Percy E. Barbour – Colonel, United States Army

by

P.E.BARBOUR DIED; MINING ENGINEER

Metallurgical Expert Stricken in Peru While On Mission for U. S. Government
Served Many Companies
Official for Copper Firms in West
Colonel Since 1934 in Engineer Reserves

Colonel Percy E. Barbour, New York consulting mining engineer and international authority on the economics of copper, gold and silver, died Tuesday in Lima, Peru, after a short illness, according to word received here (New York City) yesterday.  His age was 67.

Appointed a senior technical analyst by the State Department last October, Colonel Barbour had been stationed for five months at Lima on a Government mission.

Secretary and Treasurer since 1931 of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, he was founder and editor from 1919 to 1925 of Mining and Metallurgy and author of “Secondary Copper” and various technical articles and papers.

Born in Portland, Maine, he was the son of Clifford S. and Clara A. Ford Barbour and was a Mayflower descendant.  He received a B.S. degree in 1896 and a C.E. degree in 1908 from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Colonel Barbour was manager of the Massachusetts Fan Company, ventilating engineers, Boston, 1897-1900; engineer with the Bingham Consolidated Copper Company, Utah and Boston, 1900-03; engineer at the smelter of the Tennessee Copper Company in 1904; General Manager of the Navajo Gold Mining Company, Bland, New Mexico, 1905-08; Deputy Sheriff, Esmeralda County, Nevada, 1907.

He was also engineer with the American Smelting and Refining Company and United States Smelting Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1906-10; general superintendent of the Salt Lake Copper Company and lessee of the copper mine at Tecoma, Nevada, 1910-11; general manager of the Uwarra Mining Company, Candor, North Carolina, 1911-14.

Colonel Barbour was a member of the editorial staff and managing editor of The Engineering and Mining Journal, New York, 1915-17; assistant secretary of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, New York, 1919-25; assistant to the manager of the exploration department, St. Joseph Lead Company, 1925-27; and consulting mining engineer since1927.

He was a member of the Massachusetts Naval Brigade,1898-1900; a Lieutenant with the Maine Coast Artillery, 1914-16; served on the Mexican Border with the Twenty-second Regiment, New York Engineers, as Lieutenant, 1916-17; was first department superintendent and assistant organizer of the New York Stare Troopers, State Police, 1917-18; Captain in the Engineer Corps, United States Army, 1918-19; and was made a Colonel in the Engineers Reserve in 1934, commanding the 363rd Engineers until 1939.

Colonel Barbour was a former chairman of the New York State Board for Licensing Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, a charter member and former secretary and treasurer of the Society of Military Engineers and its gold medalist in 1928 for distinguished services and a member of the Mining Club of New York.  He was a Mason and Knight Templar.

He leaves a widow, Mrs. Viola Grace Hackward Barbour, and a sister, Mrs. Alice Colman of Denver.

RITES FOR COLONEL P. E.BARBOUR

A funeral service for Colonel Percy E. Barbour, New York consulting mining engineer and international authority on the economics of copper, gold and silver, will be held in the Main Post Chapel at Fort Myer, Virginia, Tuesday at 3 P.M., with burial following in ArlingtonNational Cemetery.

Colonel Barbour died May 4 in Lima, Peru, where as senior technical analyst for the State Department,he was on a diplomatic mission.

BARBOUR, PERCY E

  • CAPT ENGRS US ARMY
  • DATE OF DEATH: 05/04/1943
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 8  SITE 6158
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Read our general and most popular articles

Leave a Comment