Harvey Slocum (October 23, 1887 – November 11, 1961) was an American civil engineer and dam-building expert, known primarily for his part in the construction of Grand Coulee Dam in the United States and the Bhakra Dam in India.[1] Slocum had little formal education, he started out as a labourer in a steel mill but eventually rose to the position of construction superintendent on the Grand Coulee Dam.[2] Harvey Slocum was then Construction Superintendent of the Bull Shoals Dam built between 1947 and 1951.[3]

Slocum joined the Bhakra Dam construction project as chief engineer in 1952 and imprinted on it his own distinctive style of working. He was a flamboyant personality who drove a current model powder blue Cadillac convertible; not expected of an engineer in those times in India.[2] He was also known as a stern disciplinarian. All officers and workers on the dorm were mandated to dress uniformly and historian Ramachandra Guha writes that Slocum "could not abide the sloth and inefficiency that was rampant around him".[2] Many workers from the United States Bull Shoals Dam project joined Slocum on the construction of the Bhakra Dam. A small city was constructed to house the U.S. workers. Slocum died in New Delhi at age 74.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Harvey Slocum, Dam Builder, Dies; Consultant on Grand Coulee and Hoover Projects, 74," New York Times. November 12, 1961
  2. 1 2 3 Guha, Ramachandra (2007). India After Gandhi, page 215. Pan Macmillan Ltd., London.
  3. ↑ Gauntt, Vernon Case (2023). HARVEY SLOCUM: BEST DAM MAN IN THE WORLD. ISBN 979-8-3889-3679-0.

References

  • Downs, L. Vaughn. (1993). The mightiest of them all: memories of Grand Coulee Dam. New York: ASCE Press. ISBN 9780872629356; OCLC 28890824


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