author
George Hebard Maxwell
1860–1946
A lawyer turned public advocate, he became one of the best-known early champions of irrigation and water reclamation in the American West. His work helped push big questions about dams, farming, and conservation into national politics.
1 Audiobook
Our National Defense: The Patriotism of Peace
by George Hebard Maxwell
About the author
Born in Sonoma, California, in 1860, George Hebard Maxwell trained as a court stenographer before being admitted to the California bar in 1882. He built his early career around water rights and mining law, experience that shaped his later public campaigning on irrigation and land development.
Maxwell is best remembered as an attorney and lobbyist for reclamation and communal irrigation projects. In 1899 he formed the National Reclamation Association, and in 1902 he worked alongside Representative Francis G. Newlands in support of the National Reclamation Act, a major step in federal water policy for the arid West.
Over time, his interests broadened from irrigation to wider conservation and flood-control issues. He also wrote on public policy and national planning, and he remained active in debates over water management for decades before his death in Phoenix in 1946.