William I. Baucus Papers, 1903-1919

Biographical Note

William I. Baucus was born in Hoosick, NY in 1866. Upon graduating from RPI in 1887 he accepted a position in Boston, MA where for the next three years he was engaged in the construction of the Clinton reservoir. For the next two years Mr. Baucus was connected with the Hoosac Marble Quarry in North Adams, MA. He then became a member of the civilian staff of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and was sent to Panama City. Here he designed and built the Ancon Reservoir, which was constructed in connection with the building of the Panama Canal. Upon its complettion he was sent to Havana, Cuba, where he was also engaged in water works projects for the United States Government, in connection with the American intervention. Subsequently, Baucus went to San Domingo, where military intervention had also been found necessary, as a government engineer. After spending nine years in this service, he returned to the United Sates and was assigned to an intercoastal waterways survey, where he was in charge of the work along the coast between Boston and Narragansett Bay. Upon completion of this work Baucus returned to North Adams for a vacation in 1919 and while there was induced by the commissioner of public works to accept a temporary appointment to the position of city engineer. Upon insistence of members of the city government he agreed to remain as city engineer and served in that capacity until March 1924, when he resigned to accept the corresponding position in Northhampton, MA. Baucus died in Northhampton on Nov. 6, 1936.

Scope and Content Note

The William I. Baucus Papers contain a small collection of postcards and a photograph album reflecting the travels and the engineering work in which Baucus was engaged. The postcards, collected or posted, include images of Panama (1903-1904), such as the Culebra cut, Cuba (1908), Grand Turk Island (1912), and the Dominican Republic (1912).

The photograph album contains a loosely organized presentation of its images with nearly every image identified. The album contains photographs of individuals and work sites in Central and Caribbean America with which Baucus was associated: The Isthmian Canal Commission, construction of the Panama Canal and various water systems, roads, railroads, and wharves. Also included are fascinating shots of the indigenous population, their homes, cities, harbors, mills, customs and festivals. Of special interest are photographs of Secretary and Mrs. Howard Taft (1904), President Theodore Roosevelt's visit to the Canal Zone (1906), the siege of Santo Domingo (1914), and a flood in Northampton, MA (n.d.)

Contents - 1 Flat box - 2 scrapbooks