Alfred Merritt Smith Papers

Alfred Merritt Smith was born on August 19, 1876 in Butterfly Valley, California to Morris Smith and Rosina Indermuhle Smith, a school teacher. He was raised in Butterfly Valley on the family ranch for roughly eight years before moving to Susanville, California. Over the next ten years, his mother, father and brothers, Cassius and Carl, lived in many towns in California where his mother taught school and his father began and ended multiple businesses, including a law firm.

In 1894, Smith began schooling at the University of Nevada (Reno) where he entered the Commercial School and later the School of Mines. Each summer, Smith would return to California to work as a ranch hand for local ranchers. While at school, he participated in activities such as football and journalism. He also joined a fraternity, THPO, which was later absorbed into Sigma Alpha Epsilon in the national Greek-letter fraternities of which he was a charter member. In 1900, Smith graduated from the University of Nevada with a Bachelors of Science in Mining Engineering. He also received his Degree of Mining Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1908.

After graduation, Smith took jobs in mining which eventually led him to work in Costa Rica at the Mina Tres Amigos Mine in 1903. This began his time traveling and working for different mining companies. In the mid-1910s, Smith began working for the Nevada Bureau of Mines in 1916 where he spent much time and many years, until 1933, surveying Nevada, parts of California, Oregon, and possibly Arizona.

In 1933, upon the completion of his time with the Nevada Bureau of Mines, Smith began work in the office of the Nevada State Engineer. As part of his job in the State Engineer’s office, Smith worked to promote the availability and use of Nevada's natural resources and minerals, including the utilization of Boulder Dam power. Smith became a State Engineer in 1935 and served in that post until 1952. In 1952, he became an administrative assistant to United States Senator George Malone until his retirement in 1960.

Smith had a special interest in Nevada and served on the Nevada State Planning Board as a board member for 12 years, as well as serving as the Director of the Nevada Division of the National Reclamation Association for 16 years. He was also a life member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and a member of the Nevada State Board of Registered Professional Engineers. As well as serving professionally in mining and minerals, he also served on the Colorado River Commission. He was hailed by Governor Paul Laxalt as an important part of the state and a person whose service stood out as an example to those who followed him.

Smith married Ivan Sessions on August 16, 1905 in Reno. They had three sons and one daughter, Thor M. Smith, Brigadier General Dale O. Smith, Drew Merritt Smith and Jean Catherine Doby. Mrs. Smith preceded her husband in death in May 1964.

Alfred Merritt Smith died in Los Altos, California on November 3, 1968.