George Hebard Maxwell

Born on June 3, 1860, George Hebard Maxwell was an American attorney, lecturer, and lobbyist who became widely known for promoting water reclamation and communal irrigation projects in the western United States. He is especially associated with the National Reclamation Association, which he organized in 1899 to build public and political support for large-scale federal irrigation efforts.

Maxwell played an important advocacy role in the movement that led to the National Reclamation Act of 1902, working alongside Representative Francis G. Newlands. His public career centered on the idea that water policy, irrigation, and planned settlement were essential to the development of arid regions, and he spent years speaking and organizing around those causes.

He died on December 1, 1946. Though he is less widely known today than some of the lawmakers connected with reclamation policy, he remains a notable figure in the history of American water development and Progressive Era reform.