Murphy, Franklin M., 1898-1957

Consulting geologist and surveyor Franklin Mac Murphy was born on December 27, 1898 in Wheaton, Minnesota. He studied at Columbia University, the University of Arizona, and the University of California, Los Angeles, completing his graduate studies in 1930 at the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California.

After his graduation, Murphy worked for the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). From 1930 to 1933 he provided surveys and geological mapping of the Eldorado Range in southern Nevada for the Hoover Dam site and vicinity. From 1933 to 1937, he worked as a geologist on irrigation and flood control projects, including the Colorado River Indian Irrigation Project. After 1940, Murphy acted as an independent geologist on many other dam sites and mining projects until his sudden death in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 10, 1957.

Sources:

Genealogical research on "Franklin Mac Murphy." Accessed December 12, 2019 on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org

Alumni death notice, "Franklin Mac Murphy." California Institute of Technology Alumni Association Engineering and Science newsletter, 1957. Accessed November 26, 2019, http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1849/1/personals.pdf