Charles Linza McNary was born in 1874 on a farm North of Salem, Oregon. He was the third son, and the ninth of ten children born to Hugh Linza and Mary Calggett McNary. Both of his parents died before his ninth birthday, so he was raised by his elder sister, Nina. McNary spent his early years on the farm, and his commitment to agriculture and open spaces became the cornerstone of his career.
Education
McNary began his education in a one-room school in Keiser. He later attended Central School in Salem, and met Herbert Hoover. McNary left Salem and attended Stanford University in 1896. He transferred to Willamette University the next year, and he passed the bar in 1898.
Family Life
In 1902, McNary married the Jessie Breyman, the daughter of a successful businessman in Salem. She was killed in an automobile accident in 1915, after attending the funeral of her mother. In 1923, McNary married Cornelia Woodburn Morton, who worked for some time as his private secretary. They adopted a girl named Charlotte in 1935.
Filbert Industry
McNary worked as an attorney, judge, law professor and dean of Willamette University's School of Law. McNary's pioneering efforts in horticulture and experimental farming led to the creation of the first successful filbert industry in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to McNary, farmers continue to cultivate the filbert, a kind of hazelnut, throughout Oregon.
Work in the Senate
McNary served in the Senate for nearly twenty-five years. He was as a member of the Agriculture and Forestry Committee and chairman of the Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands Committee in the Senate. He was the Senate Minority Lead from 1933-1934. He supported buying more National Forest Lands, re-forestation and fire protection for the forests. McNary also sought to stabilize farm prices and supported agricultural interests
McNary Dam
In line with his agricultural concerns, McNary encouraged the development of federal hydroelectric dams. He helped pass the legislation to construct the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has built eight mainstream hydropower dams on the Columbia river, due in part to Charles McNary's commitment to irrigation. In 1954, President Eisenhower acknowledged McNary's long and successful public service career with the dedication of a hydropower dam at Umatilla, Oregon, now known as the McNary Dam.
Death
After an unsuccessful surgery on a brain tumor, McNary died in 1944. He had a state funeral in Oregon at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem. Along with the McNary Dam, his namesakes include McNary Field and McNary High School.
SOURCES
Charles L. McNary. (2010, February 21). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:48, April 27, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_L._McNary&oldid=345346831
Clarissa Caldwell - Clarissa Caldwell lives, reads and writes in Walla Walla, Washington. She has a BA in Comparative Literature from the University of ...
