New-York tribune., 1909-09-25
A NOTABLE CAREER.
A Story of the Achievements of John
HavS Hammond.

JcIa HAYS Hammond. mining engineer ana
profesSor of mining engineering in Yale Uni
Versits. belongs to that small class Of engineers
IN America whose Aapry function it has been to
makc history while contributing to tIe material
proer's> OF tie world.
OtHer members Of his class-EckIcy z Coke
AIexauder l.. Holley ana George s Morrison
have closed their record It was no fault Of the
force Of circumstances that Mr.. Hammond did
not close his. Certainly 1t is given to few men
60 witness the preparations for their execution
as did the four leaders Of the reform movement
in johannesburg. guardians OF S15O.OO0OOO Of
property aud an estimated possibility Of $1,000
OO0.G1 in the Witwattersrand district alone
For time nation held its breath, fearing the
misguided destruction Of these men. Thanks to
public opinion throughout the United states and
England and the vigorous protest Of Secretary
Of state Oney. tie TransvaaI did not infiict
upon itself this everlasting disgrace.
During these trying days Mr Hammond's wife
added to the Iustre OF American and Southern
WomanhoOd by her royal devotion to her i'm
peril'cd and for q time. desperately Ill hus-
band. There is no more thrilling chapter in the
John
Hays Hammond's little book-akin to Mrs. Gus
ters Boots and Saddlcs"-in which she gives
an intimate account Of the prelude Of the Boer
war.
Mr.. Iiammond's preliminary training has been
unconscously ideal It was gained at Yale dur
ing those years when the Sheffield Scientific
School was bewailing its lack Of technical facili-
ties and giving its graduates training in the
fundamental principles of engineering and good
Engish-a course of training which LED to the
production of men who later have occupied the
highest positions in engineering life. After re-
ceiving his bachelors degree in 1876 he studied
applied metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines.
at Freiburg Saxony.
His professional life began in that splendid
school the United States Geological Survey. and
most appropriately, in the gold fields of his
native state. California where he was born. in
the city Of San Francisco on March 81 1883.
After lie had Incorporated much valuable sta
tisticai information in the mineral census he
took charge Of the Se6ora silver mines. but
later returned to California having as his chief
clients the mines in Grass Valley, the Union
Iron Works and the Central and Southern Pa
cinc railroads
It was not until 1899. when the BarDato
brothers brought him from San Francisco to
London, that he entered upon his remarkable
career in the development of South Africa His
Friendship with the Barnato brothers and with
Cecil Rhodes led to the systematic development.
without restraint. of the greatest mining enter
prise that the world has ever seen. 1t was only
natural that the South African republic should
have been first amazed, then suspicious and
lastly covetOus OF the vast wealth within its
territory made available by the great plant Of
efficient mining machinery. much of it American.
and the development introduced by Mr.. Ham
mcnd 1t was also natural that at Johannes
burg-wth its nine thousand white employees.
with an annual wage account of over $4,000. 900.
and sg. enty thousand Kafir employees, with an