E.C. LaRue photograph collection, 1922-1923

Eugene Clyde LaRue (1879 - 1947) was born in Riverside, California. He recieved an engineering degree from the University of California in 1904 and worked as an engineer for the United States Geological Survey until 1927. He conducted field investigations for potential dam sites, irrigation systems, and power generation. He was very interested in Colorado River water development and in 1922 he became the chairman of the Arizona Engineering Commission. He was a consulting engineer with B.F. Jakobsen from 1927 to 1933. From 1933 to 1947 he worked for the Army Corp of Engineers with the Los Angeles Flood Control District. He married Mabel Ruth Elton in Salt Lake City in 1911. The couple had three daughters, Merle, Roberta, and Annette.

The Birdseye expedition of 1923 surveyed the 251 mile streach of the Colorado River which ran between Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek. The two major goals of the expedition was to locate potential dam sites and create a series of maps and profiles of the area. Eventually the expedition published 14 maps from the expedition that were used in the creation of Hoover and Parker Dams as well as the Colorado River Aqueduct and the Central Arizona Project. LaRue was the expedition hydrologist and photographer. In addition to the stereoviews found in this collection, he also took panoramic images and motion picture film. In addition to LaRue and Birdseye, the expedition also included Roland W. Burchard, Dr. Raymond C. Moore, Emery Kolb, Leigh Lint, H.E. Blake, and Lewis Freeman.