Clarence King
Encyclopedia
Clarence R. King was an American
geologist
, mountaineer
, and art critic
. First director of the United States Geological Survey
, from 1879 to 1881, King was noted for his exploration of the Sierra Nevada. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island
.
of Yale College
with a Ph.B. in chemistry. While at Yale, he studied with James Dwight Dana
. After graduation King traveled on horseback to California
with his good friend and classmate, James Terry Gardiner
. In California he joined the California Geological Survey
without pay where he worked with William H. Brewer
, Josiah D. Whitney
and Richard D. Cotter
. In October 1872, he uncovered a diamond and gemstone hoax
perpetrated by Philip Arnold
. In 1864, King and Richard Cotter reported the first ascent of Mount Tyndall
.
In the mid-1850s King began to read works by John Ruskin
and associated with a group of American artists, writers, and architects who followed Ruskin's thinking. Through this group he became aware of the British Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
. In 1863, with John William Hill
and Clarence Cook
he helped to found the Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art, an American group, similar to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
, who published a journal called The New Path.
In 1867, King was named U.S. Geologist of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel
, commonly known as the Fortieth Parallel Survey, a position for which he strongly lobbied. King spent six years in the field exploring areas from Wyoming to the border of California. During that time he also published his famous "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada" (1872). After the completion of the field work, in 1878 King published "Systematic Geology."
King was also invited to examine the site of a diamondiferous area, which he exposed as a fraud, called the Diamond hoax of 1872
.
While conducting field work for the Survey, King met and befriended Henry Brooks Adams. Their friendship lasted for the rest of King's life, and he is often mentioned by Adams in the autobiographical The Education of Henry Adams
(1907).
In 1879, the US Congress consolidated the number of geological surveys exploring the American West and created the United States Geological Survey
. King was chosen its first director; however, he served for only twenty months.
King died of tuberculosis
in Phoenix, Arizona
, and is buried in Newport, Rhode Island
. Kings Peak
in Utah
, Mount Clarence King
, and Clarence King Lake at Shastina, California are named in his honor. The US Geological Survey Headquarters Library in Reston, Virginia, is also known as the Clarence King Library.
King spent his last thirteen years leading a double life. In 1887 or 1888, he met and fell in love with Ada Copeland
, an African-American nursemaid (and former slave) from Georgia
who had moved to New York City
in the mid-1880s. As miscegenation
was strongly discouraged in the nineteenth century (and even illegal in many places), King hid his identity from Copeland. Despite his blue eyes and fair complexion, King convinced Copeland that he was an African-American Pullman porter named James Todd. The two fell in love and entered into a common law marriage in 1888. Throughout the marriage, King never revealed his true identity to Ada, pretending to be Todd, a black railroad worker, when at home, and continuing to work as King, a white geologist, when in the field. The union produced five children. King finally revealed his true identity to Copeland in a letter he wrote to her while on his deathbed in Arizona.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
geologist
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, mountaineer
Mountaineer
-Sports:*Mountaineering, the sport, hobby or profession of walking, hiking, trekking and climbing up mountains, also known as alpinism-University athletic teams and mascots:*Appalachian State Mountaineers, the athletic teams of Appalachian State University...
, and art critic
Art critic
An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...
. First director of the United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
, from 1879 to 1881, King was noted for his exploration of the Sierra Nevada. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
.
Career
In 1862, King graduated from the Sheffield Scientific SchoolSheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, the railroad executive. The school was...
of Yale College
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
with a Ph.B. in chemistry. While at Yale, he studied with James Dwight Dana
James Dwight Dana
James Dwight Dana was an American geologist, mineralogist and zoologist. He made pioneering studies of mountain-building, volcanic activity, and the origin and structure of continents and oceans around the world.-Early life and career:...
. After graduation King traveled on horseback to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with his good friend and classmate, James Terry Gardiner
James Terry Gardiner
James Terry Gardiner was an American surveyor and engineer.Gardiner was born in Troy, New York, the son of Daniel Gardiner and Ann Terry Gardiner. He briefly attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Sheffield Scientific School. In 1863 he traveled on horseback to California with his...
. In California he joined the California Geological Survey
California Geological Survey
Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to the California Geological Survey, was established, the "roots" of California's state geological survey date to an earlier time...
without pay where he worked with William H. Brewer
William Henry Brewer
William Henry Brewer was an American botanist. He worked on the first California Geological Survey and was the first Chair of Agriculture at Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School....
, Josiah D. Whitney
Josiah Whitney
Josiah Dwight Whitney was an American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University , and chief of the California Geological Survey...
and Richard D. Cotter
Richard D Cotter
Richard D. Cotter , also known as Dick Cotter and R.D. Cotter, was an Irish born American member of the first California Geological Survey....
. In October 1872, he uncovered a diamond and gemstone hoax
Diamond hoax of 1872
The diamond hoax of 1872 was a swindle in which a pair of prospectors sold a false American diamond deposit to prominent businessmen in San Francisco and New York...
perpetrated by Philip Arnold
Philip Arnold
Philip Arnold was a confidence trickster from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and the brains behind the legendary diamond hoax of 1872, which fooled people into investing in a phony diamond mining operation...
. In 1864, King and Richard Cotter reported the first ascent of Mount Tyndall
Mount Tyndall
Mount Tyndall is a peak in the Mount Whitney region of the Sierra Nevada in the U.S. state of California. It rises to , and is the tenth highest peak in the state...
.
In the mid-1850s King began to read works by John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
and associated with a group of American artists, writers, and architects who followed Ruskin's thinking. Through this group he became aware of the British Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
. In 1863, with John William Hill
John William Hill
John William Hill or often J.W. Hill was a British born American artist working in watercolor, gouache, lithography, and engraving. Hill's work focussed primarily upon natural subjects including landscapes, still lifes, and ornithological and zoological subjects...
and Clarence Cook
Clarence Cook
Clarence Chatham Cook was a 19th-century American author and art critic.Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Cook graduated from Harvard in 1849 and worked as a teacher. Between 1863 and 1869, Cook wrote a series of articles about American art for The New York Tribune...
he helped to found the Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art, an American group, similar to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
, who published a journal called The New Path.
In 1867, King was named U.S. Geologist of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel
Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel
The Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel was a geological survey made by order of the Secretary of War according to acts of Congress of March 2,1867, and March 3, 1869, under the direction of Brig. and Bvt. Major General A. A. Humphreys, Chief of Engineers, by Clarence King, U. S....
, commonly known as the Fortieth Parallel Survey, a position for which he strongly lobbied. King spent six years in the field exploring areas from Wyoming to the border of California. During that time he also published his famous "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada" (1872). After the completion of the field work, in 1878 King published "Systematic Geology."
King was also invited to examine the site of a diamondiferous area, which he exposed as a fraud, called the Diamond hoax of 1872
Diamond hoax of 1872
The diamond hoax of 1872 was a swindle in which a pair of prospectors sold a false American diamond deposit to prominent businessmen in San Francisco and New York...
.
While conducting field work for the Survey, King met and befriended Henry Brooks Adams. Their friendship lasted for the rest of King's life, and he is often mentioned by Adams in the autobiographical The Education of Henry Adams
The Education of Henry Adams
The Education of Henry Adams records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams , in his later years, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. It is also a sharp critique of 19th century educational theory and practice. In 1907, Adams began privately...
(1907).
In 1879, the US Congress consolidated the number of geological surveys exploring the American West and created the United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
. King was chosen its first director; however, he served for only twenty months.
King died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, and is buried in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
. Kings Peak
Kings Peak
For the mountain in Idaho, see Kings Peak .Kings Peak is the highest peak in the U.S. state of Utah,with an elevation of . It lies just south of the spine of the central Uinta Mountains, in the Ashley National Forest in northeastern Utah, in north-central Duchesne County. It is also located in the...
in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Mount Clarence King
Mount Clarence King
Mount Clarence King, located in the Kings Canyon National Park, is named for Clarence King, who worked on the Whitney Survey, the first geological survey of California. King later became the first chief of the United States Geological Survey....
, and Clarence King Lake at Shastina, California are named in his honor. The US Geological Survey Headquarters Library in Reston, Virginia, is also known as the Clarence King Library.
Double life as James Todd
Ada Copeland King
Ada Copeland was the common law wife of American geologist Clarence King. Copeland was presumed born a slave on or around December 23, 1860, and moved to New York in the mid 1880s where she worked as a nursemaid. In about 1887,...
, an African-American nursemaid (and former slave) from Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
who had moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the mid-1880s. As miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
was strongly discouraged in the nineteenth century (and even illegal in many places), King hid his identity from Copeland. Despite his blue eyes and fair complexion, King convinced Copeland that he was an African-American Pullman porter named James Todd. The two fell in love and entered into a common law marriage in 1888. Throughout the marriage, King never revealed his true identity to Ada, pretending to be Todd, a black railroad worker, when at home, and continuing to work as King, a white geologist, when in the field. The union produced five children. King finally revealed his true identity to Copeland in a letter he wrote to her while on his deathbed in Arizona.
External links
- USGS: The Four Great Surveys of the West
- Clarence King (1842–1901): Pioneering Geologist of the West, Geological Society of America