[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 27, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E16]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF GEORGE CHAFFEY JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. JAY KIM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 27, 1998

  Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor one of 
California's true pioneers--George Chaffey Jr., on the 150th 
anniversary of his birth.
  George Chaffey Jr., who was born on January 28, 1848, emigrated with 
his family to Southern California from Canada in 1880, went on to found 
the communities of Etiwanda and Ontario, as well as developing what are 
now the cities of Ontario, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga. Additionally 
Mr. Chaffey founded the California cities of Imperial, and Calexico, as 
well as the Australian Cities of Mildura and Renmark.
  In Etiwanda, now a part of modern day Rancho Cucamonga, George 
Chaffey became the first person west of the Rocky Mountains to design 
and install a hydroelectric power system to generate electricity that 
lit two towering 3,000 candlepower arc lights on his property.
  The Chaffey-Garcia house in Rancho Cucamonga was the first in 
Southern California to use Edison's electric incandescent lamps. 
Chaffey also installed the world's first long-distance telephone lines, 
and founded the first mutual water company in California.
  In Ontario, Chaffey integrated his four key principles: wide-scale 
irrigation of the land, construction of one main thoroughfare, 
establishment of Chaffey College as a branch of the University of 
southern California and prohibition of liquor sales.
  In 1901 George Chaffey designed and built 150 miles of canal from the 
Colorado River to Imperial California.
  In 1942, ten years after his death, the U.S. Navy launched a Liberty 
Ship in San Pedro named the SS George Chaffey.
  It is an honor to pay tribute to this dedicated individual who 
through his vision and foresight helped to make the Inland Empire, and 
indeed California the dynamic and liveable places that they are today.




                          ____________________