George Chaffey

George Chaffey (28 January 1848 – 1 March 1932) was a Canadian engineer, inventor and entrepreneur who with his brother William developed large parts of Southern California, including what became the community of Etiwanda and the cities of Ontario, and Upland.

Chaffey left school at 13 years of age, was fascinated by the shipbuilding yard of his father, and became an apprentice marine engineer in May 1862.

Later, George joined the California Development Company as chief engineer and undertook a project to irrigate the Colorado Desert.

[6] Also at that time, nearly 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) of apple, pear, and peach trees were being grown, along with grapes, prunes, potatoes, corn, alfalfa and large vegetable and flower gardens.

[5][7] In 1912, Chaffey moved to Whittier, California, joining his son John, where he lived for a number of years while tending to his invalid wife Ann.