Rhodin, Carl Jonas, 1877-1932.

Biography

Carl Jonas Rhodin was born on May 11, 1877 in Kongelf, Sweden, the son of Carl Joseph Theodor and Caroline Gustava Nathalia (Trahn) Rhodin. He attended schools in England and at Gothenburg, Sweden, where he entered the university. He completed his training in civil and electrical engineering at the Royal Technical University in Stockholm, from which he was graduated in 1900. After some experience in harbor construction work, he came to the United States in 1902, and during the next two years was employed as construction engineer on the Thebes Bridge across the Mississippi River. Thereafter he practiced almost continuously as a construction engineer, principally in California and other Pacific coast states.

Among the more important of Rhodin's works, which he either planned, constructed or supervised, were the extensions and additions to the De Sabla Hydraulic Power System for the California Gas & Electric Co. (1906), hydraulic improvements in Sacramento (1907-1908), and the design and construction of several of the largest buildings in San Francisco. After 1908 he devoted particular attention to investigations of hydroelectric developments, land reclamation, valuation and rate fixing, and projected railway extensions. Among the corporations retaining his services in such capacities were the Southern Pacific Railroad Co., Great Western Power Co., Pacific Gas & Electric Co., and others in Japan and China.

For many years Rhodin was chairman of the section on city planning of the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Society of Swedish Engineers and Engineers Club of San Francisco. He was an ardent yachtsman and wrote a number of articles for magazines devoted to the sport. His most valuable contribution was in the development of standards of performance and methods for handicap racing, which he calculated scientifically. Owing to his expert knowledge of the subject, he was selected as one of the judges of the international races during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. He was married April 22, 1908, to Grace Margaret Cook, daughter of Alexander Cook, of San Francisco, and had a son, Carl William Rhodin.

Carl J. Rhodin died May 2, 1932 in Oakland, California.

From National Cyclopedia of Biography, Vol. 24, p. 336-337.

From the guide to the Carl Jonas Rhodin Papers, bulk 1909-1930, (Water Resources Collections and Archives)