This collection contains photographs, slides, albums, and one negative, likely received and compiled by Chris Wheeler during his service as state engineer of Oregon from 1962-1975. Loose photographs in the collection depict waterways across the state of Oregon from approximately 1910-1925, including the construction of irrigation canals and the Tumalo Dam in conjunction with the state's Tumalo Irrigation Project in Deschutes County from 1913-1915. Color slides depict dams and reservoirs in Oregon from 1950-1967. The collection also includes four photograph albums, with images dating from 1912 to approximately 1922. One documents irrigation efforts by the Central Oregon Irrigation Company and the Deschutes Land Company Project; another contains official photographs of the Tumalo Irrigation Project. The third contains photographs that were collected or compiled by Oregon State Engineer John H. Lewis and depict canals, flumes, and dams across Oregon, views of the Klamath Project, and a steamboat trip down the Snake and Columbia Rivers, among other subjects. The final album includes scenes of the Tumalo Irrigation Project, the Umatilla Project, and various Oregon rivers and bridges.

Many of the photographs in this collection were probably taken or collected by previous state engineers, including Lewis (state engineer from 1905-1918) and Percy A. Cupper (state engineer from 1918-1922); their names appear on the backs of many of the photographs in the albums. Other photographers represented include Benjamin Gifford and Angelus Commercial Studio of Portland, Oregon.