Golzé, Alfred R., 1905-

Biography

Alfred Rudolf Golzé was born July 6, 1905 in Washington, D.C., the son of Rudolph L. and Blanche W. Golzé. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1930 and later attended the University of Colorado and George Washington University. His engineering career began in Philadelphia in 1924 when he worked as an assistant draftsman on designs of the Broad Street Subway. After service with the Interstate Commerce Commission, he joined the Bureau of Reclamation in Denver as an assistant design engineer, where he studied the effect of earthquake forces on the canyon wall outlet works for Hoover Dam. He also did design work on structures for Grand Coulee Dam. In 1935 he became assistant supervising engineer for work connected with the reclamation projects carried on by 50 Civilian Conservation Corps camps located across the West, such as dams, canals, distribution lines, etc. After one year he was placed in complete charge of the CCC reclamation work and continued this assignment until 1941.

With the termination of the CCC program, he was made assistant supervisor of operations and maintenance in the Bureau of Reclamation and was in charge of all matters handled in Washington relating to operation of completed federal reclamation projects. In 1943 and 1944 he was with the United States Bureau of the Budget in San Francisco. With the title of principal engineering examiner, he had the task of exploring the post-war construction potentials of the West.

Golzé returned to the Bureau of Reclamation in 1945 as assistant director in the Division of Operation and Maintenance. During this time he was in charge of all activities concerned with technical performance of completed irrigation facilities on about 75 federal reclamation projects. From 1948 to 1958 he directed the program control, budgeting, and accounting operations of the Bureau. In 1958 he became assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation under Commissioner W. A. Dexheimer and remained in that position when Floyd E. Dominy was appointed Commissioner in 1959. His duties as assistant commissioner included not only the direction of the division of programs and finance but also personnel, foreign activities of the Bureau and coordination with the Corps of Engineers.

In February 1961, Golzé was appointed Chief Engineer of California's Department of Water Resources. Reporting only to Director William E. Warne (and later, William R. Gianelli ) he had full responsibility for design, scheduling, and construction of the California State Water Project, which included the design and construction of Oroville Dam, the North-South Aqueduct, and the high lift Tehachapi Crossing.

Golzé retired from DWR in 1971 and went to work for Burns & Roe, Inc., in Oradell, N.J. as chief water resources engineer. He served both the National Capital and Sacramento Sections of ASCE as president; was chairman of the Committee on Engineering Education, and the Committee on National Water Policy. He also served on the U.S. Committee on Large Dams and was the author Reclamation in the United States (McGraw-Hill, 1952; reprinted: Caxton Printers, 1961), which was recognized as an authoritative text and reference work on the subject.

Alfred R. Golzé died on February 23, 1987 in Sacramento, California.

From the guide to the Alfred R. Golzé Photographs, 1949-1971 (bulk 1961-1970), (Water Resources Collections and Archives)