Hutchins, Wells A. (Wells Aleck), 1888-1970

Biography

Wells A. Hutchins, a nationally recognized authority on Western water laws, had completed over 62 years of service with the Department of Agriculture at the time of his death in Berkeley, California, on September 19, 1970. As an employee of Natural Resource Economics Division, he was completing the final draft of his comprehensive, multi-volume work, State Water Rights Laws of the Nineteen Western States.

Mr. Hutchins began his government career in 1908, when he joined the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Soils as an irrigation economist. Over the years he worked with a number of other agencies in the Department, including the Office of Extension Service, Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering, Bureau of Public Roads, Bureau of Agricultural Engineering, Soil Conservation Service, and lastly, Economic Research Service and predecessor agencies. After reaching retirement age in 1958, following nearly 50 years of Federal service, Mr. Hutchins was reemployed each year so that he could complete his important book on the law of water rights in the Western States. He received recognition for 60 years of Federal service in 1968. The occasion was marked by special recognition from the Secretary of Agriculture.

Mr. Hutchins wrote dozens of books, papers, and articles on water laws and water rights in the Western States. His Selected Problems in the Law of Water Rights in the West has been a classic in its field since 1942. Another major work, California Law of Water Rights, has been widely acclaimed as a masterpiece of exposition and analysis. He also wrote studies of water laws of Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Texas, and Utah. He helped many states draw up improved water laws and in the 1940's served as chairman of the National Reclamation Association's committee to formulate desirable water law principles for the West. He also lectured on water law and institutions at the University of California at Davis and Berkeley.

From the guide to the Wells A. Hutchins Papers, 1917-1967, (Water Resources Collections and Archives)