Western Region Outreach Highlights

Text and images assembled by Jim Moore, USGS Scientist Emeritus

Career Highlights

After completing a geology degree at Yale and coming West in a wagon train, Clarence King (1842-1901) worked with the California Geological Survey and was in the field party that discovered Mount Whitney.
King led the United States Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel (1867-79), which mapped topography and geology along a 100-mile-wide strip across Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming.
King discovered the first known glaciers in the U.S., exposed the "great diamond hoax" of 1872, and wrote "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada", a book that became a classic in western writing.
In 1879 Clarence King became the founding Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Nation's first civilian government science agency.
King's enduring legacy includes excellence in combining mapping of geology and topography, and supporting geologic field work with a full range of laboratory studies.

Photographs

1864

The 1864 field party of the California Geological Survey (Charles Hoffmann absent). From left to right: James T. Gardner, Richard D. Cotter, William H. Brewer, and Clarence King. Gardner is holding a sextant used for mapping and astronomical location; Cotter is armed with musket, dagger, and pistol; both Brewer and King have mercury barometers - used to measure altitudes - slung on their shoulders; and King holds a geologist's hammer. (U.S. Geological Survey Library)
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1867

Part of the party of the Fortieth Parallel Survey in camp in Nevada in 1867. Clarence King is in the center in front of the pole which Dick Cotter has climbed. The men to King's right and left are possibly Jim Marryatt and James Gardner. Photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan. (U.S. Geological Survey Library)
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1868

In camp near Salt Lake City in the summer of 1868. Clarence King and James Gardner sit on either side of a tripod of rifles and a barometer. James Marryatt, King's cook and valet is on the right. All three men are formally dressed for dinner, a custom King honored in the field whenever possible. Photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan. (U.S. Geological Survey)
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King Near Uinta Lake

Clarence King sitting on a rock at the shore of Uinta Lake in buckskin field clothes and leggings with a mercury barometer slung over his shoulder. Photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan. (King Memoirs, 1904)
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1869

Clarence King in 1869 after he had completed three seasons with the Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel. The photograph was taken in Washington D.C. when King was 27. (Clarence King Memoirs, 1904)
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1870

The deeply crevassed part of the Whitney Glacier on Mount Shasta. Clarence King, holding alpenstock in foreground, discovered this - the first active glacier described in the United States. 1870 photograph by Carlton Watkins. (U.S. Geological Survey)
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c. 1879

Clarence King in polka dot tie at about the age of 37. King, the first Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, took the oath of office May 24, 1879 and resigned march 11, 1881. He was the second-youngest USGS Director. (U.S. Geological Survey Library)
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Clarence King Profile

Profile photograph of Clarence King in formal dress. (U.S. Geological Survey)
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1882-1884

Clarence King in a green velvet suit that he reportedly wore on his trip to Europe and while searching for Mambrino's helmet at La Mancha, Spain. The trip was made from 1882 to 1884 after King resigned his directorship. (Clarence King Memoirs, 1904)
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1902

Official oil portrait of Clarence King that now hangs in the corridor outside the Director's conference room at the national headquarters of the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia. The painting supposedly was originally commissioned in 1902 by the USGS for $1200 from the artist George Howland, King's half brother. When the money was not forthcoming, Howland wrote King's old friend John Hay who suggested that the Century Club should have it. It hung in the Club gallery for a time but was deemed inappropriate either because of a perception of artistic inadequacy or because King's clandestine marriage made him unsuitable. Hay, Henry Adams, and other friends raised $500 to compensate Howland, and the painting was donated to the U. S. Geological Survey (O'Toole, 1990). (U.S. Geological Survey)
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The Below Links Are Not Part of the USGS
The following web sites are not owned and are not sanctioned by the government. Please note that the USGS does not control and cannot guarantee the relevance, timeliness, or accuracy of these outside materials. The links may contain live references (or pointers) to information created and maintained by other organizations.

For more information on Clarence King, his publications, and photographs from his surveys, please see these other Web sites:

Clarence King, Mount Shasta Project, College of Siskiyous
Clarence King Survey of the 40^th Parallel, George Eastman House, Photography Collection
Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King, Above California
Across the Great Divide by Clarence King, Backcountry Resource Center

A Clarence King Gallery – The First Director of the U.S. Geological Survey