Walter Aldridge, renowned mining engineer and problem solver, displayed unique technical and administrative skills and gave of himself unselfishly to his industry and his colleagues.
In 1887 he headed to Pueblo, Colorado armed with a mining engineer’s degree from Columbia School of Mines. He obtained a job as assayer at the Colorado Smelting Company and was soon known as a skilled engineer and administrator. Aldridge became Manager of the United Smelting and Refining Company at East Helena, Montana at the age of 25, thus placing him in charge of one of the largest smelting companies of its kind. He gained a solid reputation in the industry for daring and versatility and soon found himself in charge of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s expanding lead-mining interests in British Columbia. The American Smelting and Refining Co. was attempting to operate the Sullivan Mine and smelter in the East Kootenay district but had run into serious difficulties with the metallurgy and were not obtaining high recoveries of lead, zinc and silver. Aldridge negotiated the purchase of the Sullivan property and, pioneering the use of electrolytic refining processes and oil flotation, turned the once low-grade ores into high-grade; and the “useless” Sullivan Mine into one of the world’s largest lead-zinc-silver mines.
In 1911 he left Canada to take charge of William Boyce Thompson’s mining properties. In turn, he served at various times as Managing Director of Inspiration Copper, President of Magma Copper and Vice President of the Mines Company of America, all before becoming President of Texas Gulf Sulphur Co. in 1918. His leadership made Texas Gulf the world’s largest producer of sulphur. A man of vision, Aldridge searched for new markets and as a result, Texas Gulf was soon supplying all the sulphur requirements of the fertilizer industry, which had previously depended on pyrite from Mexico. In 1951 he moved up to Chairman of the Board.
Walter Aldridge received many honors for his professional achievements, including the coveted John Fritz Medal (1950) regarded as the highest honor an engineer may attain.
