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From 'our history' to Hollywood Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Carlos Gregory Velazquez, a high-tech surveyor and descendant of the first Hispanic settlers in the Rogue Valley, stands in front of his childhood home in Central Point. High-tech engineer's job takes him all over, including a Civil War sub and frigid oil fields By MELISSA MARTIN From the world's largest oil reserves, to a submarine casket carrying the bones of eight Civil War soldiers, Carlos Gregory Velazquez encounters the unexpected in his job. Velazquez has created a 3-D map of the skeletal remains of a submarine captain who died off the coast of South Carolina in 1864. He has surveyed places in the Athabasca Oil Sands Deposit in Alberta, Canada, that contains 300 billion barrels of potentially recoverable oil, more than the Middle East reserves. And he's worked on a Hollywood set, creating special effects for the movie "Mission to Mars." An engineer with Epic Scan LTD in Medford, Velazquez represents the third generation of the Rogue Valley's early Hispanic settlers. His grandfather, Celso Velazquez, a mill worker, and his father, Carlos Velazquez, a forester, appeared in a 1964 Mail Tribune photo and article that described them as the first family from Mexico to settle in Medford. But more than 50 years after the Velazquez family moved here from Tepic, Mexico, the patriarch's grandson finds himself far removed from the timber industry. The 27-year-old is an expert in spatial measurement systems, or high-tech surveying. Velazquez's job has taken him to Charleston, S.C., where he used laser scanners and computer software to create 3-D models of the Hunley submarine, discovered by a diver in 1995 and recently excavated. "That whole project was exciting," Velazquez said. "It was greatest archaeological find of the century and to think that I saw the remains of Lt. Dixon, the man who was in charge of the submarine, is amazing. I just kept thinking, 'This is our history.' " After Velazquez created a 3-D model that showed the location of all of the artifacts buried in sand inside the submarine, archaeologists dug out Dixon's bones, the skeletons of seven crew members, lanterns, wallets, boots and Dixon's gold piece, a gift from his fiancee. "Dixon always kept that coin with him for good luck," Velazquez said of the coin that may have saved the Confederate soldier's life during a battle at Shiloh. A Union bullet penetrated Dixon's trouser pocket and struck the coin instead of his leg. "We actually found the coin in the sub, dented and engraved," Velazquez said. Velazquez's expertise has also taken him to a cold corner of the continent - Fort McMurray, about 350 miles north of Edmonton, Alberta. His job was to create 3-D computer models of pipes and facilities at an expanding petroleum plant. The plant extracts oil from sand, producing about 225,000 barrels daily, or $9 million worth. "That was the most difficult and complex job I've worked on, mostly because of the size," Velazquez said. "It was enormous. We were awarded the bid over two other companies because of our company's small size and because we had worked on a similar project near Edmonton." From dawn to dusk, working 10 to 12 hours a day, Velazquez and two other Epic Scan employees scanned images from July 31 to Oct. 9, without taking a day off. They covered eight different process plants, lugging equipment across the 40-acre project. "It was extremely isolated," Velazquez said. It was also cold. Last year in Edmonton, Velazquez and his Epic Scan partners had to design a heat blanket to cover the scanning equipment so it could operate in minus-30-degree weather. "We have to go back there in November for a few days and we're hoping the temperature will be above zero." On those frigid days in the north, Velazquez remembers a job in sunny California, on the set of "Mission to Mars." He used the same survey technology to create 3-D models for special effects. He's also worked for the FBI creating a 3-D model of a bullet-ridden house that was the scene of a drug raid. And he helped create a 3-D model of Oregon Caves for the National Park Service. "The applications are endless for what you can do with this technology," he said. But Velazquez said his exotic travel days may be waning, partly because he misses his girlfriend (Kirsten Alford, an associate buyer with Harry and David) while he's away, and partly because he's getting to be more in demand as a consultant for Cyrax, the manufacturer of the equipment he uses. Because he was one of the first engineers to use the laser scanner when it was introduced three years ago, Velazquez is an expert. Recently, he worked in Denver with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., and in Salt Lake with Kennecotts Bingham Copper Mine, one of the world's largest open pit mines. "It's a big leap from using traditional survey equipment to using laser scanners," Velazquez said. "There's a lot to learn about organizing the data and doing it accurately." While he's traveled the continent, he hasn't forgotten his heritage. He remembers visits to his father's village birthplace near Mazatlan and especially recalls cobblestone streets, banana trees and parrots. "The most important thing I've learned from this other half of my culture is how important family is," Velazquez said. "We've always supported our family through anything. Whenever someone needed help, we were there for each other." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.