George Burr Richardson, MS, PhD (1872 - 1949) was a geologist who, among other endeavors, participated in extensive field work for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Alaska, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, Colorado, and Utah.
In Texas, Richardson described and named 14 geologic formations, 10 from the Cambrian to Lower Cretaceous ages, and two each of the Paleozoic and Precambrian ages. These contributions to stratigraphy formed the basis of all subsequent stratigraphic work in north and west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Moreover, they led to the identification and development of areas of great economic importance, despite being 10,000 or more feet underground. Richardson's work led to authorship of 70 publications related to geology. [1]
Richardson was born on August 21, 1872, in Morrisania, a suburb of New York City. His father, George Wentworth Richardson, was a descendant of Samuel Richardson, who was born in England and immigrated to Woburn, Massachusetts, about 1635. Following generations included selectmen in Woburn and Charles Richardson, who was an architect and designed the courthouse in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 1780. Richardson's grandfather moved to Claremont, New Hampshire, where "G.B."'s father was born and lived until he moved to Morrisania. [2]
Richardson's mother, Emma Breck, was a descendant of Edward Breck, who emigrated from England to Boston on the James. Following generations were merchants living in Boston until about 1800, when Emma's grandfather, William Breck, moved to Claremont, New Hampshire. Emma's father, James Breck, moved from Claremont to nearby Newport, New Hampshire, where Emma was born and lived until she married George Wentworth Richardson. One of Emma's great great grandfathers was Samuel Chase (1741-1811), a jurist and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as great grandfather of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase (1803-1873). [3]
Soon after Richardson's birth, his family moved to Chestnut Hill, Mt. Vernon, in Westchester County, where he grew up with a sister, Chester Parker Richardson and a brother, James Breck Richardson. His father died in 1881, when Richardson was nine years old. "G.B." attended public schools and the College of the City of New York. Then, in 1892, he matriculated at Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University, where he helped earn his way by tutoring Latin and working as an Assistant in the Physics Department, and where he was awarded a BS degree magna cum laude in 1895. [4]
Subsequently, Richardson worked as a chemist at the Warren Paper Mills in Portland, Maine, but by the end of his first winter there, he decided that he wanted the outdoor life of a geologist, rather than the indoor life of a chemist. Harvard professor Shaler, who was much-admired by Richardson, influenced that decision.
Thus in June 1896, Richardson began graduate studies at Harvard on a one-year Thayer Scholarship. From July through September, 1896 he worked as a geologic aide to Professor J.B. Woodworth, a member of Professor Shaler's group that was surveying the Triassic coal basin near Richmond, Virginia, where coal and coke had been mined during Colonial days.
Following his year of graduate work, Ricahrdson assisted J.A. Taff. From July through November, 1897 he helped Taff with field work in Indian Territory, and from January through June, 1898 he worked in Taff's office in Washington, D.C. In 1898, Harvard first established an MS degree, and it was awarded to Richardson on the basis of his prior graduate studies there. [5]
From June through December, 1898 Richardson examined gold prospects in the Stikane District of British Columbia for the Cassiar Central Railway of London. Then, from July through September, 1899 he assisted N.H. Darton with field work in South Dakota. That September he began graduate studies as a Fellow in Geology at Johns Hopkins University. There, he was honored by membership in Phi Beta Kappa and qualified for a PhD after one year, though he was not awarded the degree until June 1901. [6] His dissertation was A Study of the Red Beds of the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. [7]
From spring until mid-September, 1900 Richardson worked with a USGS party led by Alfred H. Brooks (after whom Brooks Range in Alaska is named) that explored the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, and examined in detail the Ophir Creek, Kojsuktapaga, Topkok, and Solomon River mining districts. Afterwards he spent 10 days working in the Nome area during the peak of gold excitement there. [8] On October 29, 1900, he was appointed Assistant Geologist by the USGS. [9]
Next, Richardson worked under Marius R. Campbell in the coal, gas, and oil-field area of western Pennsylvania. Richardson adopted Campbell's unique field methodology and the two became lifelong friends. Richardson was assigned the Indiana quadrangle, which is about 235 square miles. In two and a half months, he discovered that the so-called (by the Second Pennsylvania Geological Survey)"Indiana anticline" is a syncline. [10] He did so by combining results of his areal mapping with subsurface data from logs of exploratory wells that coal, gas, and oil operators made available to him. During subsequent "office seasons" of winter, Richardson prepared the text and illustrations of the Indiana folio, which was published in 1904. [11] It was the third folio of the Geologic Atlas of the United States, which was a product of a co-operative program between the Pennsylvania Topographic and Geologic Commission and the Federal Survey. Richardson later completed reports on five other quadrangles in that region: the New Kensington quadrangle (published 1932 [12] ), the Somerset and Windber quadrangles (published 1935 [13] ), the Butler and Zellienople quadrangles (published 1936 [14] ).
In 1902, from July into October, Richardson did field work in California. There, he, H.R. Johnson, Chester Washburne, and Frank L. Hess assisted J. S. Diller in mapping the areal geology of the Redding quadrangle.
In June 1903, Richardson was transferred to the Western Section of Hydrology, to participate in a joint project with the State Mineral Survey of Texas, directed by W. B. Phillips, to determine the prospect of obtaining water from deep wells in state-owned areas of school lands in El Paso and Reeves counties. The area included about 9,000 square miles and a sequence of about 8,500 feet of rocks. Richardson completed the reconnaissance in six months, assisted by a student from the University of Texas, E. H. Elder, half of the time. The report was published in November 1904 as Bulletin 9 of the University of Texas Mineral Survey. [15] It includes Richardson's stratigraphic work mentioned at the beginning of this article. Recognizing the need for additional geological work in the area, Richardson later was authorized to undertake more detailed surveys of the El Paso and Van Horn quadrangles, which were published as folios of the Geologic Atlas of the United States in 1909 [16] and 1914 [17]
From 1904 into 1907, Richardson worked on geological problems in Utah. Initially, the focus was underground water in the valleys of Utah Lake, Jordan River, Sanpete, and Sevier. [18] [19] However, in 1906, after the Secretary of the Interior withdrew entry from extensive areas of supposed coal lands in Western States, Richardson's work changed focus to the examination and mapping of coal fields as a basis for classification and valuation of public coal lands. That year, Richardson, assisted by W. D. Neal, Leon J. Pepperburg, and C. D. Parrin, made a detailed reconnaissance of the Book Cliffs coal field, between Grand River, Colorado, and Sunnyside, Utah. [20] The final report, USGS Bulletin 371, describes the topography, the stratigraphy, the structure of the field, and the occurrence, character, and development of the coal beds, as well as the quality of coal. [21] Richardson also examined other areas in Utah, which led to his reports on coal in Sanpete County, [22] natural gas near Salt Lake City, [23] antimony in southern Utah, [24] the Harmony, Colob, and Kanab coal fields, [25] and petroleum in southern Utah. [26]
From 1919 to 1932, Richardson was in charge of petroleum and natural gas statistics for the USGS. Also, from 1920 to 1939, he supervised preparation of the oil and gas field maps of California, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, the United States, West Virginia, and Wyoming, all of which were published by the USGS. Success of this work necessitated that Richardson acquire and maintain the confidence and co-operation of al pertinent oil and gas field operators. [27]
For several years beginning in 1934, Richardson compiled information for various Congressional committees. Perhaps his most outstanding work in this regard (done in collaboration with Hugh D. Miser and Carl H. Dane) was the chapter Petroleum Reserves, published in 1939 in Energy Resources and National Policy. [28]
On June 23, 1904, Richardson married Irene Dashiell of Columbus, Mississippi. In 1898, Dashiell had come to Washington to be official hostess for her uncle, Judge Charles B. Howry of the U.S. Court of claims. Subsequently, she worked as librarian in the War Department until her marriage to Richardson at the home of her sister in Birmingham, Alabama. After the wedding, the Richardson went together to do summer work. Irene and George traveled together for 10 summers until their only child, Alice, was born September 20, 1913. [29]
At the time of their 48th wedding anniversary in June, 1948, Richardson wrote that his wife "made my life ideally happy." Irene Richardson died January 10, 1949, and George Richardson died three months later on March 18, 1949. [30]
Richardson was a member of All Souls Memorial Church (Episcopal), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Geological Society of Washington, Phi Kappa Phi, the Cosmos Club, and the Chevy Chase Club. [31]
He was quiet, congenial, and obliging. Without protest, he accepted assignments that involved much drudgery. His reports were factual, non-speculative, and concise. According to co-worker James H. Gardner, he thoroughly enjoyed geological discussions and, during times of field work, he often would lead heated arguments around evening campfires. Any animosity that ensued was readily dissolved by his hearty, appealing chuckle. He was a conscientious worker, universally liked and respected, ever polite and kind. Constance Shanner Evans, statistical clerk under him during World War I wrote, "Dr. Richardson always stressed the importance of having an inquiring mind. When I first went into his office he gave me an advanced copy of Logic to read, and every few weeks asked how I was getting along with it. He was always thinking of something new -- ways to improve the work. He was more interested in geology than in statistics. He was a gentleman and a scholar, who thought it a great privilege to work for the government." [32]
Other sources of great enjoyment to Richardson were Shakespeare, poetry, biography, and classical music. Leather-bound volumes of Shakespeare's plays were his main reading material on summer field trips. And Beethoven's concertos provided comfort and pleasure until the week of his death. He was unobtrusively religious and considered entering the ministry when at college. His two trips abroad, seeing art galleries and cathedrals in Europe, provided great joy. Also, he enjoyed golf and loved the great outdoors. In later years he spent nearly every summer on the New England Coast, where he could enjoy both. [33]
The Sevier River is a 400-mile (640 km)-long river in the Great Basin of southwestern Utah in the United States. Originating west of Bryce Canyon National Park, the river flows north through a chain of high farming valleys and steep canyons along the west side of the Sevier Plateau before turning southwest and terminating in the endorheic basin of Sevier Lake in the Sevier Desert. It is used extensively for irrigation along its course, with the consequence that Sevier Lake is usually dry.
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.
Nelson Horatio Darton was a geologist who worked for the United States Geological Survey. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, started working in his uncle's drug business at thirteen years old, and becoming a practicing chemist. His interest in geology started as a sideline, and he was hired by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1886.
Robert Roy Coats (1910–1995) was an American geologist known for his studies of the Aleutian Islands and his exhaustive report of Elko County, Nevada. He was born in Toronto, Canada, and grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa and Seattle, Washington. He graduated valedictorian of his high school class in Seattle at the age of 16, and attended the University of Washington, where he received both a B.S. and M.S. degree in Geology and Mining. He continued graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, receiving his doctorate in 1938, with a thesis on the ore bodies of the Virginia City mining district in Nevada. He was known as an eccentric and brilliant student.
The Raton Basin is a geologic structural basin in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. It takes its name from Raton Pass and the town of Raton, New Mexico. In extent, the basin is approximately 50 miles (80 km) east-west, and 90 miles (140 km) north-south, in Huerfano and Las Animas Counties, Colorado, and Colfax County, New Mexico.
George Otis Smith was an American geologist.
William Embry Wrather was an American geologist.
Robert Thomas Hill was a significant figure in the development of American geology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a pioneer Texas geologist, Hill discovered and named the Comanche series of the Lower Cretaceous, and was a lifelong student of the structure and stratigraphy of the Cretaceous deposits of Central Texas and neighboring regions.
Dallas Lynn Peck was an American geologist and vulcanologist. Peck was a native of Cheney, Washington. He received his bachelor's (1951) and master's (1953) degrees in geology from the California Institute of Technology. He received a doctorate in geology from Harvard University in 1960.
Levi Fatzinger Noble was an American geologist. His entire career was spent as a member of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Noble is largely known for his work in the American southwest, particularly as a pioneer geologist in the Death Valley region.
Richard Urquhart Goode was an American geographer and topographer with the United States Geological Survey, Northern Transcontinental Railroad Survey, and the Panama Canal Company.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the 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's work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879. It is now chaired by David Applegate.
Israel Charles White was an eminent geologist and professor, internationally known, and the first state geologist of West Virginia.
The Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Western United States.
The Hueco Formation is a geologic formation in west Texas and southern New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the early Permian period.
The El Paso Formation is a geologic formation that is exposed from the Permian Basin of New Mexico and Texas to southeastern Arizona. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician period.
The Wasatch Formation (Tw) is an extensive highly fossiliferous geologic formation stretching across several basins in Idaho, Montana Wyoming, Utah and western Colorado. It preserves fossils dating back to the Early Eocene period. The formation defines the Wasatchian or Lostcabinian, a period of time used within the NALMA classification, but the formation ranges in age from the Clarkforkian to Bridgerian.
The Mesaverde Group is a Late Cretaceous stratigraphic group found in areas of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, in the Western United States.
Siemon William Muller was an American paleontologist and geologist, known for his studies on Triassic paleontology and stratigraphy, and for his work on permafrost.
Henry Gardiner Ferguson was an American geologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS). He worked primarily in Nevada and was a pioneer in the geology of the central Great Basin, producing many publications, including multiple USGS geological maps of central Nevada. Ferguson was a lifelong friend and colleague of Levi Noble, a mentor to Ralph Roberts, and worked extensively with Siemon Muller. Along with his wife Alice Ferguson, he helped found the Moyaone Reserve community in Accokeek, Maryland.