Our History

Namesake Background

H. Ray Taber (1927-2011) was a pioneer consultant in the field of the application of professional geologic opinion to civil engineering design which is known as the practice of "engineering geology", now a subset of Geotechnical Engineering. He also came from a pioneer ranching family that arrived in California in the 1850's and settled in the Capay Valley. He and his family have practiced sustainable small ranch farming on this same land since 1867.

Career Highlights

Ray Taber began his education in geology and engineering at Stanford University at the age of 16 (1940's), he and Ret Moore literally "wrote the book" on bridge foundation investigation protocols while with the Bridge Department of the State of California, in 1954 these partners formed a consulting company where, during his career, Ray Taber participated in evaluation of over 3,000 bridge locations (1950's), he was a founding member of AEG, now an international organization for engineering and environmental geologists, he was also a founding member of a national professional liability insurance company focused on risk reduction and fair premiums (1960's), he developed a risk-based geologic hazard assessment protocol for evaluation of potential building sites (1970's), and he helped develop a roller-plate super-structure-to-foundation connection to mitigate fault movement between bridge supports (1980's). In the ranching community he has made contributions to the development of a new almond variety called the "Merlin" and to the development of a sustainable water supply and delivery system model for a small ranch setting.