Idaho. Tertiary Lake Beds and Gold Mining. By J. F. Kemp; Cambrian Sandstone Near Malad City. By C. D. Walcott. Nos. 495-501 / Geological Society of America Collection of Photographs Presented by the U.S. Geological Survey: New York. By G. K. Gilbert. Nos. 747-783 (2 Photo Books)
Circa 1898. Two odd volumes of Geological Society of America photo books. Small oblong quarto [20 cm x 27 cm]; Oblong duodecimo [13 cm x 18 cm].
First book: Cover title and seven photographs on 1/4 brown cloth with gray card boards held together with a string tie binding. In calligraphy on the front board: "G. S. A. Photographs." The photographs measure 16.5 cm wide x 11.5 cm tall. Caption titles on paper strips mounted below the photographs. Numbers on small strips mounted in top fore-edge corners. With the following photographs present: 495- "28. Terraces of Tertiary Lake Beds, near Salmon City, Idaho, on the Lemhi River."; 496- "29. Terraces of Tertiary Lake Beds, on Lemhi River near Salmon City, Idaho."; 497- "30. Old Gold diggings - work 1859-65. Leesburg, Idaho, on Napias Creek."; 498- "32. Rocky cut for sluice, California Bar, Idaho."; 499- "33. Discharge sluice California Bar, Idaho."; 500- "31. Hydraulic Mining at California Bar, Idaho."; 501- "No. Basal Cambrian sandstones of section at mouth of Two-mile Canyon, 2 miles south of Malad City, Idaho (562) C.D.W. 1898." Condition: Very good. Light wear and waviness to boards. Numerical notations crossed out in top fore-edge corners.
Second book: Thirty-seven linen-backed photographs mounted between gray card boards with 1/4 brown cloth. Front board completely detached, but present. The photographs measure 16.5 cm wide x 11.5 cm tall. With typed titles, and some notations in pencil/pen on the reverse. Numbers mounted in the top fore-edge corners of the photographs. With the following photographs present: 747- "Shore of lake Ontario, Niagara county, New York. Illustrated mode of origin of beach shingle by showing rock in place and (?) rocks recently detached."; 748- "Beach of flat shingle. Shore of lake Ontario at Golden Hill Creek, New York." 749- "Beach of well rounded shingle. Shore of lake Ontario at Golden Hill Creek, New York."; 750- "Cemented shingle in spit of glacial lake Iroquois at Lewiston, New York."; 751- "Section of spit of glacial lake Iroquois at Lewiston, N.Y. The dip is landward, indicating growth on the inside of the spit."; 752- "Section of spit of glacial lake Iroquois at Lewiston. The dip is landward, indicating growth on inside of spit." 753- "Cut terrace of the Iroquois shore line, 2 miles west of Dickensonville, N.Y. Lacustrine plain, bed of lake Iroquois, near Jeddo, N.Y. The water edge was at base of cliff. The cliff is carved from Medina shale."; 754- "Till plain, 1/2 mile south of Jedoo, Niagara county, N.Y."; 755- "Cross bedding and unconformity in sand kame, 3 miles east of Lockport, N.Y."; 756- "Till Shore of lake Ontario, Wilson, N.Y."; 757- "Deposit by torrent of Erian water on the withdrawal of the ice sheet from the escarpment at Lewiston, N.Y. Unassorted and unworn alluvi(?)."; 758- "Section of talus, Niagara gorge."; 759- "Angular gravel in kame, south of Royalton, Niagara county, N. Y."; 760- "Solitary gravel kame, 3 miles south of Middleport, N. Y."; 761- Escarpment of the Niagara limestone; looking west from a point on the talus near Lewiston, N.Y."; 762- "Niagara escarpment capped by niagara limestone; looking east from a point 5 miles west of Lockport, N.Y."; 763- "Niagara escerpment [sic] without capping of Niagara limestone; looking west from a point near Middleport, New York."; 764- "Drowned valley of Twelve-mile creek, Niagara county, N.Y. near Wilson. Water lilies grow on submerged alluvial plain."; 765- "Head of estuary of Twelve-mile creek, Niagara county, N.Y. Submerged alluvial plain supports rushes."; 766- "Estuary of Eighteen-mile creek, near Olcott, Niagara county, N.Y. Channel deep, current slow. Submerged alluvial plain supports rushes."; 767- "Valley of Eighteen-mile creek, Niagara county, N.Y., above head of estuary. Channel shallow, current rapid; alluvial plain supports rushes."; 768- "Post-Glacial anticline, Hopkins creek, Niagara county, N.Y. The displacement of the rocks is accompanied by a superficial ridge traversing an alluvial terrace." 769- "Section of Niagara limestone, Cooks quarry, near La Salle, Niagara county, N.Y. Shows structure described by James Hall, Geology of 4th district N.Y., pages 93 and 94."; 770- "Section in cut of Erie Railroad, Niagara falls, N.Y. Shows structure described by James Hall, Geology of the 4th district, N.Y., pages 93 and 94."; 771- "Weathering of Niagara limestone by solution. A joint face exposed in quarrying southwest of Middleport, N.Y."; 772- "Weathering of Niagara limestone by solution; old quarry southwest of Middleport, N.Y."; 773- "Unconformity by erosion. Sandstones and shales of the Medina format Niagara gorge."; 774- "Isolated limestone mass at base of Niagara shale, containing 'transition fauna' of Ringueberg."; 775- Section of ripplemark on Medina sandstone, Lockport, N.Y. From crest to crest 23 feet; depth of trough 29 inches.";776- "Flagstone in court-house yard, Elyria, Ohio. Shows reticulated ripplemarks."; 777- "Trough of large ripplemark in Medina sandstone, Niagara gorge, N.Y."; 778- "Crest of large ripplemark in Medina sandstone, quarry near Lewiston, N.Y."; 779- "Crest of large ripple-mark in Medina sandstone. Quarry in Lockport, N.Y."; 780- "Diverse cross-bedding associated with large ripplemarks in Medina sandstone. Quarry near Lewiston, N.Y."; 781- "Quarry dace in Medina sandstone, Lockport, N.Y."; 782- "Quarry face in Niagara limestone, Lockport, N.Y. The joint face shows weather fracture."; 783- Shore of lake Ontario at Wilson, N.Y. Train of shore drift from right, being arrested by bew-pin, begins to accumulate and partly protects bluff from wave, attack. Dearth of shore drift under lee of pier fevors(?) wave attack; bluff eaten back 45 feet. Bluff contains two tills and cover of laminated clay, a deposit from lake Iroquois. Boulder pavement at top of lower till, indicated by arrow." Condition: Good only, due to the detached cover. The photographs are in very good condition. Item #69392
Two photo books with forty-four photographs, extremely well identified, with detailed captions containing the geological characteristics of the wide variety of locations, and with the numbers of Gilbert's negatives clearly listed. It could be that these images appeared, or were intended to appear, in USGS publications.
The Geological Society of America (GSA) was founded in 1888. It is a global scientific society with members from academia, government, and industry in over one hundred countries. The aim of the GSA is to support the professional growth of geoscientists and encourage cooperative research among earth, life, planetary, and social scientists, foster public dialogue on geoscience issues, and promote the geosciences in the service of humankind.
James Furman Kemp (1859-1926) was mostly known for his work in igneous petrology and on the origin of ore deposits. He served as the President of the Geological Society of America in 1921. Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927) was the third director of the U.S. Geological Survey, the fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and a contributor to the "Bulletin of the Geological Society of America."
The lion's share of the photographs are reproduced from the negatives of U.S. explorer, geographer, and geologist Grove Karl Gilbert (1843-1918), whose life spanned an age of heroic geology, and who was one of the founders of modern geomorphology, the study of landforms. He helped launch the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and was its chief geologist under the famed explorer and second USGS director John Wesley Powell. In addition, Gilbert was a founding member of the National Geographic Society, as well as president (twice) of the Geological Society of America. Gilbert was first exposed to the American West when he participated in the Wheeler Survey, one of the four great surveys of the American West (headed by George Wheeler, Clarence King, Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, and Powell). Gilbert's monumental works were "Report on the Geology of the Henry Mountains" (1877) and "Lake Bonneville - Department of the Interior Monographs of the United States Geological Survey Volume 1" (1890). He is credited with naming ancient Lake Bonneville, whose raised shorelines he used to demonstrate crustal isostasy.
"Gilbert had a knack for harnessing the geography of the land in the cause of something greater: extraction of knowledge about the processes at work." - R. S. Anderson (https://eos.org/features/reflections-on-the-legacy-of-grove-karl-gilbert-1843-1918).
A collection featuring the investigative research of three prominent U.S. geologists, who were the top field geologists of their time. A spectacular portrait of late nineteenth century / early twentieth century field geology.
Price: $3,500.00