Background
Andrew Jackson Wiley was born on July 15, 1862 in New Castle County, Del. , the son of John and Mary (Hukill) Wiley.
Andrew Jackson Wiley was born on July 15, 1862 in New Castle County, Del. , the son of John and Mary (Hukill) Wiley.
He attended Newark Academy, Newark, Del. , graduating at the head of his class and winning a scholarship at Delaware College, where he was graduated in engineering in 1882.
He spent a year on surveys and construction for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company in Delaware and Maryland. In 1883 he entered the field of irrigation work at Boise, Idaho, with the Idaho Mining & Irrigation Company. From 1886 to 1888 he was assistant engineer on construction for the Union Pacific Railway Company in Montana. In the latter year he again became associated with the Idaho Mining & Irrigation Company, in connection with an irrigation project in southern Idaho. From 1892 to 1898 he was chief engineer and manager of the Owyhee Land & Irrigation Company in the construction of a large irrigation project in the same state. Land development and irrigation work was at this time difficult and discouraging in results, and Wiley's financial returns were relatively small. About 1900 conditions became more favorable and during the next thirty years Wiley was busy upon a continuous procession of great irrigation and power projects in Idaho, Oregon, California, and other Western states. In addition to numerous non-federal enterprises, he was also consultant to the United States Bureau of Reclamation from its inception in 1902, and from 1925 he held a similar appointment for the Department of the Interior at large. His assignments included practically all of the major government dams, such as the Belle Fourche, Shoshone, Roosevelt, Pathfinder, Arrowrock, Owyhee, and Hoover (now Boulder). These projects included the ranking high masonry dams of the world, many of them between 300 and 400 feet in height, and the last-named 727 feet. Wiley's work included many detailed studies of design as well as periodical field inspections during construction. Acting as consultant for the British government in 1927-28, he investigated dam sites in the Himalayas, and as a result the Bhakra Dam, about 500 feet high, was designed. His professional engagements also took him to Puerto Rico several times. In 1928, following the great St. Francis dam disaster in California, Wiley was chosen to report upon the safety of the twenty or more bureau of reclamation dams. He also was retained to make a similar investigation for the city of Los Angeles. At the time of his death his consulting engagements included such outstanding works as the $165, 000, 000 Boulder Canyon project, the $220, 000, 000 aqueduct of the metropolitan water district of southern California, and the $400, 000, 000 Columbia River project in Washington. He made his home in Boise, Idaho, but died in Monrovia, Cal.
He became known as a man of the highest integrity "whose word alone was a guarantee of performance" and thus laid a sound foundation for his later accomplishments. He was the first engineer to be named for the Boulder Dam consulting board, where his broad experience and sound judgment were invaluable in the preliminary studies of this great project. He was also consulted about projects of other departments of the federal government, including the design and construction of the Coolidge Dam, the Madden Dam and power plant for the Canal Zone, and the Columbia River Basin power and irrigation project. His engineering career was exceptionally brilliant and his reputation as a consultant was of the highest, both in the United States and abroad.
He greatly enjoyed the companionship of friends and was a genial and entertaining host. His kindness and consideration of others always secured the loyalty and diligence of his associates.
He never married.
