[1] He was born on February 9, 1861, in Decatur, Illinois and received his Civil Engineering degree from George Washington University in 1888.

He then worked in hydrography in places as far flung as China, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Turkestan.

A month before he died, Arthur Powell Davis was appointed Consulting Engineer on the dam project.

He died in Oakland, California, on August 7, 1933, and is buried in St. Paul's Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C., along with his wife, Elizabeth B. Davis.

[5] Like other progressive Republicans, Arthur Davis had deep faith in the role of experts (he himself held a degree in civil engineering), worshipped efficiency, and viewed the federal government as a major instrument for social and political reform.