branched out into dam building, its most notable early project being the Hetch Hetchy Dam on the Tuolumne River in California ( Controversy still rages today among environmentalists as to the need for this dam). In 1931, the Utah Construction Company decided to go after the Boulder Dam project. However, they quickly realized that they could not handle this huge project on their own. So, they teamed up with several other west coast construction firms to form Six Companies, Inc. After this project they again teamed up with other companies to build the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state. Other dams were constructed by the Utah company independently, like the Wanship and Pineview Dams in Utah. During WW II, Utah Construction, like many other builders, became involved in war related production. They were involved in the building of the ALCAN Highway, a hastily built road connecting the lower 48 states with military installations in Alaska. After the war, under the guidance of Marriner Eccles, the company expanded into mining dredging, and land development. The corporate headquarters was transferred from Ogden to San Francisco along with a name change to Utah Construction and Mining. With more projects being built overseas, the name next evolved to Utah International, Inc. In 1976 the company merged with General Electric and later was sold in 1983 to Broken Hill Proprietary, an Australian mining operation.
E. O. Wattis was born in 1855 and died in 1934 from a heart attack. W. H. Wattis was born in 1859 and died in 1931 of cancer, soon after the construction on Hoover Dam began. Since the Utah company had conceived the idea of bidding on the dam, W. H. Wattis was named as the president of the Six Companies, Inc. After he died, W. A. Bechtel became president and saw the project to completion.
W. H. Wattis was the outgoing, gregarious member of the group. When he was not fully engaged in the construction aspect of the business he was off running for a congressional seat from the state of Utah or the gubernatorial office. He was unsuccessful in both, but in doing so developed a wide network of people that could only have enhanced the influence of Utah Construction.
E. O. Wattis was the opposite. While not lacking in tenacity and diligence, he was more reserved and private and preferred to be close to home and family, the center of his life.
Not much is known about Warren Wattis.
E. O. Wattis was born in 1855 and died in 1934 from a heart attack. W. H. Wattis was born in 1859 and died in 1931 of cancer, soon after the construction on Hoover Dam began. Since the Utah company had conceived the idea of bidding on the dam, W. H. Wattis was named as the president of the Six Companies, Inc. After he died, W. A. Bechtel became president and saw the project to completion.
W. H. Wattis was the outgoing, gregarious member of the group. When he was not fully engaged in the construction aspect of the business he was off running for a congressional seat from the state of Utah or the gubernatorial office. He was unsuccessful in both, but in doing so developed a wide network of people that could only have enhanced the influence of Utah Construction.
E. O. Wattis was the opposite. While not lacking in tenacity and diligence, he was more reserved and private and preferred to be close to home and family, the center of his life.
Not much is known about Warren Wattis.
Weber State University Sympsium, October, 2007- Stanford Layton on the Wattis brothers
Utah History Encyclopedia
Utah History Encyclopedia