Lou Henry Hoover was the wife of Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States of America. There has been a great deal written about her husband’s time on the Goldfields of Western Australia, but very little has been told about his wife’s achievements in her own right. During her time as ‘First Lady’ in the USA, she was labelled ‘Dull and Inaccessible’. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a Quaker, she was naturally reserved with others and could be shy. When her personal papers were released in 1984, she was shown to be a woman of wit, warmth who was well educated and well travelled. She was the first woman to obtain a degree in Geology in the USA at Stanford University in a field that is still male-dominated today. It was during her time at Stanford that she met fellow student Herbert. Herbert Hoover was to arrive on the Goldfields of Western Australia in 1897, aged 23 years, but told everyone he was much older, growing a moustache to fit the part.
Lou Henry Hoover in Kalgoorlie, 1902 – Image SLWA
After moving around in the employ of Bewick Moreing for some time, he felt that he had reached the position where he could offer matrimony, so he cabled Miss Lou Henry, then aged 24 years, to ask her to marry him, and she accepted. She was to keep her maiden name as her middle name throughout her life. He travelled back to the USA, where they were married wearing their travelling clothes in the front parlour of her parents’ house, from where they immediately set off for China. They spent three years there before travelling to the Western Australian Goldfields in 1903. When arriving, they lived at the manager’s house at 6 Elizabeth Street, Mullingar, a suburb of Kalgoorlie. The house is still here and is appropriately called the ‘White House’, although Hover never owned it.
The White House, 6 Elizabeth Street, Kalgoorlie 2021 -Image M Sharp
On being transferred to Gwalia near Leonora as manager, the ‘Sons of Gwalia’ mine, Herbert Hoover stayed in the homes of various locals and plans were made to build a substantial home. The home that was eventually built is now a historic guest house and is called ‘Hoovers House’, although the Hoovers never lived there, unfortunately.
Lou was to return to England and the USA twice, but little is known about her on her last two visits. It was during her first time here that she won the approbation of many with her friendly manner and her genuine interest in how the mines worked and the welfare of the workers. She showed a keen interest in going underground to see the workings at a time when it was considered unlucky to have a woman in the mine. She was also a keen photographer, taking and developing her own photographs and loved to drive around in their new car, a French Panhard. Herbert was so enamoured by his ‘new toy’ he had it shipped to the Goldfields and when not using it himself he would allow his chauffeur, Brade, to enter it into races at “Perkolilli’ (but that’s for another story).
Sons of Gwalia 12-16hp Sporting Model Sunbeam with Brade in driver’s seat – Image SLWA
On their final return to America, Lou tried to find a copy of the very first mining textbook called De Re Metallica. As she was a linguist, one of the languages she had studied was Latin, so both she and Herbert set about transcribing it into English. Herbert even went as far as carrying out the experiments in the book to see if they worked. She was to eventually receive great recognition for her part in this work, and the couple was presented with the Mining & Metallurgical Society of America’s gold medal. The book is still a valuable reference source today. The author’s name, Georg Bauer, whose name in Latin was Georgius Agricola, was given to the residential accommodation at the School of Mines in Kalgoorlie.
Lou Henry Hoover with her sons, Allan (left) and Herbert Jr. in 1908 (Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum)
On her death on the 7th January in 1944, aged 69 years, Henry stipulated that Lou’s personal papers were not to be released until 20 years after his death.
Further reading: –
Book. Daughters of Midas ‘Pioneer Women of the Goldfields’ by Norma King
National First Ladies’ Library – http://bit.ly/1C1ZWRL
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library – https://hoover.archives.gov/hoovers/first-lady-lou-henry-hoover
Moya Sharp
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An excellent and much-needed account of Lou Henry, Moya. Unfortunately you omit one important fact and also misrepresent the erection and date of the so-called Hoover House.
First the fact Lou henry and Hoover were very aware there was no authoritative text on mining available and between the knowledge of Lou of geology and Latin and Hoover’s practical geological and mining expertise, between 1907 and 1912, between them they set to translating and adapting Agricola’s Latin text, De Re Metallica. Hoover had no Latin so at least initially all the work was hers, though clearly once a n English text was available, he could adapt itBut BOTH are credited as the authors though she did the important work.
Secondly, Hoover’s relationship with the Sons of Gwalia comes from his having produced the report for Edward Hooper that promoted its purchse from Pritchard Morgan and George Hall’s Westralian Mines and Finance company by Bewick, Moreing in November 1897 and launch of the new company in March 1898. As a result of Hooper’s lobbying, Hoover was appointed manager of the Sons of Gwalia, but because of his illness did not take up his post until May 1st. He planned the manager’s house but by the time he was sacked by Ernest Williams in October 1898 only the walls had been built and the house was finished the following year by his replacement as manager, Henry JamesWhen Hoover returned as Bewick, Moreing representative and agent in 1903, he certainly visited the mine, but did not manage it. However, Lou Henry Hoover as she was by then became the first woman to fo down the Sons of Gwalia, and amazed staff with her geological knowledge and mining awareness
Thank you Moya, Lou was a most educated, knowledgeable and accomplished lady. As well as adventurous too.
Great story, Moya. The caption is wrong for the car. That is a Sunbeam, often called the “White Sunbeam”. I am interested by the comment that she regularly drove the Panhard. Where was this reference from? I never found this info.
Thanks Moya for the fascinating stories, i love them. My dad worked at Big Bell before i was born in Victoria in 1943.
Thankyou Moya, an interesting article on the Hoovers. My Wife and I spent a couple of years in Kalgoorlie in the late 70s (2 year tourists!!) and in our first year we lived opposite “the Whitehouse”. It looked a bit more rundown than as shown in your photo especially the garden. We also had Montgomerys for neighbours. Regards, John Leipold.