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Home > Geology > Early Geologists & Photographs of Some Early Geological Field Trips

Some Early Geologists, U.S. Geological Survey Employees,& Others Who Worked on
Stone Resources in the late 1800’s Through the Early 1900’s


Introduction

This is a new section that I’ve decided to add to the “Geology” section of our web site that I hope you will find of interest. As I was using Ernest F. Burchard’s Mineral Resources of Southeastern Alaska (1920) and T. Nelson Dale’s many U.S. Geological Survey books on marble, granite, and slate, I began to wonder about these early geologists, their assistants, their experiences in the field while gathering the information for these books, the people at the U.S.G.S. who had a part in creating these old books, and other interesting geologists of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This section represents my exploration of some of these early geologists, writers, and U.S.G.S. employees who provided us with all of the interesting and valuable books, mineral collections, etc., that enable us to look back at the historical stone industry of their time. I've especially been intrigued by the field trips to locations such as Alaska, etc. I must admit that I have no background or education in geology, and this listing is very arbitrary and in no order of importance - except whoever interested me in my search. If you know of other interesting early geologists who you think would fit into this group, I would like to hear about them. Peggy B. Perazzo, August 2009.


General References

American Women in Geology: A Historical Perspective,” by Lois B. Arnold, in Geology, 5, 1977, pp. 493-494.

The Beginnings of the U.S. Geological Survey,” by Nationalatlas.gov.

The First One Hundred Years of American Geology, G. P. Merrill, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1924, 773 pp.

Geologic Pioneers - Conference on the History of Geologic Pioneers, August 2–5, 2000, Gerald M. Friedman, Past Chair, GSA History of Geology Division, Brooklyn College and Graduate School of the City University of New York, and Northeastern Science Foundation, P.0. Box 746, Troy, NY12181

The Geological Society of America: Life History of a Learned Society, by Edwin Butt Eckel, pp. 36-38, Geological Society of America, 1982, 167 pp., ISBN 081371155X, 9780813711553. (This section of the book is available on Google Book Search.)

Geologist, on Wikipedia

Geologists’ Biographies, on About.com

History of Geologic Mapping, U. S. Geological Survey

History of Geoscience: Women in the History of Geoscience,” on enotes.com (Women in this article include: *Etheldred Bennett, “a scientific researcher in paleontology and an accomplished artist,” from the south of England. *Mary Anning from the United Kingdom was the “most famous early female geologist.” *Florence Bascom, a female geologist from Williamstown, Massachusetts, “founded the department of geology at Bryn Mawr College. Bascom was the first woman geologist employed by the U. S. Geological Survey in 1896. *Eileen Gupp was “the first successful woman to be employed by the British Survey in the petrology department in 1927.” *Alice Wilson, born in 1881 in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada “became the first woman to reach a prominent position within the Geological Survey of Canada. *Mary Emilee Holmes was the “first fellow of the Geological Society of America” in 1889.

The History of Women And Science, Health, And Technology: A Bibliographic Guide To The Professions And The Disciplines, Geology and Earth Sciences (675-747).

Important Geoscientists, by William P. Clement, Temporary Special Lecturer, Center for Geophysical Investigation of the Shallow Subsurface (CGISS), Dept. of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho.

List of Geologists, on Wikipedia

Regulations of the United States Geological Survey, by Geological Survey (This book is available on Google Book Search – Full View Books.)

The Role of Women in the History of Geology, Special Publication No. 1281, by Cynthia V. Burek (Author, Editor), Bettie Higgs (Editor) “A conference held at the London Geological Society, Burlington House, London, on 28 November 2005), Geological Society of London; 1st edition (September 15, 2007), 352 pages, ISBN-10: 1862392277, ISBN-13: 978-1862392274. (Description: “Where were the women in Geology? This book is a first as it unravels the diverse roles women have played in the history and development of geology as a science predominantly in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and selectively in Germany, Russia and US. The volume covers the period from the late eighteenth century to the present day and shows how the roles that women have played changed with time. These included illustrators, museum collectors and curators, educationalists, researchers and geologists. Originally as wives, sisters or mothers many were assistants to their male relatives. This book looks at all these forgotten women and for the first time historians and scientists together explore the contribution they made to this male-dominated subject. There are individual profiles on remarkable women: Catherine Raisin, Dorothea Bate, Cuviers daughters, Grace Prestwich, Annie Greenly, Nancy Kirk, Margaret Crosfield, Ethel Skeat, Maria Ogivlie Gordon, Marie Stopes, Anne Phillips, Muriel Arber and Etheldred Bennett.”)

The United States Geological Survey: 1879-1989, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1050, by Mary C. Rabbitt. “A history of the relation of geology during the first 110 years of the U.S. Geological Survey to the development of public-land, Federal-science, and mapping policies and the development of mineral resources in the United States.”

U. S. Geological Survey, on Wikipedia.

U. S. Geological Survey Field Trips of the Geologic Branch, “Work of the Year,” 1903 and 1904, in Twenty-Fifth Annual Report of the Director of the United States Geological Survey to the Secretary of the Interior 1903-1904, Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904, pp. (A few of the people who led the field trips in 1903 and 1904 include: Professor Florence Bascom (pp. 34); William C. Alden (pp. 32); T. Nelson Dale (pp. 39); Edwin C. Eckel (pp. 42); and George Otis Smith (pp. 55). (This book is available on Google Book Search – Full View Books.)

U. S. Geological Survey Personnel, on Wikipedia.

Women in GSA,” in The Geological Society of America: Life History of a Learned Society, by Edwin Butt Eckel, pp. 36-38, in Geological Society of America, 1982, 167 pp., ISBN 081371155X, 9780813711553. The names of women scientists in the Geological Society of America that are described in this section include: Florence Bascom, Mary Emilee Holmes, Ida Helen Ogilivie, Mignon Talbot, Eleanora F. Bliss Knopf, Marjorie O’Connell Shearon, Julia Anna Gardner, Carlotta Joaquin Maury, Winifred Goldring, Anna Isabel Jonas Stose, Alva C. Ellisor, Margaret Fuller Boos, Fanny Carter Edson, Grace Anne Stewart, Katherine E. H. Palmer, Alice Evelyn Wilson, Katherine Fowler-Billings, Madeleine A. Fritz, Helen J. Plummer, Christina Lochman-Balk, Jewell J. Glass, Hildegard Howard, Esther J. Aberdeen, Alice S. Allen, Esther E. R. Applin, Esther E. R. Applin, Anna Heitanen-Makela, Helen N. Leoblich, Helen M. M. Martin, Emily Jäeger, and Dorothy Hill. (Photographs of Florence Bascom and Mary Emilee Holmes are included in this section.) (This section of the book is available on Google Book Search.)


Some Early Geologists, Cartographers, Statiticians, etc.

(Note: This list is formatted in alphabetical order by surname.)

Dr. William C. ALDEN, U. S. Geological Survey Chief of Pleistocene Geology


Florence BASCOM, (First woman officer of the GSA and first woman geologist employed by the U. S. Geological Survey, according to “Great Expectations: Florence Bascom (1842-1945) and the education of early U.S. Women Geologists,” in The Role of Women in the History of Geology, by R. M. Clary and J. H. Wandersee.)

“Miss F. Bascom, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa.”


Etheldred BENNETT, known as the “First Lady Geologist” in England


R. W. BERRY, U. S. Geological Survey Cartographer

R. W. Berry’s Photo Album on U. S. Geological Survey Photographic Library


Dr. Oliver BOWLES (1877-1958), Geologist for the U. S. Bureau of Mines


Alfred Hulse BROOKS, U.S. Geological Survey


Ernest F. BURCHARD (1875-1961) U.S. Geological Survey


Miss Altha Titsworth COONS, U. S. Geological Survey “Statistical Expert”

Jefferson Jeffers Coons, C.E. (Father of Altha T. Coons)

“Jefferson Jeffers Coons, Sussex, Sussex county, New Jersey, civil engineer, was born July 17, 1842, at Sand Lake, Rensselaer County, New York, son of Solyman Coons and Altha Burton, his wife, and is of Dutch descent.

“He attended public schools and the New York Conference Seminary at Charlotteville, then entered Union College, where he completed a course in civil engineering, graduating with the degree of C.E. in 1867. Upon graduation he at once engaged in professional work, which he continued until 1877, from which year until 1881 he followed a mercantile business. He resumed engineering and was engaged in it until 1893, when he again took up a mercantile line and was so employed for five years, but since 1898 has followed civil engineering and supervising.

“Mr. Coons has held the civil offices of town clerk of Sussex, 1881; member of the Board of Education, 1893-1905; chosen freeholder, 1905. Politically he is a Democrat. He is a member of Samaritan Lodge, No. 98, F. & A.M., Sussex; Baldwin Chapter, No. 23, R.A.M., Newton, New Jersey, and of Monroe Commandery, No. 12, Knights Templar, Rochester, New York. He married, March 27, 1872, Jennie Titsworth, and has children: Altha Titsworth Coons, a graduate, degree of B.S., of Swarthmore, 1894, Annie Burton Coons and Kate Titsworth Coons.”


T. Nelson DALE (1845 - 1937), U. S. Geological Survey Geologist


James Dwight DANA (1813-1895), Scientific Explorer, Mineralogist, Geologist, and Zoologist


Nelson H. DARTON, (1865-1948) U. S. Geological Survey Geologist


Chester DEWEY (1784-1867) Geologist


Thomas Wilson DIBBLEE, Jr. (1911-2004) U. S. Geological Survey Geologist


Amos EATON (1776-1842) Geologist


Edwin Clarence ECKEL (1875- 1941) U. S. Geological Survey Geologist

Some Books by Edwin C. Eckel that are available online:

Building Stones and Clays; Their Origin, Characters and Examination, by Edwin C. Eckel, New York: J. Wiley. (This book is available on the Internet Archive.)

“The Cement Industry in New York” (Chapters), by Edwin Clarence Eckel, in Lime and Cement Industries of New York, by Heinrich Ries, Edwin Clarence Eckel, New York State Museum, University of the State of New York, University of the State of New York, 1901, 968 pp. (This book is available on Google Book Search – Full View Books.)

Cement Materials,” by Edwin C. Eckel, in Geology and Mineral Resources of Mississippi, Bulletin No. 283, United States Geological Survey, 1906, pp. 71-90. (This book is available on Google Book Search – Full View Books.)

The Materials and Manufacture of Portland Cement, by Edwin C. Eckel, Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin No. 8, Brown Printing Company, 1904, 93 pp. (This book is available on Google Book Search – Full View Books.)

Portland Cement Materials Near Dubuque Iowa,” by Ernest F. Burchard, in Contributions to Economic Geology, Part I. Metals and Nonmetals, 1906,Bulletin No. 315, U. S. Geological Survey, S. F. Emmons and E. C. Eckel, Geologists in Charge. 1907, pp. 225-231. (This book is available on Google Book Search - Full View Books.)


Ebenezer EMMONS (1799-1863) Geologist


Katharine FOWLER-BILLINGS (1902–1997) Geologist

“Katharine Fowler-Billings (1902–1997) became a practicing field geologist in the 1920s, long before this was a commonplace career for a woman. Her life achievements are those that anyone would be proud to have—fine educational credentials, including a Ph.D. from Columbia University; a publication record that includes fundamental geological descriptions of large areas in Wyoming, Sierra Leone, and New Hampshire; and a record of environmental activism in New England….”


Winifred  GOLDRING (1888-1971) First woman president of the Paleontological Society


James HALL (1811–1898) Paleontologist


Erasmus HAWORTH, U. S. Geological Survey & the Kansas Geological Survey - Geologist


F. L. HESS, U. S. Geological Survey


Mary Emilee HOLMES, (1850-1906) Paleontologist


Richard L. HUMPHREY, U. S. Geological Survey, Engineer in Charge of the Structural Materials Division


Clarence KING (1842- 1901) Geologist & First U. S. Geological Survey Director


Philip Burk KING (1903-1987) U. S. Geological Survey Geologist


Eleanor Bliss KNOPF (1883-1974) U. S. Geological Survey Geologist


Medora Hooper KRIEGER (1905-1994) Geologist


Gerald F. LOUGHLIN (1880-1946) Chief Geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey


J. David LOVE, Sr. (1913-2002) U. S. Geological Survey Geologist


George Perkins MERRILL (1854-1929) Geologist


J. B. MERTIE, Jr., U. S. Geological Survey


Henry B. NASON (1831–1895) Geologist


Denison OLMSTEAD (1791–1859) U. S. Geological Survey Geologist


Sidney PAIGE, U. S. Geological Survey

Sydney Paige in 1952 - Sidney Paige received the Bownocker Medal from the Ohio State University Department of Geological Sciences.


John Wesley POWELL (1834-1902) Second Directory of the U. S. Geological Survey


Heinrich RIES (1871-1951) Professor, Emeritus of Geology of Cornell University


Washington A. ROEBLING (1837–1926) Creator of the Roebling Gem and Mineral Collection in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, in the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

(Excerpt from the above document.) “For diversion, (Washington A. Roebling) directed these energies into his lifelong hobby and passion, his rock and mineral collection. That priceless 16,000-piece collection was eventually donated by his son, John A. Roebling II, to the Smithsonian Institution. It has since become the cornerstone of the Museum of Natural History’s mineral and gem collection.”


Frank Charles SCHRADER (1860-1944) U. S. Geological Survey Geologist

Frank C. Schrader, the U. S. Geological Survey Geologists, and Walter C. Mendenhall circa 1898:


Eugene Allen SMITH (1841-1927) Alabama State Geologist

List of Published Reports of the Alabama Geological Survey – Some by Eugene A. Smith, State Geologist, University, Alabama in Index to the Mineral Resources of Alabama, b y Eugene Allen Smith and Henry McCalley, Brown Printing Company, 1904, 79 pp. (This book is available on Google Book Search – Full View Books.)

Index to the Mineral Resources of Alabama, by Eugene Allen Smith, Henry McCalley, Brown Printing Company, 1904, 79 pp. (This book is available on Google Book Search – Full View Books.)


George Otis SMITH (1871-1944) Fourth U. S. Geological Survey


Philip S. SMITH, U. S. Geological Survey


Frank Robertson VAN HORN (1872-1933) U. S. Geological Survey


Charles Doolittle WALCOTT (1850-1927) Third U. S. Geological Survey Director


Alice WILSON (1881- 1964) Geologist at the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC)

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