Lockley, Fred.  "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the
Sea." Vol. 2.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928.  p. 23.

WILLIAM LEWIS CLARK

	William Lewis Clark, city engineer of Hood River, has had many years of
practical experience in surveying and supervising public work and is
discharging the duties of his present position in an able and satisfactory
manner. He was born in Baraboo, Sauk county, Wisconsin, on the 19th of May,
1867, and is a son of Newton and Mary (Hill) Clark. His paternal grandparents
were Thomas L. and Delilah (Saddoris) Clark, the former of whom was born in New
York and the latter in Pennsylvania. T. L. Clark drifted westward from the New
England States with the general trend of the pioneer of his day, spending some
years in Indiana and Illinois. At Lake Michigan he and his brothers operated one
of the first boats which was called the "Lucky Boy." This was before the
founding of the city of Chicago. From Illinois he moved to Wisconsin where he
followed lumbering and farming, and from there went to Denver in the late Ô60s
and was the pioneer truck farmer, supplying the new city with vegetables. He was
also the original owner of the townsite of Golden.
	His son, Newton Clark, was born in Illinois, May 27, 1838, and was but a lad
when the family went to Wisconsin, in which state he was reared, securing his
education in the public schools and at Point Bluff Institute, from which school
he was graduated with honors. He engaged in farming and for several years was
also identified with mercantile business in that state. He then became a
pioneer of South Dakota and was prominent in the affairs of the territory. He
was elected to the territorial legislature on the republican ticket and in that
body made an enviable record, his public services being so highly valued that
Clark county, that state, was named in his honor. He was chairman of the board
of county commissioners of Minnehaha county for a number of years and was
principal of the public schools of Sioux Falls. He was active in the conventions
of his party in that state and exerted a marked influence on the affairs of that
day. In 1877 he again turned his face westward and at Denver he was joined by
his father and mother and all three drove overland to Oregon, locating in Hood
River, in which locality he followed farming and surveying for eleven years. In
the latter vocation he did much effective work and made the first survey of the
upper Hood River valley. He was appointed grand recorder of the Ancient Order
of United Workmen, which necessitated his removal to Portland, and he held that
office up to the time of his death, which occurred in June, 1918. He was a
veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1861 as a private in Company K,
Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered out of the service
with the rank of regimental quartermaster in October, 1865. During his service
he took part in fourteen major engagements under General Grant; was all through
the western campaign, fighting under General Canby in the Red River campaign;
and was at the siege of Mobile when peace was declared. He furnished the flag
which was hoisted on the court house at Vicksburg on the declaration of peace.
In all the communities in which he resided he was regarded as an enterprising,
progressive and public-spirited citizen and at all times commanded the
unqualified confidence and respect of his fellowmen. He was a member of the
first Masonic lodge organized in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the early Ô70s;
was also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Grand Army of
the Republic. On October 14, 1860, at Freedom, Wisconsin, Newton Clark married
Miss Mary Hill, who was born in Greenock, Scotland, and whose death occurred in
Hood River, Oregon, in July, 1918, but a few weeks after the death of her
husband. She was a daughter of William Hill, who was a younger son of the Hill
family who operated flouring mills and sailed a fleet of grain ships from the
River Clyde. This business has been owned by the Hill family for generations and
is operated by the oldest son of the family today. When Mr. Clark was but four
months old, Mr. Hill brought his family to the United States, settling first in
Ohio but later moving to Wisconsin, where he spent the remainder of his life.
During his early years here he followed milling, but later turned his attention
to farming. His wife was a native of the Isle of Jersey.
	William Lewis Clark received his early schooling in South Dakota, and in
October, 1878, he accompanied his mother on the overland trip to Oregon, to
which state his father had preceded them the previous year. In the schools of
the Hood River valley he continued his studies, also attending a private school
in Hood River taught by Professor Thomas R. Coon, a pioneer educator of that
locality. Mr. Clark then worked under his father in surveying the upper Hood
River valley in Oregon and the White Salmon valley in Washington, and later on
was employed under his father in engineering work during the location and
construction of the railroad through the Columbia river canyon. He then secured
a position under John Q. Jamieson, assistant engineer for the Northern Pacific
Railroad, at that time in charge of construction of Stampede tunnel, where he
remained until the tunnel was holed through. Following this he was employed in
various capacities by the Northern Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads in
Washington, Oregon and California. In 1900 he was appointed deputy city engineer
by W. B. Chase, who was then city engineer of Portland. From 1903 to 1907 he was
in the employ of the United States engineers at Cascade locks under the then
Major W. C. Langfitt and James S. Polhemus, assistant engineer in the Portland
office. During this time he was in charge of the engineering work of two
contracts obtained by Kiernan & Taylor of Portland, who completed the middle
lock chamber and various other details of the lock plans, and was also
superintendent of the operating department of Cascade locks during the same
period.
	Resigning in 1907, Mr. Clark came to Hood River, where for ten years he was
engaged in the wholesale flour and grain business. In 1917 he entered the employ
of the state highway department, with which he was connected until 1922, when he
was appointed city engineer of Hood River, and is still serving in that
capacity.
	In 1889, at Middleton, Idaho, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss
Estella Mabee, a native of Lockwood, Missouri, and a daughter of S. P. and Mary
Jane Mabee, both of whom are still living in Missouri, where the father is
engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. and Mrs. Mabee are natives of Indiana,
in which state, in young manhood, the father enlisted in the Union army and
served four years. They are the parents of eight children, George, Frank, John,
Joseph, Jacob H., Ada, Cora and Estella. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have a son, Newton,
who was born in Hood River; was graduated in civil engineering from Leland
Stanford University, and is now employed as a surveyor in Hood River, being the
third engineer in the Clark family in direct line of descent. He is a member of
the Masonic order.
	William Lewis Clark is a member of Hood River Lodge No. 105, A. F. & A. M.,
of which he is a past master; Hood River Chapter No. 27, R. A. M., of which he
is a past high priest; Hood River Council No. 8, R. & S. M.; Hood River
Commandery No. 12, K. T., of which he is a past eminent commander; and Al Kader
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Portland. He has served on the board of directors
of the Hood River Chamber of Commerce, which was chiefly instrumental in
promoting the Columbia River highway. He has shown a deep and effective interest
in everything relating to the progress and advancement of his locality,
supporting all measures for the betterment of the public welfare, and has well
earned the reputation which he enjoys as one of Hood River's most valuable
citizens, while socially he is extremely popular throughout the range of his
acquaintance.

Submitted to the OR. Bios Project in September 2006 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
* * * * 
Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Oregon Biographies Project. 
The submitter has no further information on the individual featured in the
biography.