Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
Josiah D. Whitney and William P. Blake: Conflicts in Relation to California Geology and the Fate of the First California Geological Survey
Josiah D. Whitney and William P. Blake: Conflicts in Relation to California Geology and the Fate of the First California Geological Survey
Page Range: 46 – 76
Josiah D. Whitney and William P. Blake shared common social and educational backgrounds and pursued similar professional career paths at a time when employment in geology was undependable. Their professional paths crossed numerous times over the course of five decades in what initially was an amicable professional relationship that evolved by 1860 into competition for state geologist and director of the first California Geological Survey, and California commissioner for the London International Exhibition. Beyond simple competition, Whitney and Blake disagreed over important mainstream geological and ethnological issues germane to California during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The primary issues evolved around the potential economic value of oil and the Bodie Mining District, earthquakes and seismic risk, origin of the Yosemite Valley, the significance of the Calaveras Skull and the antiquity of man, the age of the gold-bearing rocks of California, and formation of the College of California. Both men were influential, however, Blake's contributions to the early geologic understanding of California were more optimistic and compatible with California's needs, while correctly forecasting the state's potential growth and providing insight into the geology and mineral and agricultural resources of the region. Despite Whitney's contributions while serving as director, his personal disposition and pessimistic views sealed the fate of the first geological survey of California.
Antisell, Thomas, Geological Report, in Report of Explorations for Railroad Routes from San Francisco Bay to Los Angeles, California, West of the Coast Range, and from the Pimas Villages on the Gila to the Rio Grande near the 32d Parallel of North Latitude (Washington, DC: Beverly Tucker, 1857), VII:II:1-204.
Blake, William P., Recent Earthquake Shocks in California, American Journal of Science, 2nd ser., 1854, 28:151.
Blake, William P., Report of a Geological Reconnaissance in California (New York: H. Bailliere, 1858).
Blake, William P., Blake's Report upon the Gold Placers of a Part of Lumpkin County, Georgia, and the Practicability of Working them by the Hydraulic Method, with Water from the Chestatee River (New York, NY: John F. Trow, 1858).
Blake, William P., A New Machine for Breaking Stone and Ores, Mining Magazine and Journal of Geology, 2nd ser., 1861, 1:1, 50.
Blake, William P., Notice on the Fossils of the Sierra Nevada, Proceedings of the California Academy of Natural Sciences, 1864, 3:28.
Blake, William P., New Mineral Oil Regions in the Tulare Valley, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 1867, 3:193.
Blake, William P., Note on the Discovery of Fossils in the Auriferous Slate Formation of the Mariposa Estate, California, and the Probable Geological Age, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 1867, 3:170.
Blake, William P., Notes of the Geology of the Island of Yesso, Japan, From Observations Made in 1862, Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1871-1873, 2:299-300.
Blake, William P., The Progress of the Geological Surveys in the State of Wisconsin—A Review and Bibliography, Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 1893, 9:225-231.
Blake, William P., Notes and Recollections Concerning the Mineral Resources of Northern Georgia and Western North Carolina, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 1896, 25:797-811.
Blake, William P., The Pliocene Skull of California and the Flint Implements of Table Mountain, The Journal of Geology, October-November, 1899, 631-637.
Blake, William P., Glacial Erosion and the Origin of the Yosemite Valley, American Institute of Mining Engineers Transactions, 1900, 29:823-835.
Blake, William P., The Blake Stone- and Ore-Breaker: Its Invention, Forms and Modifications, and its Importance in Engineering Industries, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 1903, 33:988-1031.
Blake, William P., Petroleum, The Engineering and Mining Journal, 1904, 78:349.
Blake, William P., The Cahuilla Basin and Desert of the Colorado, in The Salton Sea—A Study of the Geography, the Geology, the Floristics, and the Ecology of a Desert Basin, ed. Douglas T. MacDougal (Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1914), 1-12.
Brewer, William H., On the Age of the Gold-Bearing Rocks of the Pacific Coast, The American Journal of Science and Arts, 1866, 2nd ser., 42:114-118.
Brewster, Edwin T., Life and Letters of Josiah Dwight Whitney (New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1909).
Champlin, Peggy, Raphael Pumpelly—Gentleman Geologist of the Gilded Age (Tuscaloosa, Al: University of Alabama Press, 1994).
Coash, John R., Perceptions of the Early Railroad Surveys in California, Earth Sciences History, 1992, 11:40-44.
Day, David T., The Petroleum Resources of the United States, in Papers on the Conservation of Mineral Resources (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1909), United States Geological Survey Bulletin 394, 30-50.
Dean, Dennis R., John Muir and the Origin of Yosemite Valley, Annals of Science, 1991, 48:453-485.
Dill, Jr., David B., William Phipps Blake—Yankee Gentleman and Pioneer Geologist of the Far West, The Journal of Arizona History, 1991, Winter:385-412.
Faraguhar, Francis F., Up and Down California in 1860-1864, The Journal of William H. Brewer (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1930).
Fernlund, Kevin, J., William Henry Holmes and the Rediscovery of the American West (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2000).
Ferrier, William W., Origin and Development of the University of California (Berkeley, CA: The Southern Gate Book Shop, 1930).
Foster, John W., and Josiah D. Whitney, Report on the Geology and Topography of a Portion of the Lake Superior Land District in the State of Michigan—Parts I and II (Washington, DC, 1850).
Geschwind, Carl-Henry, California Earthquakes—Science, Risk and the Politics of Hazards Mitigation (Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 2001).
Goetzmann, William H., Army Exploration in the American West (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1959).
Hall, James, and Josiah D. Whitney, Report on the Geological Survey of Iowa—Volume I, Parts I: Geology and II: Paleontology (Des Moines, IA: C. Van Benthuysen by Authority of the Legislature of Iowa, 1858).
Harte, Bret, To the Pliocene Skull (A Geological Address), in Complete Poetical Works (New York, NY: P. F. Collier and Sons, Argonaut Edition, 1899), 280-281.
Holmes, William H., Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution to July, 1892, in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1893), 49.
Holmes, William H., Preliminary Revision of the Evidence Relating to Auriferous Gravel Man in California, First and Second Paper, American Anthropologist, 1899, n.s., 1:107-121, 614-645.
Hulton, Charlotte P., The Whitney Geological Survey: Its Conflict with the California Legislature, Journal of the West, 1969, 200-209.
Hrdlicka, Ales, Skeletal Remains Suggesting or Attributed to Early Man in North America (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1907), Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 33.
Jackson, Charles T., First Annual Report on the Geology of New Hampshire (Concord, NH, 1841).
King, Clarence, Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada (Boston, MA: James R. Osgood and Company, 1872).
Lawson, Andrew C., The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906, Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission in Two Volumes and Atlas (Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1908).
Leviton, Alan E., and M. L. Aldrich, John Boardman Trask: Physician-Geologist in California, 1850-1879, in Frontiers of Geological Exploration of Western North America, eds. A. E. Leviton, P. U. Rodda, E. Yochelson, and M. L. Aldrich (San Francisco, CA: Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1982), 37-69.
Lucier, Paul, Commercial Interests and Scientific Disinterestedness, Consulting Geologists in Antebellum America, Isis, 1995, 86:245-267.
Maass, John, Who Invented Dewey's Classification? Wilson Library Bulletin, 1972, 335-342.
Matthes, Francois E., Geologic History of the Yosemite Valley (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office), United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 160, 1938.
Matthes, Francois E., John Muir and the Glacial Theory, Sierra Club Bulletin, 1938, 9-10.
Mendenhall, Walter C., Ground Waters of the Indio Region, California, with a Sketch of the Colorado Desert (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1909), United States Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 225.
Muir, John, Studies in the Sierras, Overland Monthly, 1874-1875, No. I. Mountain Sculpture, 12:393-403; No. II. Mountain Sculpture—Origin of Yosemite Valleys, 12:489-500; No. III. Ancient Glaciers and their Pathways, 13:67-79; No. IV. Glacial Denudation, 13:174-184; No. V. Postglacial Denudation, 13:393-402; No. VI. Formation of Soils, 13:530-540; and No. VII. Mountain-building, 14:64-73.
Oakshott, Gorden B., Contributions of the State Geological Surveys: California as a Case History, in Geologists and Ideas: A History of North American Geology, eds. Ellen T. Drake and William M. Jordan (Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, 1985), 323-335.
Pemberton, J. A., Economice of the Oil and Gas Industry of California, in Geologic Formations and Economic Development of the Oil and Gas Fields of California (San Francisco, CA: California State Division of Mines, 1943), Bulletin No. 118, 3.
Pumpelly, Raphael, Geological Researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan during the Years 1862 to 1865, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 1867, vol. 15.
Pumpelly, Raphael, Across America and Asia—Notes of a Five Years Journey Around the World and of the Residence of Arizona, Japan and China (New York, NY: Leypoldt and Holt, 1870).
Pumpelly, Raphael, My Reminiscences, 2 vols. (New York, NY: H. Holt and Co., 1918).
Merrill, George P., The First One Hundred Years of American Geology (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1924).
Rabbitt, Mary C., Minerals, Lands, and Geology for the Common Defence and General Welfare, 3 vols. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1979).
Raymond, Rossiter W., Biographical Notice, in Clarence King Memoirs, The Helmet of Mambrino (New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904), 329.
Raymond, Rossiter W., Biographical Notice of William Phipps Blake, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 1911, 51:851-868.
Rodda, P. U., and Alan E. Leviton, Nineteenth Century Earthquake Investigations in California, Earth Sciences History, 1983, 2:48-56.
Shedd, Solon, Bibliography of the Geology and Mineral Resources of California to December 31 [1931] (San Francisco, CA: State Division of Mines, 1932).
Silliman, Jr., Benjamin, and William P. Blake, Prospectus of the Empire Gold and Silver Mining Co. of New York (New York, NY: Wm. H. Arthur, 1864).
Smith, Michael L., Pacific Visions—California Scientists and the Environment, 1850-1915 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987).
Stadtman, Verne A., The University of California 1868-1968, A Centennial Publication of the University of California (San Francisco, CA: McGraw Hill Book Co., 1970).
Testa, Stephen M., Early Geological Observations of the Colorado Desert Area by William Phipps Blake - 1853 and 1906, South Coast Geological Society Annual Field Trip Guide Book No. 24, Strurzstroms and Detachment Faults, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California, 1996, 1-43, Appendix A.
Testa, Stephen M., Contributions of William P. Blake to Early California Geology and History, in Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section Meeting Abstracts, 1999, A-10.
Testa, Stephen M., Contributions of William Phipps Blake: Practicing Geology in the Nineteenth Century, in Geological Society of America Annual Meeting and Exposition Abstracts, November 1-10, 2001, A-58.
Testa, Stephen M., Geologic Perceptions Regarding Oil Prospects and Future Growth and Development of California in the Post-Gold Rush Era, Oil Industry History, 2001, 2:171-86.
Tyson, P. T., Geology and Industrial Resources of California (Baltimore, MD: William Minifie and Co., 1851).
United States Geological Survey, Mineral Resources in the United States, Calendar Year 1885 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1886).
White, Gerald T., Formative Years in the Far West—A History of Standard Oil Company of California and Predecessors Through 1919 (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962).
White, Gerald T., Scientists in Conflict—The Beginnings of the Oil Industry in California (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1968).
Whitney, Josiah D., The Metallic Wealth of the United States, Described and Compared with That of Other Countries (Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co., 1854).
Whitney, Josiah D., Lecture on Geology Delivered Before the Legislature of California at San Francisco, Thursday Evening, February 27, 1862 (San Francisco: Benj. P. Avery, 1862).
Whitney, Josiah D., Paleontology, Volume I, Geological Survey of California (Philadelphia: Caxton Press, 1864) 243 p. with plates.
Whitney, Josiah D., Geology, Volume I, Report of Progress and Synopsis of the Field-Work From 1860-1864, Geological Survey of California (Philadelphia: Caxton Press, 1865).
Whitney, Josiah D., Notice of a Human Skull, Recently Found from a Shaft near Angel's, Calaveras County, California Academy of Sciences Proceedings, 1863-1867, 3:277-278.
Whitney, Josiah D., Yosemite Book (New York: J. Bien, 1868).
Whitney, Josiah D., Earthquakes, North American Review, 1869, 108(233):578-610.
Whitney, Josiah D., Yosemite Guide-Book (Cambridge: University Press, Welch, Bigelow, and Co., 1870).
Whitney, Josiah D., The Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada: Contributions to American Geology, Volume I (Cambridge: University Press, John Wilson and Sons, 1880).
Whitney, Josiah D., J. F. Houghton, and J. Swett, Report Relative to Establishing a State University, made in Accordance with a Concurrent Resolution Passed at the Fourteenth Session of the Legislature (N.P., 1863), 1-29. Copy in University of California Archives.
Wilkins, Thurman, Clarence King—A Biography, revised and enlarged edition (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988).
Willey, Samuel H., History of the College of California; Papers of the California Historical Society (San Francisco, CA: California Historical Society, 1887), 1(2):94.