Multnomah-Clackamas-Yamhill County OR Archives Biographies.....Buck, George W. December 3, 1877 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 7, 2009, 11:21 am

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     GEORGE W. BUCK.  One of the most important positions in the 
administration of the public affairs of Multnomah county is that of 
roadmaster, the duties of which are being discharged in an able and 
satisfactory manner by George W. Buck, whose extensive experience as a civil 
engineer has well qualified him as the director of this department. Mr. Buck 
was born at St. Paul, Minnesota, on the 3d of December, 1877, and is a son of 
George W. Sr., and Charlotte Elizabeth (Chadwick) Buck, both of whom are 
deceased. His father was for many years a master mechanic on the Great 
Northern railroad.

     Mr. Buck attended the public schools, graduating from high school, and 
then entered the University of Minnesota. During vacations he was employed in 
survey work on the Great Northern railroad, and through actual practice and 
study became a civil engineer, and has followed that line of work to the 
present time. From 1900 to 1905 he was engaged in the building of the freight 
terminal yards for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad at Omaha, and also had 
charge of the location and construction of the double track road from Kansas 
City to Topeka for the Union Pacific Railroad. He has specialized in location 
work for railroads and in 1905 came to Oregon, where he ran the first railroad 
location across the state for the Harriman system, this work commanding his 
attention during 1905-06-07 on what is known as the Central Oregon line. Later 
he went to Utah, locating railroad lines for the Utah Copper Company and the 
Union Pacific Railroad, and in 1909 came to Portland as chief locating 
engineer for the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, with which he was 
connected for three years. He was then with the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 
Canada, locating and building that company's line over the Okanagan mountains, 
which work required two years. Returning then to Portland, Mr. Buck bought a 
ranch in Clackamas county, and for a time divided his attention between 
engineering work and farming. Later he sold that place and bought a ranch in 
Yamhill county, which he is still operating as a dairy farm and on which he 
lived for three years. In 1922 he moved back to Portland and accepted the 
position of consulting engineer in the legal department of the Union Pacific 
system, which relation he sustained until January, 1925, when he received from 
the board of county commissioners the appointment to his present position as 
county roadmaster. He has complete supervision of the county engineering, and 
the operation and maintenance of the county highways, buildings, bridges and 
ferries, and some idea of the importance of the work under his supervision may 
be gained from the statement that an average of over one million dollars a 
year is expended in his department. He has proven trustworthy and dependable, 
safeguarding the public interests and devoting himself to the maintenance of 
the public highways in the best possible condition.

     In 1900 Mr. Buck was united in marriage to Miss Caroline A. Spooner, of 
Mondamin, Iowa. He is a republican in his political views and is a member of 
Multnomah Lodge, No. 1, A. F. & A. M.; Portland Consistory, A. A. S. R.; Al 
Kader Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S.; the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and 
the Loyal Order of Moose, and also belongs to the Riverside Golf Club, of 
which he is a director, and the City Club. A man of earnest purpose, 
unquestioned ability and agreeable personality, he is highly regarded by all 
who know him and has many loyal friends throughout the city in which he lives.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 643-644

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/buck595gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/

File size: 4.3 Kb