The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Hoover, Herbert Clark

HOOVER, Herbert Clark, American engineer and public official: b. West Branch, Iowa, 10 Aug. 1874. He was graduated at Stanford University. California, in 1895, was assistant on the Arkansas geological survey in 1893 and the United States geological survey of the Sierra Nevada in 1895. In 1896 he was assistant manager of the Carlisle mines, New Mexico, and the Morning Star mines, California. In the following year he went to West Australia as chief of the mining staff of Bewick, Moreing and Company and manager of Hannan's Brown Hill mine. In 1899 he was chief engineer of the Chinese Imperial Bureau of Mines and performed extensive exploration in the interior at China. He took part in the defense of Tientsin during the Boxer disturbances of 1900. From 1900 to 1914 he served successively as general manager, director and partner of various mining companies. In 1915-16 he served as chairman of the American Relief Committee in London and went to Belgium as chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. Under his direction millions of dollars worth of food and clothing were distributed to the needy in devastated Belgium. His efficient record in this position led to his appointment in 1917 by President Wilson as food controller for the United States. See Food Problems and the War.