Franklin Knight Lane

Canadian-born Franklin Knight Lane (1864–1921) moved to California at an early age. He first attained prominence as a newspaperman, lawyer and reformer in the San Francisco Bay area. He was a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission under Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, and President Wilson appointed him to the Department of the Interior. Notable among Lane's contributions as secretary were the controversial approval to dam the Hetch Hetchy Valley to supply water for San Francisco; a major overhaul of the Reclamation Service (now the Bureau of Reclamation); and the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. In 1917 Lane oversaw construction of the Department's first centralized headquarters—what is now the General Services Administration Building—and he changed the original, official Departmental emblem from an eagle to a bison. Lane was also a proponent of Alaska statehood and was the first secretary to install an Alaska resident as a territorial governor. He resigned in 1920 to become vice president of the Pan-American Petroleum Company, though he passed away the following year. Lane's ashes were scattered in Yosemite.

Lane's portrait is by Russian-American artist and instructor Ivan Olinsky (1878–1962).