Construction of the Water Lab, ca. 1963 (USU Historical Photograph Collection USU A-0962)

Utah Water Research Laboratory Progress Report: 1964–1966 [click to enlarge; click again to browse all pages] (University Archives 17.9/2 Box 4, Folder 5)

To further establish its prominence in the field of water, USU began promoting the creation of a major research facility during the 1950s. Engineering Professor Vaughan E. Hansen first envisioned the facility at its present site below First Dam on the Logan River along the old Canyon Road east of campus. In response to a 1951 federal report suggesting the need for a water research facility in the West, George D. Clyde prepared a proposal to establish one at USU. Clyde enthusiastically promoted USU as a center for water studies. Having been recently appointed chief of the Soil Conservation Service Irrigation Division, he had moved the agency’s headquarters from Berkeley, California, to Logan.