Dr. Orson W. Israelsen instructing a student in hydraulics, circa 1960 (USU A-board #0899)

Ray Benedict West (USU A-board #1395b)

Nevertheless, because of the legislative restriction, Winsor found it difficult to “get the particular courses I wanted.” To remedy the lack of engineering courses and faculty qualified to teach them, Widtsoe hired Ray B. West in 1912 to direct agricultural engineering and O. W. Israelsen in 1914 as an irrigation and drainage specialist. A Hyrum, Utah, farm boy who had recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a master’s degree in the field, water became Israelsen’s life’s work for the next forty years.

More than any other single member of the faculty, Ray B. West Sr. reestablished the engineering program at USU. Not only did he act as dean of the School of Engineering and Mechanical Arts, but he also designed much of the campus infrastructure during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1916, West designed the hydroelectric power plant below First Dam (State Dam) on the Logan River. The power plant furnished electricity to the campus and other institutions downstate.