Joseph T. Pardee was a U.S. geologist who worked for the U.S. 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,...

, and contributed to the understanding of the origin of the Channeled scablands

Channeled scablands

The Channeled Scablands are a unique geological erosion feature in the U.S. state of Washington. They were created by the cataclysmic Missoula Floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch. Geologist J Harlen Bretz coined...

. He discovered the trail of evidence left by Glacial Lake Missoula, a lake created by an ice dam 23 miles wide and half a mile high during the ice age. He discovered that when the dam broke, the water flowed towards the scablands, proving J Harlen Bretz

J Harlen Bretz

J Harlen Bretz was an American geologist, best known for his research that led to the acceptance of the Missoula Floods, and also for his work on caves. He was born to Oliver Joseph Bretz and Rhoda Maria Howlett, farmers in Saranac, Michigan, as the oldest of five children...

's theory of the cataclysmic flood.

Biography

Born in Salt Lake City, Joe grew up in a mining family. The family moved to Philipsburg, Montana, when Joe was three, and his father developed the Algonquin mine. Joe's education was at Presbyterian College

College of Montana

The College of Montana was a private liberal arts college that existed in Deer Lodge, Montana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1878 as the "Montana Collegiate Institute," the school was the first institution of higher learning in Montana. The College of Montana name was...

 in Deer Lodge, Montana, and the University of California

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

at Berkeley. After college he opened an assay office and operated a gold and sapphire mine, but a growing interest in geology led him to the USGS. He was appointed to the Survey in 1909 and retired in 1941. During 32 years of work, his investigations ranged from glacial deposits to gold deposits, from mine sites to dam sites. Joe Pardee spent most of his career on geology in the northwestern United States, with particular emphasis on Montana.

External links

• Obituary, http://gsahist.org/gsat2/pardee_gift.htm