Archives West Finding Aid

Thomas Caldwell Adams was born in Salt Lake City on May 12, 1901. He was the only son of Thomas and Emily Caldwell Adams. His father, an attorney, died of typhoid fever on October 11, 1905 at the age of 45. Thomas attended school in Salt Lake City, including the LDS High School from 1915-1918. In the latter year he began studies in Civil Engineering at the University of Utah. His summers were spent working for various engineering firms engaged in drainage surveys around the state of Utah. He graduated from the University in 1922 and went to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York for his graduate studies. He received his Ph. D. from there in 1926 and spent one year working on a special investigation for the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

From 1927 to 1941 he was a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Utah. In 1934, he was made president of the Utah Society of Engineers, an indication of the high standing in which he was held by his colleagues. He spent 1934 and 1935 as the director of the Great Salt Lake Diking Investigations, which were done under the auspices of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. In 1935 he was made a member of the Great Salt Lake Authority. Other professional organizations in which he held office during this time were the American Geophysical Union, the Utah Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Letters and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

His growing expertise in the field of hydrology was reflected by his position as Hydraulic Engineer for the National Resources Planning Board from March to September 1941. In October of 1941, Adams joined the Office of Production Management of the federal government, and was employed there until February of 1942, when he moved to another federal agency, the War Production Board. He stayed with the latter organization until the end of the war in 1945. In that year, he decided to leave both government and teaching and went into business for himself as a private consulting engineer until his death in 1965. During this time, in 1955, he was named president of the Utah Building and Construction Congress.

Besides his busy professional life, Dr. Adams had other interests, many of which centered around the Great Salt Lake. He was a founding member of the Great Salt Lake Yacht Club, and served as its Commodore for several years. He published papers about the lake, and was considered one of the state's foremost authorities on it. His interests also included the history of Saltair Resort, and he was an administrative officer of the Saltair Restoration Division of the Yacht Club. Adams strongly advocated the restoration of the resort. Other activities included serving as Executive Secretary of the Great Salt Lake Lands Association, acting as a leader in the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and membership in Kiwanis and the Timpanogas Club. He never married.