William E. Rawlings Papers, 1932-1973

William Eber Rawlings was born in Sheridan, Indiana in 1904. He graduated from Purdue University College of Agriculture in 1926, majoring in Animal Husbandry. He began his career working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Extension Service, the first 14 years in Indiana, and then transferring to Idaho. In 1942 he joined the War Relocation Authority, working in Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Montana. While working in Hunt, Idaho as Project Director for the Minidoka Relocation Center he began working on irrigating land for war food production.

In 1946, Rawlings was transferred to the Bureau of Reclamation office in Billings, Montana, as Project Supervisor for the Missouri River Basin Project, and in 1952 became Regional Irrigation Supervisor for Region 6, an area that covered the northern Plains.

In 1960, he became the manager of the Columbia Basin Project, headquartered in Ephrata, Washington. He served there for ten years, retiring in 1970. It was during his tenure that the Columbia Basin Project continued expansion, and saw the construction of the third power plant on the Grand Coulee Dam.

Rawlings died in Spokane in 1973.