Gouverneur Kemble (G.K.) Warren (1830-1852) was born in Cold Spring, New York on January 8, 1830. He graduated second in his class from the U.S. Military Academy in 1850 and was commissioned into the U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers.
Warren participated in the exploration surveys and maps in the 1850s for portions of the trans-Mississippi West. He was the first topographical engineer to explore the Black Hills of South Dakota. In 1856, he consulted the leaders of the ten-year-old Smithsonian Institution and then led a team of thirty-four men including geologist Ferdinand Harden to travel up the Missouri. Warren then mapped a portion of the Yellowstone River guided by scout Jim Bridger. His leadership created one of the first maps of the United States west of the Mississippi River.
During the Civil War, Warren was known as the “fighting fool of Gettysburg.” He helped turn the famous battle at Little Round Top from defeat to victory with his brilliant leadership and was later promoted to major general. Warren then returned to the Corps to present civil projects that were well designed, yet maintained Warren’s truly romantic spirit. Warren’s reports on the Mississippi River and its northern tributaries became major reference documents for three succeeding generations of Corps projects in the St. Paul District.
Warren’s extensive studies were unsurpassed for a century. His able promotion of the headwaters reservoir system and the development of the power potential at the Falls of St. Anthony were vital in developing milling and manufacturing at Minneapolis.
Warren was also one of the outstanding creative district engineers in the early history of the St. Paul office. His efforts greatly impacted the growth and development of present-day Minneapolis – St. Paul.