William Henry Wattis

William Henry Wattis was born on August 15, 1859, in Uinta, Utah Territory, the fourth of seven children born to Edmund Orson Wattis and Mary Jane Corey. With his brother Edmund Orson Wattis, he formed a firm to lay track for the expanding railroads. The fledgling Wattis Brothers firm was wiped out in the panic of 1893. While William continued to try to find construction projects, Edmund focused his energies on running a sheep ranch the brothers had established in the Weber Valley. This ranch and others would later provide the financial strength for the large construction projects to come.

Wattis married his sweetheart, Anna Maria Dorothea Sophie "Marie" Stander, on January 9, 1889. They had three daughters and one son. In 1897, they lost Florence Louise, age 5, and Edmund (Teddy), age 1, within six months of each other while living in Astoria, Oregon.

Wattis was also a prominent businessman in Ogden, Utah and known throughout Utah. He was director of The National Bank, director of the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad, and president of Dee Memorial Hospital from 1917 to 1929. As president he oversaw the new L-shaped addition equipped with elevators, making Dee one of the most modern and up-to-date hospitals of its time at an estimated cost of $160,000.

In January 1921, Wattis was elected general manager and president of Utah-Idaho Sugar Company and vice president and general manager of the Canadian Sugar Company Ltd., the Canadian branch of Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. Due to political and legal troubles with the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, Wattis was indicted on price fixing charges and was found in contempt of court by Judge Tilman D. Johnson, which caused him to withdraw from a 1920 run for governor.

He was elected Captain of the Alta Club, one of the oldest gentlemen's clubs in Utah, on April 22, 1921.

On September 27, 1927, Wattis was nominated and elected vice president of the Associated General Contractors of America, and later nominated on October 20, 1927, to be the vice president over the states of Utah, Nevada, California and Arizona.

In 1929, the Wattis Brothers spearheaded the formation of Six Companies to build the Hoover Dam, which was the largest construction project ever tackled by the US Government up to that time. Wattis was elected as the Six Companies' first president.

In 1918, Wattis was nominated by the Republican Party to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was defeated by Milton H. Welling. Wattis ran unsuccessfully for governor of Utah in 1928, losing to George Dern.

He was appointed to the Flood Relief Committee by Governor Mabey on August 17, 1923, and appointed to the Christmas Seal Sale Advisory Committee in 1924.