Clarence King
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Image:Clarence King.jpg Clarence King (January 6,1842 – December 24,1901) was an American geologist and mountaineer. He founded and was the first director of the United States Geological Survey, from 1879-1881. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island.
Clarence King was noted for his exploration of the Sierra Nevada. With William H. Brewer and Josiah D. Whitney, he was a member of the California Geological Survey. In 1864 King and Richard Cotter reported the first ascent of Mount Tyndall, at the time labelling it mistakenly as the highest peak in the Sierra Nevada.
In October 1872, he uncovered a diamond and gemstone hoax perpetrated by Philip Arnold.
His common law marriage in 1888 to a black woman, Ada Copeland, was kept secret by his keeping a double identity. King didn't even reveal his true name to his wife until he was on his deathbed. He was survived by four children.
King died of tuberculosis in Phoenix, Arizona. Kings Peak in Utah and Mount Clarence King in Kings Canyon National Park are named in his honor.
References
- Clarence King (1871). Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, Boston: James Osgood & Co., New York: C. Scribner’s sons tenth edition 1902: online edition
- Thurman Wilkins and Caroline Lawson Hinkley (1988). Clarence King: A Biography, University of New Mexico Press, 1988 revised edition, softcover, ISBN 0826310850
- Robert Wilson (2006). The Explorer King : Adventure, Science, and the Great Diamond Hoax--Clarence King in the Old West, Scribner, ISBN 0743260252