A Friend called me asking if I knew anything more about the events descriped on his Solid Gold Cased 16s Gr 351 Lord Elgin. Well . . . this is 1 of a total 1910 production of 600 23 Jewel Lord Elgin Movments olike this beauty ever made.

The dial on this watch is signed "Montgomery Brothers, Los Angeles, CA.

The Dust Cover is engraved with;

"Presented to Capt. F. J. Mills, Div. Engineer, LAA, BY the Engineers, Foremens and clerks of the Grapevine Div, December 1912"

I do not have any pictures (YET!) but friend is asking for my help identifying who F.J. Mills was.

David

If you find out any more please post it, I am searching but nothing so far other than the Grapevine Division might be out of Grapevine Texas.

Tom

There were a lot of F.J. Mills around in 1910.

One possibility so far is;
1910 census Bogalusa, Washington, Louisiana
Mills, F. J. 47 w-m born Mississippi, boarder, married, railroad engineer

Tom

The L&A [Louisiana And Arkansas Railway] had a piece of track that ran from McKinney,Tx. to Waskom,Tx. at one time. Grapevine,Tx. is not far from McKinney, maybe 25-30 miles, and could of been a "short line" connecting subdivision. The title Captain for FJ Mills is a bit of a roadblock though?? But if anybody can bloodhound it, it will be Tom! Heres a link that may help research;

http://www.tshaonline.org/hand...rticles/LL/eql7.html

regards,
bb

The "Grapevine" referred to here is the famous "Grapevine" highway built from Los Angeles over the San Gabriel Mountains up to the San Joaquin valley. "Grapeviner" is the name of the town at the north end of that Highway.

In the 1890-1910 era there was a highway built (US99 I think) over that and also the huge Los Angeles Aqueduct was started over those mountains.

Some more about it at;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapevine,_California

Thanks for the additional information, I need to stop assuming railroad when I see the word engineer.

Perhaps it is this gentlemen;

1900 census district 188, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Frederick Mills April 1865 Vermont Civil Engineer
Laura Mills Feb 1874 New Jersey
Fredrick Aug 1894 Idaho
Bruce Sep 1895 Idaho

1910 census District 231, Township 11, Kern, California
Fredrick J. Mills born about 1865 in Vermont. Listed as Superintendent aqueduct
His son Fred J. Mills 1895 Idaho is living with him & is listed as labor aqueduct.

Everyone listed on this page of the census apparently is working on the aqueduct, they are miners, laborers machinist & all listed as aqueduct

1920 census District 236, Ducor, Tulare, California
Frederick J. Mills about 1866 Vermont General Superintendent
Laura Mills about 1877 New Jersey
Fred Mills about 1895 Idaho Student
Bruce H. Mills about 1896 Idaho Foreman Tunnel
Apparently this district was at a portal to a tunnel & everyone other than wives & students are listed a miner, laborers, machinist, truck drivers, electrical engineers etc.

1930 census District 1220, Pasadena, Los Angles, California
Frederick J. Mills about 1866 Vermont listed as Civil Engineer Utility. His wife is living with him & is only listed as Mrs. Frederick J. Mills born about 1875 in New Jersey

Tom

California Death Index

Frederick John Mills
Birth 04/29/1864
Place Vermont
Death 09/28/1953
Place Los Angles
Mother's Maiden Name Laird
Father's surname Mills

Partial excerpt from "The National cyclopaedia of American biography"
Frederick J. Mills attended the public schools of South Ryegate, Vt., and the Vermont Methodist Seminary, Montpelier, ... Service on the Roosevelt Dam and during 1907-12 he was a division engineer on the Los Angeles Aqueduct.
1912 Montana superintendent dam construction for US Reclamation Service
1916 Engineer Southern Edison Co. in charge of hydroelectric development, remained in that position until retirement in 1934

Out West magazine, Volume 10 1899

Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea 1921

Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea

Tom, Thank you very much (as usual) for helping research Mr. Mills and Montgomery Jewelery. A quick "google" of "F J MILLS Superintendent aqueduct", has a Harvard Library copy of the highly illustrated 339 page report on the completion of the massive 250 mile long Los Angeled Aqueduct system begun in 1908 and finished to deliver water to San Fernando (Los Angeles) in 1913 at a total cost of $23,000,000,00.

On page 252 it confirms that; "Mr. F. J. Mills was division engineer (superintendent) of the Grapevine division which was a very heavy division consisiting of tunnels and pressure pipes."

Computer people, try just THINKING ABOUT HOW you could do such a massive design AND EXECUTION job in FIVE (5) YEARS!

This is an example of when Americans DID THINGS!

What a memorable presentation watch indeed!

Another "Cold Case" solved

Good to know we have people like Tom thats on our side

NM CRIMINALS BEWARE

regards,
bb

Yeah, next time I will need to try to find it the easy way as opposed to the several hour search I did!

Tom