Warren A. Bechtel was the founder of the Bechtel Corporation, one of the world's largest engineering and construction services firms.

Early life

Warren Bechtel started as an employee of the burgeoning United States railroad industry in 1898 after his Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

 cattle ranch failed.

Over the next 20 years, Bechtel built up a sizeable contracting business that specialized in railroad and highway building. One of Bechtel's earliest major contracts was grading the site of the Oroville, California

Oroville, California

Oroville is the county seat of Butte County, California. The population was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 at the 2000 census...

 depot for the Western Pacific Railroad

Western Pacific Railroad

The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California...

, then under construction.

W.A. Bechtel Company

In 1919, Warren Bechtel and his partners (including his brother Arthur) built the Klamath Highway in California, and in 1921 Warren Bechtel partners won a contract to build the water tunnels for the Caribou Hydroelectric Facility in that state. In 1925, Warren A. Bechtel's sons Warren Jr., Stephen

Stephen D. Bechtel, Sr.

Stephen Davison Bechtel was the son of Clara Alice West and Warren A. Bechtel, the founder of the Bechtel Corporation and the president of the company from 1933 through 1960....

, and Ken

Kenneth K. Bechtel

Kenneth Karl Bechtel was the son of Warren A. Bechtel, the founder of the Bechtel Corporation.In 1925, Ken Bechtel joined his father Warren A. Bechtel and brothers Warren Jr. and Stephen, and incorporated as W.A. Bechtel Company...

 joined him and incorporated as W.A. Bechtel Company. In 1926, the new company won its first major contract, the Bowman Lake dam in California.

Bechtel died while visiting Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 in 1933. His son Stephen D. Bechtel, Sr.

Stephen D. Bechtel, Sr.

Stephen Davison Bechtel was the son of Clara Alice West and Warren A. Bechtel, the founder of the Bechtel Corporation and the president of the company from 1933 through 1960....

, took over the firm upon his father's death.

Today, the Bechtel Corporation is still owned and operated by the Bechtel family. Its current CEO is Riley P. Bechtel

Riley P. Bechtel

Riley P. Bechtel is the chairman and CEO of the Bechtel Corporation. He is the great-grandson of Warren A. Bechtel, the founder of the company. His parents are Elizabeth Hogan and Stephen Bechtel, Jr., the former chairman and CEO of the company.-Biography:He received a bachelor's degree in...

, one of the richest men in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.