Harry V. Gates

Harry Gates was born on July 30, 1847, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to John M. and Lydia S. (née Bowker) Gates.{{cite book|last=William Leonard|author2=Winfield Scott Downs|others=M. M. Lewis|title=Who's Who in Engineering|publisher=John W. Leonard Corporation|year=1922|volume=1|pages=483|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nD4MAQAAIAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro&pg=PA483}} He grew up in Iowa where he attended the local public schools in DeWitt. In 1862, he enlisted with the 6th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry during the time of the American Civil War. Gates was a private, later serving as bugler, and spent three years in the military, leaving in 1865. His unit fought against Native Americans on the Great Plains.

Following his time in the army, he worked for the Davenport and St. Paul Railroad as a leveler in 1869 and then in 1870 was placed in charge of building track and bridges on the Callao, Lima & Oroya Railway in Peru. Gates married in 1871 to Helen Melvina Batcheller, and they had three children, Oliver, Helen, and Samuel.{{cite journal|last=Pruyn|first=John V.I.|title=Pruyn Family – American Branch|journal=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record|volume=XXIX|issue=4|date= October 1898|page=227|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdQUAAAAYAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro%20oregon%20-%22north%20carolina%22%20-%22florida%22&pg=RA3-PA227}} In 1880, he worked for the Northern Pacific Railway where he was responsible for the locating party through the Cascade Range. The next year Gates started working for the Oregon & Pacific Railroad in Corvallis, first as their locater then as superintendent of construction, and in 1886 he was the railroad's superintendent. Gates continued to work for the railroads, and was responsible for the construction of over 2,000 miles of track from 1891 until 1922. He worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as superintendent of construction from 1887 until 1891 when he moved to Hillsboro, Oregon.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110819110529/http://kimfitzgerald.net/Hillsboro/pdf/43.pdf Rice-Gates House.]}} Oregon Historic Site Form, Hillsboro Local Inventory Update 2008. Retrieved on April 29, 2009. Gates was also the chief engineer for the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company for a time.

Gates voted for Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election, and remained a Republican the rest of his life. In 1894, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives from Washington County.{{cite web|url=http://records.sos.state.or.us/ORSOSWebDrawer/Recordpdf/6785276|title=1895 Regular Session (18th)|work=Oregon Legislators and Staff Guide|publisher=Oregon State Archives|access-date=6 December 2009}} Gates represented District 56 and served only in the 1895 legislative session.

File:Rice-Gates House Hillsboro Oregon front.JPG

File:Harry V Gates - Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery Oregon.JPG

Following his main career with the railroads, Gates began a second career as an engineer for water projects. In 1896, he and George T. Baldwin built the Linkville Light & Water Plant on the Link River near Klamath Falls, Oregon.{{cite journal|last=Chapman|first=C. C. |date=January 4, 1919|title=Who's Who in the Senate|journal=Oregon Voter: Weekly Magazine of Citizenship|volume=16|issue=1|page=12|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxxAAAAAYAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro%20oregon%20-%22north%20carolina%22%20-%22florida%22&pg=PA12}} Gates also served as the engineer for the Heppner Light & Water Company in Eastern Oregon in addition to his duties as engineer, superintendent, and president of the Hillsboro Electric Light & Water Company at the turn of the century.{{cite book|title=The Manual of American Water-Works, 1897|editor=Moses Nelson Baker|editor-link=Moses Nelson Baker|publisher=The Engineering News Publishing Co.|location=New York|year=1897|page=[https://archive.org/details/manualamericanw00bakegoog/page/n564 550]|url=https://archive.org/details/manualamericanw00bakegoog|quote=gates hillsboro.}}

Gates was selected as the Commander of the Oregon Department of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1899.{{cite book|title=The Chicago Daily News Almanac and Political Register for 1900|publisher=Chicago Daily News Company|year=1900|page=[https://archive.org/details/chicagodailynew00unkngoog/page/n286 280]|url=https://archive.org/details/chicagodailynew00unkngoog|quote=gates hillsboro.}} He served three more terms as Commander of the Oregon chapter in the 1930s. In 1903, he purchased a new residence south of the downtown area on Walnut Street. The Second Empire style home had been built in 1890, and Gates lived there until 1927. In 1903, the Governor of Oregon appointed Gates to a committee to devise new laws governing water rights in the state.{{cite book|title=Second Annual Report of the Reclamation Service: 1902-3|editor=F. H. Newell|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=1904|page=45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vj4oAAAAYAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro%20oregon%20-%22north%20carolina%22%20-%22florida%22&pg=PA45}} He was a member of the Thirteenth National Irrigation Congress held in 1905 in Portland.{{cite book|title=Official Proceedings of the Thirteenth National Irrigation Congress|editor=Arthur F. Francis and C. H. Sholes|publisher=Bushong &. Co.|location=Portland, Oregon|year=1905|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lMkVAQAAIAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro&pg=PA35}}

As early as 1909 and through at least 1920 he served as a director for the Shute Savings Bank in Hillsboro.{{cite book|title=Eleventh Annual Report of the State Banking Department of the State of Oregon, 1919|editor=Will H. Bennett|publisher=State Printing Department|location=Salem, Oregon|year=1920|page=51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L9YZAAAAYAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro%20oregon%20-%22north%20carolina%22%20-%22florida%22&pg=PA51}}{{cite book|last=Sargent|first=S. G.|title=Tenth Annual Report of the State Banking Department of the State of Oregon 1917|publisher=State Printing Department|location=Salem, Oregon|year=1918|page=72|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YB8WAAAAYAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro%20oregon%20-%22north%20carolina%22%20-%22florida%22&pg=RA9-PA72}} He continued as president of what was later the Hillsboro Power and Investment Company.{{cite journal|date=September 1922|title=List of Members|journal=Journal of the American Water Works Association|publisher=American Water Works Association|volume=9|issue=5|pages=38|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAcTAAAAYAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro%20oregon%20-%22north%20carolina%22%20-%22florida%22&pg=RA1-PA38}} He was granted a license by the state to install an irrigation system and power generating facility on the Crooked River in Jefferson County in 1925 that provided electricity and water for his adjoining ranch.{{cite book|last=Cupper|first=Percy A.|title=Seventh Biennial Report of the State Engineer to the Governor of Oregon|publisher=State Printing Department|location=Salem, Oregon|year=1918|pages=33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qaYPAQAAIAAJ&q=gates%20hillsboro&pg=RA5-PA33}}

Along with his son Oliver, he owned a pipe making factory in Hillsboro and over 500 miles of telephone lines in Southern Oregon. Gates was a member of the Congregational Church, the American Association of Engineers, the American Water Works Association, and a member of the Masons, among other groups. Harry V. Gates died on October 13, 1935, in Portland at the age of 88 and was buried at the Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1025&dat=19351010&id=PbcMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4WQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5697,950274|title=H. V. Gates Long Prominent Here|date=October 17, 1935|work=Heppner Gazette Times|page=1|access-date=9 December 2009|volume=52 |number=32}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.org/or/washington/cemeteries/hill-e-h.txt|title=Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery Inscriptions, Surnames E - H, Hillsboro, Washington County, Oregon|last=Oliver|first=Vickey Greer|work=Cemeteries|publisher=USGenWeb Archives|access-date=9 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303012926/http://files.usgwarchives.org/or/washington/cemeteries/hill-e-h.txt|archive-date=3 March 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} His former home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as the Rice–Gates House.{{cite web| title = Oregon National Register List| publisher = State of Oregon| url = http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/docs/oregon_nr_list.pdf| access-date = 2009-04-29| archive-date = 2011-06-09| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110609105953/http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/docs/oregon_nr_list.pdf| url-status = dead}}[http://www.hillsborohistorical.org/tour/jb/ricegates.html Rice-Gates House.]{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Hillsboro Historical Society. Retrieved on April 29, 2009. His ranch in Central Oregon became the Crooked River Ranch.{{cite report |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4obibzkPjToC&q=Fourteenth |date=1935-01-03|title=Fourteenth annual report of the Federal Power Commission, fiscal year ended June 30, 1934, with additional activities to December 1, 1934. Serial Set Vol. No. 9968, Session Vol. No.56; Report: H.Doc. 26|pages=216–217}}

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Category:Members of the Oregon House of Representatives

Category:Businesspeople from Oregon

Category:Engineers from Massachusetts

Category:Politicians from Hillsboro, Oregon

Category:People from DeWitt, Iowa

Category:Politicians from Lowell, Massachusetts

Category:1847 births

Category:1935 deaths

Category:Burials at Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery

Category:Grand Army of the Republic officials

Category:19th-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly