Career
Done with military service, he returned to Iowa to marry his college sweetheart and attended the University of Michigan there earning a degree in law. In 1868 he and his bride sailed from New York for San Francisco, California. There he sought and received acceptance in a prestigious firm. In time he opened his own office. Loving the high places and magnificent countryside in California he made acquaintance with John Muir and other like minded people. Together they created the Sierra Club. In the beginning the club members met in Olney's office, he wrote its first charter and served as vice president to the organization.
In 1903 Olney became the 34th Mayor of Oakland, California where he had made his home serving one term to 1905. He held strong views that the California communities needed a secure water supply separate from independent suppliers. Time lead to the damming of a river in the Hetch Hetchy Valley which Olney supported and a bitter separation from his friends in and with the Sierra Club who staunchly opposed it. The deed was done and remains controversial to this day.
Read more about this topic: Warren Olney
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