Silas Boxley Mason II (October 22, 1879 – April 14, 1936) was an American construction executive and racehorse owner, born in

Orange County, Virginia Orange County is a county (United States), county located in the Piedmont region of Virginia, Central Piedmont region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was ...

. He was part of a Mason family that had been involved with the construction business since 1827. A graduate of

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexing ...

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

, he went on to make the Mason & Hanger company one of the largest construction contractors in the United States. His first high-profile venture came in 1927 when he was awarded the contract for the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the Unite ...

foundation on the

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

side. During the 1930s Mason would cement his reputation as a master builder when in 1933 he headed the M. W. A. K. consortium (Mason-Walsh-Atkinson, Kier) that built the

Grand Coulee Dam Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerho ...

Mason City, Washington Coulee Dam is a town in Douglas, Grant, and Okanogan counties in the State of Washington. The Douglas County portion of Coulee Dam is part of the Wenatchee–East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,211 as of the 2 ...

. His company would then become involved in the construction of the

Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and unsigned New Y ...

Thoroughbred racing

Silas Mason and his wife Suzanne (née Burnett) met with success in

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

horse racing with horses registered in her name. A native Kentuckian, she was a descendant of Colonel Richard Henderson, who, along with General George Rogers Clark,

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the w ...

, and others, were Kentucky pioneers who formed the

Transylvania Land Company The Transylvania Colony, also referred to as the Transylvania Purchase, was a short-lived, extra-legal colony founded in early 1775 by North Carolina land speculator Richard Henderson, who formed and controlled the Transylvania Company. Henders ...

.Washington State University Digital Collections newspaper article interview with Mrs. Mason
/ref> The couple purchased a home and breeding farm near Lexington, Kentucky called Duntreath. During his tenure, Silas Mason's partner in the construction business was Arnold Hanger. They also teamed up to race horses together under the ''

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'' Warm Stable. In April 1929, the Warm Stable partnership purchased

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs ...

winner

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

from

Harry Payne Whitney Harry Payne Whitney (April 29, 1872 – October 26, 1930) was an American businessman, thoroughbred horse breeder, and member of the prominent Whitney family. Early years Whitney was born in New York City on April 29, 1872, as the eldest son ...

as part of a three-horse deal. A four-year-old at the time, Victorian raced and won into 1930, but the stallion had been acquired primarily for breeding purposes and stood at stud at the Masons’ Duntreath Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. Victorian died in 1934 having sired less than three full crops. However, five years later the colt

Head Play Head Play (April 2, 1930 – December 11, 1954) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1933 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series of races and as the horse on the losing end of the "Fighting F ...

made his owners famous with a second-place finish in the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...

and a win in the

.Getty Images with notes titled 'Head Play' Wins Preakness
/ref> The Masons also owned

He Did He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

, winner of the 1936

Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is currently run at a distance of miles on the dirt and carries a purse of $400,000. It is one ...

Mason & Hanger

Silas Boxley Mason II took over the leadership of Mason & Hanger with the death of Harry Hanger in 1925. Silas was the grandson of the company founder, Claiborne Rice Mason, and the son of its second president, Horatio Pleasants Mason. Silas Boxley Mason II's uncle, a younger brother of Horatio, was also named Silas Boxley Mason. Claiborne Mason had been born in

Chesterfield County, Virginia Chesterfield County is located just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. Its county seat is Chesterfield Court Hou ...

in 1800 and founded the Mason Syndicate in 1827, when contracted to work on a section of what became the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond ...

. In 1870, the company's name was changed to Mason & Hoge. Railroad work was its main construction business, including bridges and tunnels. Notable projects included the

Rays Hill Tunnel Rays Hill Tunnel is one of three original Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels which were abandoned (this one in 1968) after two massive realignment projects. The others included the Sideling Hill Tunnel, and farther west, the Laurel Hill Tunnel. Rays ...

and the Dingess Tunnel. Horatio took over the presidency after the death of Claiborne in 1885. Besides specializing in tunneling, notable construction projects included portions of the

Chicago Drainage Canal The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a canal system that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. It reverses the direction of the Main Stem and the South Branch of the Chicago ...

. Harry Hanger took over the presidency after the death of Horatio in 1906. Notable construction projects included the Moodna Siphon Tunnel part of the

Catskill Aqueduct The Catskill Aqueduct, part of the New York City water supply system, brings water from the Catskill Mountains to Yonkers where it connects to other parts of the system. History Construction commenced in 1907. The aqueduct proper was completed ...

, the Nelson Tunnel in Colorado, and portions of the Brooklyn subway. Key

WWI World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

contracts included the construction of

Camp Zachary Taylor Camp Zachary Taylor was a military training camp in Louisville, Kentucky. It opened in 1917, to train soldiers for U.S. involvement in World War I, and was closed three years later. It was initially commanded by Guy Carleton and after the war it ...

, the Port Newark Terminal, the Port Charleston Terminal,

Gerstner Field Gerstner Field is a former World War I military airfield, located southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana. It operated as a training field for the Air Service, United States Army between 1917 until 1919. The airfield was one of thirty-two Air S ...

, and the Old Hickory Powder Plant. In 1927, the company was awarded the contract for the compressed air tunneling of the twin Fulton Street tunnels. Parallel projects operated on both the Manhattan and the Brooklyn side of the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Que ...

. Construction was completed by the spring of 1931. Soon after, the company was awarded the

Rutgers Street Tunnel Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

project, which was completed in 1932. Then in 1937, the company started work on the first tube of the

, completing it that year. The third tube was completed in 1957. In 1941, the company started work on the twin tubes for the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel, which was completed in 1947. In 1940, Mason & Hanger started work on the Radford Ordnance Works, which was operational by March 1941, and then the New River Ordnance plant, which was completed by January 1942. Additionally, the company completed its work on the Badger Ordnance Works in 1944. In 1947 the AEC approached the company regarding atomic bomb production. Mason & Hanger was awarded a contract to rehabilitate, construct new facilities, and eventually operate the Iowa Ordnance Plant. In 1949, the plant started producing explosive components for atomic weapons and in 1950 began assembling atomic bombs, except for the nuclear component. In 1951, the company was awarded a contract for the rehabilitation, and construction, of a second AEC facility at

Pantex Pantex is the primary United States nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility that aims to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. The facility is located in the Panhandle of Texas on a site ...

, which opened in 1953. The Iowa plant started handling fissionable material in 1956, when it assembled the

AIR-2 Genie The Douglas AIR-2 Genie (previous designation MB-1) was an unguided air-to-air rocket with a 1.5 kt W25 nuclear warhead. It was deployed by the United States Air Force (USAF 1957–1985) and Canada (Royal Canadian Air Force 1965–68, Air C ...

, in addition to other missiles and

artillery shells A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Modern usage s ...

. The company started operating Pantex in October 1956, and opened a development lab in 1960. From 1958 until 1966, the company operated AEC Modification Centers at Medina Base, near

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, and Clarksville Base, near

Clarksville, Tennessee Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 2020 United States ...

. Pantex assumed stockpile surveillance in 1985, and the Iowa facility was merged into Pantex by 1975. At that time, Pantex became the sole final assembly plant for finished nuclear weapons.

Silas Mason Company

A subsidiary to Mason & Hanger, the Silas Mason Company was incorporated in 1926 to construct sections of New York's third subway system. The company was then awarded construction of the George Washington Bridge's tower pier on the New Jersey side of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

. The underwater foundation was built using one of the deepest

cofferdam A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...

operations ever attempted. The piers were complete by April 1928. Silas Mason became chairman of the board of Mason & Hanger and the Silas Mason Company in 1929. Arthur Sackett became president of Mason & Hanger, while Sam A. Mason II became president of the Silas Mason Company. The Silas Mason Company started construction of the

Sumner Tunnel The Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the w ...

in March 1931, which was completed in December 1932, setting a record for tunneling in soft earth. In 1942, after eight years, Coulee Dam construction was completed by a partnership consisting of Mason, Walsh, Atkinson & Kier (MWAK). The Silas Mason Company built and operated the Louisiana Ordnance Plant during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1949, they drilled the twelve tunnels needed for the

Fort Randall Dam Fort Randall Dam is a earthen dam which spans the Missouri River and impounds Lake Francis Case, the 11th-largest reservoir in the U.S. The dam joins Gregory and Charles Mix counties, South Dakota a distance of 880 river miles (1,416 km) u ...

, eight for the

penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. ...

s, and four for Missouri River flood control. Then between 1954 and 1957, the company built the

Harvey Tunnel U.S. Highway 90 Business (US 90 Bus.) is a business route of U.S. Highway 90 located in and near New Orleans, Louisiana. It runs in a general east–west direction from US 90 in Avondale to a junction with Interstate 10 (I-10) and US& ...

in a joint venture with R.P. Farnsworth & Co. In 1955, the company merged with Mason & Hanger to become Mason & Hanger-Silas Mason Company, Inc.

Legacy

Silas Mason suffered a heart attack on 14 April 1936 and died at the Mason City hospital 15 hours later. He was interred in the

Frankfort Cemetery The Frankfort Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the burial site of Daniel Boone and contains the graves of other famous Americans including seventeen Kentucky governors and a ...

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the pri ...

the following Sunday. The ''

Lexington Herald The ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' is a newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and based in Lexington, Kentucky. According to the ''1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook'', the paid circulation of the ''Herald-Leader'' is the second large ...

'' wrote, "Throughout the last three decades, Silas B. Mason had been a leader in the building of railroads, aqueducts, docks, dams, tunnels, subways, skyscrapers, highways-in fact, nearly every branch of construction work in which leadership and the genius of a man like Silas Mason could serve nation, state, or private industry."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Silas B. 1879 births 1936 deaths People from Orange County, Virginia Princeton University alumni American construction businesspeople American civil engineering contractors Businesspeople from Lexington, Kentucky American racehorse owners and breeders Owners of Preakness Stakes winners Burials at Frankfort Cemetery

Thoroughbred racing

Mason & Hanger

Silas Mason Company

Legacy

See also

References