Warren Abraham Bechtel (September 12, 1872 – August 28, 1933) was the founder of the

Bechtel Corporation Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the '' Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as ...

, the 2nd largest construction company in

the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

as of 2022.

Early life

Warren Abraham Bechtel was born on September 12, 1872, on a stock farm in

Freeport, Illinois Freeport is the county seat and largest city of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,973 at the 2020 census, and the mayor of Freeport is Jodi Miller, elected in 2017. Freeport is known for hosting the second Linc ...

, as the fifth child of Elizabeth (Bentz) and John Moyer Bechtel in a family of two boys and five girls. In 1884, his family moved to Kansas. In 1891, Warren graduated from Peabody High School in

Peabody, Kansas Peabody is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. It is named after F.H. Peabody, of Boston, former vice-president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Peabody is well known in the region for its Independence Day Celebration o ...

. In 1897, Warren married Clara Alice West, from

Aurora, Indiana Aurora is a city in Center Township, Dearborn County, Indiana, United States. The population was 3,750 at the 2010 census. Geography Aurora is located at (39.058551, -84.906351). According to the 2010 census, Aurora has a total area of , of wh ...

, whom he had met while she visited her uncle (E.F. Davison) in Peabody.

Career

In 1898, Bechtel and his wife moved from their farm near

, to the Oklahoma Territory to construct railroads with his own team of mules. Bechtel moved his family frequently between construction sites around the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

for the next several years and eventually moved to

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, in 1904, where he worked as the superintendent on the

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

on its Richmond and Santa Fe lines. In 1906, W. A. Bechtel won his first subcontract to build part of the Oroville-to-Oakland section of the Western Pacific Railroad. The same year, he bought his own steam shovel, becoming a pioneer of the new technology. He painted "W.A. Bechtel Co." on the side of the steam shovel, effectively establishing Bechtel as a company though it was not yet incorporated. Over the next 20 years, Bechtel built a sizable contracting business that specialized in railroad and highway building. One of Bechtel's earliest major contracts was grading the site of the

Oroville, California Oroville (''Oro'', Spanish for "Gold" and ''Ville'', French for "town") is the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. The population of the city was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 2000 census. Following the ...

, depot for the

, then under construction. In 1919, Warren Bechtel and his partners (including his brother Arthur) built the

Klamath Highway Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon ** Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon *Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States ...

in California, and in 1921, Warren Bechtel partners won a contract to build the water tunnels for the Caribou Hydroelectric Facility in that state. In 1925, Warren, his sons Warren Jr,

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

Kenneth Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byn ...

(Ken), and his brother Arthur (Art) joined to incorporate as W.A. Bechtel Company. In 1926, the new company won its first major contract, the Bowman Lake dam in

Nevada County, California Nevada County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 102,241. The county seat is Nevada City. Nevada County comprises the Truckee- Grass Valley, CA Micropolit ...

. The firm would later partner with other companies to form

Six Companies Six Companies, Inc. was a joint venture of construction companies that was formed to build the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in Nevada and Arizona. They later built Parker Dam, a portion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the Colorado River Aqueduct ...

to help engineer the famous Hoover Dam over the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

, still considered the largest civil engineering project in US history. In 1930, Bechtel constructed a natural gas pipeline from

Tracy, California Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 93,000 at the 2020 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle formed by Interstate 205 on the north side of the city, Inters ...

, to

Crockett, California Crockett (formerly Crockettville) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Contra Costa County, in the East Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. The population was 3,094 at the 2010 census. It is located 28 miles northeast of San ...

, for Standard Oil and a pipeline from

Milpitas, California Milpitas ( Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Mar� ...

, to Tres Pinos, California, for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. In 1931, Bechtel replaced

William Henry Wattis William Henry Wattis, also known as W. H. Wattis (August 15, 1859 – September 13, 1931), was one of the three Wattis Brothers who founded Utah Construction Company in 1900. Early life William Henry Wattis was born on August 15, 1859, in Uinta ...

as president of the Six Companies.

Death

Bechtel died of an accidental insulin overdose on a business visit to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, to inspect the Dnieprostroi Dam, in 1933. He died in the Hotel National. He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in

Legacy

His son, Stephen D. Bechtel Sr., took over the firm upon his father's death. The Bechtel Corporation is still owned and operated by the Bechtel family. Its current CEO is

Brendan Bechtel Brendan Peters Bechtel (born 1981) is an American businessman who is the chairman and CEO of the Bechtel Group, Inc., the second largest construction company in the United States, which has operations in 160 countries. The great-great-grandson ...

References

External links

Bechtel Corporation history

Obituary of Warren A. Bechtel
Peabody Gazette-Herald; October 12, 1933.
Obituary of Arthur V. Bechtel
Peabody Gazette-Herald; June 20, 1946. Some history about the involvement of his brother in the Bechtel company.
''Six Companies, Now Single Unit, Ready to Sign Contract for Hoover Dam''
newspaper article; 1931, includes photo of W.A. Bechtel Sr, S.D. Bechtel, K.K. Bechtel. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bechtel, Warren A. 1872 births 1933 deaths People from Freeport, Illinois People from Peabody, Kansas People from the San Francisco Bay Area Bechtel American company founders American construction businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California) accidental deaths in the Soviet Union