Maxwell, George Hebard, 1860-1946

George Hebard Maxwell was born at Sonoma, California, June 3, 1860, the son of John Morgan and Clara Hebard Maxwell. He attended public schools in Sonoma and San Francisco, and Saint Matthew’s Academy, San Mateo, California.

From 1879 to 1882 Maxwell was a court stenographer for the state and federal courts in California until he was admitted to the California bar. From 1882 to 1889 he practiced law with the firm of Judge Mesic, a prominent mining law specialist. In 1899 he abandoned his law practice and devoted the rest of his professional life to water development issues, and to a variety of social improvement causes. Maxwell was most prominent as co-founder, in 1899, and executive director of the National Reclamation Association, and as co-author of, and lobbyist for the Newlands-Hansbrough Bill; the National Reclamation Act of 1902.

Maxwell was an organizer and a “joiner.” Sometimes he held several positions concurrently. In 1907 he organized and became executive director of the American Homecroft Society, an advocacy organization for small farmers. He served as executive director of the Pittsburgh Flood Commission from 1908-1911. In 1912 and 1913 he lived in New Orleans where he was executive director of the Louisiana Reclamation Commission. For several years Mr. Maxwell lived in Zanesville, Ohio. He was a member of the Ohio State Water Conservation Board from 1931-1942, and also served on the water conservation committee of the Ohio Manufacturers Association.

Mr. Maxwell was married twice, in 1880 to Katherine Vaughn Lanpher, and in 1935 to Lillie Belle Richardson. He had two children; Donald Hebard Maxwell, his son, and Ruth Maxwell Denny, his daughter. Maxwell suffered a stroke in 1940 and soon thereafter he retired to Arizona. He died in Phoenix on December 1, 1946.

Maxwell was a lobbyist, publicist and journalist for the causes of reclamation and a unified, federally administered water policy. He played an important part in the development of United States water conservation, particularly in the arid Western States. He influenced legislation and systematic water development planning, river management, and flood control. In 1941 the National Reclamation Association named George Maxwell “Father of Reclamation.” In his theoretical approach Maxwell went beyond the thinking of his contemporaries. He believed water resources should be managed to benefit the majority of citizens, and that water was not the pre-emptive monopoly of a few powerful individuals or corporations. He rejected parochial attitudes and the limited projects sponsored by particular state and corporations. He advocated planned, nation-wide management for the common good.

Maxwell’s legal career provided him with his first exposure to water issues. Soon after he joined his firm he was assigned to try a series of irrigation district lawsuits. The California Supreme Court had already judged against his clients, and he embarked on an eight-year campaign to “educate” the public and reopen the cases. He succeeded, and won the cases for his clients. In the process he gained an appreciation of water issues, particularly as they affected the needs of small land holders. He also gained limited local notoriety as an authority on reclamation. His experience with communal irrigation projects was an additional influence on Maxwell's developing reclamation theory. As secretary of the San Francisco Merchants Committee, he helped raise funds for a Salvation Army communal agricultural experiment in the Salinas Valley. This experience, and his growing acquaintance with Latter Day Saints officials, who were involved with similar communities, and also in national reclamation advocacy projects, deeply influenced the young lawyer's commitment to water development coupled to cooperative rural improvement.

Maxwell traveled to Phoenix in 1896 to attend the Fifth National Irrigation Congress, an event that marked a turning point in his life. When he arrived, he was a minor regional figure within the water development movement. By the end of the Irrigation Congress he had achieved national recognition as a leader. Maxwell abandoned his legal practice the same year and moved to Phoenix soon after the Congress concluded. As a delegate to the Congress, Maxwell advocated systematic measures to promote public awareness of the organization’s activities. He urged the Congress to establish a press committee, to enlist support from the business community, and also a committee on legislation. In debate of issues, he sided with advocates of federal projects against projects promoted by individual states or private organizations.

George Maxwell was unsatisfied with the modest role the Irrigation Congress assumed for itself. In Wichita, Kansas, in 1899, he and two fellow delegates to the organization's eighth annual meeting founded the National Irrigation Association-later the National Reclamation Association. The founding members of the new organization intended that it should supersede the Irrigation Congress. One of the Association’s primary goals was to promote legislation, an activity which the Irrigation Congress consciously avoided. The Irrigation Association named Maxwell its executive director. He immediately set up offices in several cities, and established several publications, each tailored to a different reading audience. The National Homemaker was directed at Congress. The California Advocate was oriented towards businessmen. Opportunity was aimed at the agricultural community, and Maxwell’s Talisman was intended for the consumption of the general public.

Meanwhile, Maxwell worked effectively to settle disputes within the Arizona water development movement. A faction led by Governor Nathan Oakes Murphy wanted to protect the interests of the future state by pre-empting state lands prior to initiation of any water projects. An opposing faction advocated federal regulation and participation. Another dispute pitted large and small property holders against each other over the equitable distribution of construction cost assessments. Maxwell sided with the federalists and the small holders. His status as a newcomer to Arizona, however, and his ability to communicate, made him acceptable to all parties as a negotiator who had no overriding personal interests to fulfill.

The Reclamation Association sent Maxwell to Washington, D.C., in 1900, where he allied himself with other individuals promoting legislation. He already knew Senator William M. Stewart of Nevada, whom Maxwell had met when he was an attorney involved in a Tombstone mining case. Others with whom he worked were Nevada Representative Francis G. Newlands, B. A. Fowler, lobbyist for Maricopa County water interests, Frederick H. Newell of the United States Geological Survey and later director of the Reclamation Service; and Gifford Pinchot, prominent advocate of forestry management.

Representative Newlands, Newell and Maxwell drafted legislation which Newlands proposed in the House of Representatives. Maxwell convinced North Dakota Senator Henry Hansbrough, who originally was unsympathetic, to sponsor the bill in the Senate. Maxwell advised Newell and Gifford Pinchot when they wrote Theodore Roosevelt’s 1901 congressional speech on forestry and irrigation-a speech which provided substantial support for legislation. The Newlands-Hansbrough Bill-the National Reclamation Act-was enacted June 17, 1902. George Maxwell and B. A. Fowler are credited with assuring that cultivated privately owned lands were included within the scope of the act, a provision that assured applicability of subsequent federal project funds to agricultural lands.

Maxwell returned to Phoenix to campaign for creation of an organization able to take advantage of the new law, delivering several influential public speeches, most notably one at the Dorris Theater on October 2, 1902. The Salt River Valley Water Users Association was incorporated February 9, 1903, the first organization of its kind created under the provisions of the Reclamation Act. Congress soon approved funds for a dam at the confluence of Tonto Creek and the Salt River-the Salt River Project.

For forty-three years Mr. Maxwell continued his career of public advocacy. He testified often as an expert witness. In 1924, for example, Maxwell testified before the Federal Power Commission against a proposed power plant on Diamond Creek in Arizona. In 1925 and 1926, he spoke before the Senate and House Committees on Irrigation and Reclamation about the influence the proposed Highline Canal would have on development in the lower Colorado River basin. In 1931 he addressed the House Committee on Agriculture about the relationship of flood waters to wildlife conservation. The most significant legislation he influenced during his later career was the Newlands River Reclamation Amendment to the Rivers and Harbors Bill of August 3, 1917, legislation which established a national flood control policy.

George Maxwell personally edited and published Maxwell’s Talisman, and wrote many articles. His books, which were mostly compendia of his shorter writings, include The First Book of the Homecrofters (publication date unknown), Our Nation’s Greatest Defense-The Patriotism of Peace (1915), Golden Rivers and Treasure Vallies, Wasted Wealth from Wasted Waters (1929), The Argonauts of Golden California (a biography of his father, probably published in 1934) and The End of Unemployment-A Balance Wheel of Industry, the Nation’s Greatest Asset (1940).

Maxwell’s concepts were visionary and his approach was idealistic. Occasionally, perhaps, his imagery was unrealistic. He envisioned water diversion projects, for example, which would produce new forests that would in turn create regular rains in previously desert areas. His social projects were based on a sentimental and paternalistic view of the life of small farmers. Much of his interest in reclamation rested on his desire to “educate” this class and make it “self-sufficient.”

His efforts to secure systematic water management, on the other hand, were quite realistic. The legislation he wrote or influenced was pragmatic and dealt with basic issues. Maxwell was foremost a capable lobbyist and propagandist, but he recognized the qualifications of trained specialists. He was not a hydrologist or engineer; however, he worked effectively with these professionals and he had their respect. He was a good organizer and administrator, a skillful advocate and negotiator, capable of communicating his ideas attractively to ordinary, and to influential people on the level of their interest.

From the guide to the The George Hebard Maxwell Papers, MG 1, 1903-1955, (Arizona State Archives)