Gazing out the wagon at unbroken desert wilderness stretching in all directions, young William Beardsley was filled with fiery purpose. His pioneering ancestors had conquered forests and tamed prairie lands to build prosperous new settlements. Now William burning ambition – along with the Arizona sun beating down – compelled him to cultivate opportunity from the arid emptiness.
By sheer tenacity over decades, the canal infrastructure William engineered from scratch supported flourishing farms covering over 60,000 acres. His irrigation networks breathed life into the sun-baked valleys near Phoenix, catalyzing the capital city‘s growth. At the same time back in bustling Ohio, William‘s adding machine invention granted efficiency to booming American enterprises.
Destined For Greatness From Hamilton Roots
On November 13th, 1850, William Henry Beardsley was born in Hamilton, Ohio. Located near the confluence of the Great Miami River, Hamilton‘s abundant hydropower and railway access fueled rapid 19th century industrialization. From this nexus of manufacturing, innovation and commerce arose figures that shaped state and national destiny.
Including William‘s own father Henry – a prominent Hamiltonian who served in the Union Army during the Civil War and California Gold Rush. Henry descended from the venerable Beardsley lineage traceable to 1635 Puritan immigrant William Beardsley. This man braved the harrowing 66 day voyage aboard the Planter to put down stakes in the untamed Connecticut wilderness.
Sharing the Beardsley name and adventuresome spirit, young William graduated from Hamilton Public School in 1867. He went on to hone analytical skills at the respected Miami University 30 miles north in Oxford. During summer breaks, William gained firsthand experience working at local Niles Tool Works.
| Year | Age | Residence | Institution | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | Birth | Hamilton, OH | ||
| 1867 | 17 | Hamilton, OH | Miami University | Student |
| 1868-1881 | 18-31 | Hamilton, OH | N/A | Publishing business owner |
Driving Progress Early Through Print Media
As the 19th century entered its final decades, opportunities boomed across post-Civil War America. Massive infrastructure projects like transcontinental railroads stitched far-flung frontier outposts into an emerging national fabric. William sought to both spread and participate in this accelerating country growth.
Upon graduating Miami University in 1871, William entered Hamilton‘s thriving publishing industry. He founded a printing operation distributing regional newspapers, magazines and advertising circulars. Population expansion and commerce growth fueled rising demand for print media channels in these pre-radio days.
Over its first decade, William‘s publishing house made strong inroads against competitors through service innovations. It replaced laborious manual typesetting with advanced Linotype machines that mechanically arranged letter molds. Editors then rapidly compiled articles and fluid layout changes.
By 1881, William had cultivated a sizeable readership when he suddenly shuttered the press business. Never content with past victories for long, he ventured westward to embark on a far more transformational undertaking.
Conquering the Desert – The Arizona Canal Odyssey
Reports of wide open spaces and unchecked potential lured William‘s restless drive towards the Arizona Territory in 1892. While just 42 years old, he departed behind a stack of successful Ohio ventures to tack an entirely alien challenge.
William partnered with his brother George – a civil engineer commissioned by local authorities near Phoenix. Their seemingly impossible mission? To thoroughly irrigate over 150 square miles of scorching desert valley for the very first time.
With no precedent projects of this scale to reference, doubts ran high. But the Beardsley brothers saw past the cacti, rattlesnakes and spontaneously combusting temperatures. Through tenacious survey work and savvy fundraising back in Ohio, their Agua Fria Construction Company broke ground on infrastructure to tap into namesake river flows.
Positioned between the Bradshaw and Hieroglyphic Mountains, engineers had to dam the Agua Fria then run steep gradient canals south. But the demanding topography fractured project timetables again and again. After laboring three years carving dozens of miles of channels, disaster struck. George tragically perished from illness, leaving William suddenly solo on their monumental mission.
Yet he refused to retreat back to comfort, instead resolving to fulfill their shared vision alone. Over the next 30 years, every imaginable obstacle battered the epic canal works. But William battled the blazing sun, flash floods, political opponents and economic depressions alike. His transcendent triumph stands as a soaring testament to irrepressible human ingenuity and determination.
| Year | Canal Length | Land Irrigated | Key Events |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1895 | 45 miles | 10,000 acres | George Beardsley dies, Bradley Mountain tunnel excavation begins |
| 1905 | 102 miles | 28,000 acres | Roosevelt Dam finished, providing upstream water storage |
| 1915 | 185 miles | 78,000 acres | Project goes bankrupt due to major Agua Fria flood destroying headgates/canals |
| 1920 | 198 miles | 95,000 acres | William dies, son Robert takes over construction operations |
| 1930 | 217 miles | 107,000 acres | Last major canal branch completed after 34 years total work |
His imposing canal networks spawned verdant new agrarian communities across the arid wilderness. By the time William passed away in 1925, over 100,000 acres of desert valley delivered bountiful citrus, grain and livestock harvests. At the center, bustling Phoenix swelled over tenfold in population during canal construction. Its skyline rose on William‘s unwavering shoulders to become today‘s fifth most populous metro area.
Revolutionizing Accounting Worldwide
While marshaling resources and crews to carry out his unprecedented Arizona irrigation masterpiece, William also nurtured entrepreneurial roots back in burgeoning Ohio industry.
In Hamilton‘s manufacturing scene, he observed accountants burdened by tedious arithmetic computations. So in 1891, William patented an invention to mitigate this inefficiency – the keyboard adding machine. Developed with machinist Lewis Hosea, the device utilized sequenced numeric keys to mechanically aggregate figures.
This innovation slashed accounting firm calculation times up to 80%, greatly accelerating information processing. Businesses operating more nimbly translated to accelerated decision making, amplified profits and reduced waste. Soon typewriter-like adding contraptions appeared on almost every American office desk.
William Beardsley‘s contributions proving instrumental to both the Arizona desert and global business accounting stand the test of time. His tireless optimization efforts opened once unfathomable opportunities for commerce to thrive and frontier settlements to mature. Well over a century later, the prosperity springing from William‘s ambitious visions continues flourishing brighter than ever.
So next time you send an email attachment or sip sweet orange juice, spare a thought for William Beardsley. Modern technology conveniences and fruit harvest bounty exist thanks to innovators and explorers daring to make dreams reality. If we nurture the same perseverant spirit, imagine what seemingly impossible wonders our generation can also achieve!
