Harriet Williams Russell Strong
Personal Information
Born: 1844
Died: 1926
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
private tutors; Miss Mary Atkin's Young Ladies Seminary (now Mills College)
Professional Life
Field of Study: Inventor; Conservation
Institution/Corporation: none
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra Association Ebell of Los Angeles Friday Morning Club Ruskin Arts Club Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce (1st female member) Inland Waterway Association of San Francisco Trustee of the University of Southern California Law School Business League of America National American Woman Suffrage Association
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 2001 National Women's Hall of Fame; 2016 National Inventors Hall of Fame; won 2 medals at the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago
Achievements: invented a system of dams & water reservoirs for water storage & flood control which after her death led to the construction of the Hoover Dam & the All American Canal; founded the Paso de Bartolo Water Company; was a musical composer; founded Ebell of Los Angeles; developed an innovative way to grow & process pampas plumes & had a profitable business selling them to milliners; also farmed walnuts (had the largest walnut farm in America at the time) olives citrus & pomegranates; was the force behind the Los Angeles Flood Control Act of 1915 & served on the flood control board
Primary innovator of dry land irrigation & water conservation techniques in late 19th century southern California
1887, patented her invention of a system of dams & reservoirs for water storage & flood control
Her invention enabled the construction of the Hoover Dam & the All-American Canal
Was also a successful musical composer
Her husband committed suicde when she was 39 due to financial problems; he left her with 4 daughters (ages 10 to 14) & high debts
She was self-taught in the field of agriculture to save her husband's ranch & provide for her family; she had help from some neighboring farmers who also benefitted from her water conservation & irrigation techniques; after approximately 5 years she had the largest walnut farm in the US
For the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, with the help of her daughters, she designed the award winning Pampas Plume Palace, made almost entirely of pampas grass, another of her money-making crops
During WWI she was an advocate for a national irrigation system
Advocated for suffrage saying, "When the majority of women understand the business methods of the world, they will be asked to assist in the affairs of government"
Held 5 patents