American Inventor, Conservationist and Activist. In 1861, she moved with her family to to Carson City, Nevada, where she met her future husband, Charles Lyman Strong, who she married at the age of nineteen. In 1883, she was left a widow with four daughters when her husband committed suicide after a series of business failures. She inherited her husband's property, consisting of mines and other lands in Southern California, and devoted her attention to the management and development of the properties, known as Ranchito del Fuerte in San Gabriel Valley, California, which was largely planted with walnut and orange trees. In 1897 she drilled a number of artesian wells and purchased 1,000 acres of land five miles away, installed a pumping plant, and incorporated the property under the name Paso de Bartolo Water Company, of which she was president. In 1887, she was granted a patent for a dam and reservoir construction which consisted of a series of back-up dams. She obtained another patent in 1894 for developing a method for impounding debris and storing water. In 1893, she was awarded two medals for these inventions at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Strong wrote a number of songs and published a book of musical sketches, and for many years was vice president of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra Association. She founded the Ebell Theater of Los Angeles, serving as its president for three consecutive terms, became the first female member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and served as the first woman on the executive board of the Inland Waterways Association of San Francisco. In 1918, she represented both the Whittier and Los Angeles chambers of commerce, being the first woman delegate to attend those conventions. She was a member of the board of directors of the Whittier Chamber of Commerce, and chairman of its flood control committee, and member of its Law and Legislative committee, also a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Legislative committee. Strong, who is in the National Woman's Hall of Fame, died as a result of an automobile accident.