Farrar, Irwin E., 1893-1983.

Irwin Elmer Farrar was born in 1893 near Camarillo, CA; attended Univ. of Southern Calif. and Stanford Law School; admitted to the CA bar and began practicing law in 1916; became president of Sierra Alfalfa Company, and later of the Farrar-Loomis Seed Company, experimenting with a new kind of sugar beet and seed; secretary, Corona Chamber of Commerce; founded Hemet chapter of Chamber of Commerce in 1919; in 1944 he became interested in water seepage from San Jacinto tunnel of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which lead to the formation of the San Jacinto River Protection Committee; he remained involved with water supply issues until the completion of California State Water Project in 1973; died in 1983.

Biography

Irwin Elmer Farrar was born in 1893 near Camarillo, California; attended University of Southern California and Stanford Law School; admitted to the California bar and began practicing law in 1916; became president of Sierra Alfalfa Company, and later of the Farrar-Loomis Seed Company, experimenting with a new kind of sugar beet and seed; secretary, Corona Chamber of Commerce; founded Hemet chapter of Chamber of Commerce in 1919; in 1944 he became interested in water seepage from San Jacinto tunnel of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which lead to the formation of the San Jacinto River Protection Committee; he remained involved with water supply issues until the completion of California State Water Project in 1973; died in 1983.

Expanded Biographical/Historical Note

Irwin Elmer Farrar was born in 1893, near Camarillo, California. He studied at the University of Southern California and Stanford University, where he studied law. In 1916 he was admitted to the California bar and started private practice. He became president of La Sierra Alfalfa Company and later the Farrar-Loomis Seed Company, which experimented with a new type of sugar beet and new methods of producing that seed.

From the beginning of Mr. Farrar's professional and business career, he took an interest and initiative in business and civic affairs, first as secretary of the Corona Chamber of Commerce. In 1919 he founded in Hemet a chapter of the Chamber of Commerce and in 1922 the Kiwanis Club. He served in several other civic capacities.

In 1944 he became interested in the problems of water seepage from the San Jacinto tunnel of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. This resulted in the formation of the San Jacinto River Protective Committee and led to his involvement with problems of water supply which did not end until the completion of the California State Water Project in 1973.

The materials in this collection were for the most part assembled and organized by Mr. Farrar when writing his reminiscences in the Biography, a copy of which is in the collection. As far as possible, Mr. Farrar's headings for his own files and his own groupings of materials have been retained in the registering of this collection. Materials collected since the writing of the Biography were also organized with headings by Mr. Farrar and these, too, have been retained.

The collection is rich in materials dealing with water resources and the long processes involved in accomplishing goals through commissions and studies and eventual legislation. The collection contains correspondence from many important California political figures, such as Governors Edmund. G. Brown and Ronald Reagan, as well as many legislators--both state and national. The collection contains materials about Mr. Farrar's other political interests, his business activities (the sugar beet experiments, his years as bank director) and personal life (items collected and observations written from his various travels).