Edmund Wattis Littlefield became chief executive officer of the Utah Construction & Mining Company in 1959 at a time the company was known more for its participation in challenging and significant heavy construction projects than for its financial returns to the shareholders. Under his leadership, Utah, through financial growth and a steady change in emphasis, was to emerge by 1976 as one of the world’s most successful mining enterprises. It merged with General Electric Company, in what was at the time the largest merger in U.S. history.
During this period, Utah International Inc. developed coal fields in Queensland, Australia which were so successful that the company became the most profitable mining organization in that country. It was also involved in iron ore in Australia with the Mount Goldsworthy Company and Consolidated Goldfields. Utah participated in a number of uranium properties, including the Lucky Mc in Wyoming, and in two coal mines (the Navajo and San Juan mines) near the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. On Vancouver Island in Canada, the company had an iron mine, the Argonaut, and a copper property, the Island Copper Mine. In Arizona, it jointly ventured the Pima orebody with Cyprus Mining. Then in Peru, it was involved in the Marcona Iron Mining Company.
Born in Ogden, Utah in 1914, Littlefield was the third generation in a family of construction industry pioneers instrumental in founding the original Utah Construction Company in 1900. He attended California schools: the Tamalpais School for Boys in San Rafael, the Beverly Hills High School, and Stanford University, where he graduated “with great distinction” in 1936. He then went on to receive his M.B.A. at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Littlefield’s early career included a brief period with Standard Oil Company in California, which was interrupted with the outbreak of World War II. He served as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, first as an intelligence officer, and later in the Petroleum Administration for War.
In 1946, he joined the Golden State Company, where he remained until 1951. He then joined the Utah Construction Company as Vice President and Treasurer, a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors. In 1956, he was elected Executive Vice President and, in 1958, became General Manager, the title for Utah’s principal executive officer. He was 44 years old at the time and served in that capacity until 1978, after the merger with General Electric Company. He continued to serve as Chairman of the Executive Committee until he retired from that post in 1986.
