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Book announcement: King of the 40th Parallel
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From: Jim Moore <jmoore@xxxxxxxx>
A new book, "King of the 40th Parallel-Discovery in the American
West" by volcanologist James Gregory Moore has just been published by
Stanford University Press. The book chronicles the adventures of Clarence
King, the founding director of the USGS. It contains 150 illustrations
including many historic photographs and maps.
King was fascinated with volcanoes. Through close association with two of
his Yale professors, James Dana and George Brush, he was captivated by
stories of Mt. Shasta, which motivated him to cross the continent with a
wagon train. He climbed Mount Lassen twice in 1863 and spent hours
exploring and describing lava tubes east of Mount Shasta. Seven years later
he climbed Mount Shasta and found there the first active glaciers yet
discovered in the nation. Because of this discovery he sent geologists
Samuel Emmons to the unclimbed Mount Rainier and Arnold Hague to Mount
Hood. They also found glaciers, though another party beat Emmons in making
the first ascent of Mount Rainier. In 1872 King studied the active lava
lake in the firepit Halemaumau at Kilauea volcano.
At the age of 25 he commanded the Geological Exploration of the 40th
Parallel, a survey program that mapped a 100-mile-wide strip across the
Great Basin and Rocky Mountains on the planned railroad route. King's
leadership and the series of landmark maps and monographs that he prepared
and edited, set the standard for excellence in earth science practice and
publishing. When the existing four federal surveys were combined in 1879 to
create the USGS, King was the clear choice for Director of the new agency.
James G Moore
U.S. Geological Survey, MS-910
345 Middlefield Road
Menlo Park, California 94025
Phone: (650) 329-5244, FAX 329-5203
e-mail: jmoore@xxxxxxxx
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