Marshall, R. B. (Robert Bradford), 1867-1949

Biography

Robert Bradford Marshall, geographer and father of the Marshall Plan for irrigation and water conservation of the Central Valley in California, was born in Amelia County, Virginia in 1867. He entered the U.S. Geological Survey as a geographer in 1889, became Geographer of the Pacific Division in 1907 and was appointed Chief Geographer of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1910. This position he held until 1915 when he was appointed Superintendent of Parks. He resumed the position of Chief Geographer in 1917. In 1919 he resigned his government post to devote himself fully to developing and publicizing his Marshall Plan of irrigation and water control of the Central Valley of California. Due in part to his extensive and intensive schedule of speeches, he developed a severe throat irritation requiring the removal of his larynx in 1927. He thereby lost power of speech and was able to converse only with the aid of an artificial larynx. In 1928 he was appointed State Landscape Engineer in the California Division of Public Works where his duties related to highway beautification and safety. At this time he also did considerable research for the California State Planning Board concerning California and her natural resources. He retired at the age of 70 in 1937 and died in 1949 after several years of ill health, shortly before the completion of one of his dreams, the Shasta Dam.

He married Myra Crow of California in 1896, and had two daughters, Evelyn Bradford Marshall (Mrs. Philip Maddox) and Virginia Mann Marshall.

From the guide to the Robert Bradford Marshall Papers, 1898-1949, (The Bancroft Library.)