Clarence King

Timeline

Members of the Geological Survey of California, 1860

Year	Event
1842	Clarence Rivers King born on January 6th to James Rivers King and Caroline Florence Little of Newport, Rhode Island
1848	King's father dies on June 2nd King's move to Pomfret, Connecticut so Clare could attend school
1852	Dr. Parks from Christ Church school in Connecticut resigns King and Mother move to her brother's home in New Haven, Connecticut
1854	Move to Hartford, Connecticut to attend well-known public high school
1856	Presidential race between John C. Frémont and James Buchanan
1857	Depression, Kings lose livelihood Mother begins seeing George Howland
1859	King, age 17, quits school and moves to New York Darwin publishes The Origins of Species by means of Natural Selction
1860	Mother marries George Howland Stepfather pays for King's education at new Sheffield Scientific School
1861-1865	Civil War
1862	Gardiner joins King at Yale King among first graduating class
1863	While on boating trip on Lake Champlain arrested as draft dodgers Geological studies, field work on the Hudson River, attended lectures by Agassiz Helps form Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art Moves to California with Gardiner, Dick Cotter joins them along the way Meets Professor William Brewer and Professor Josiah Dwight Whitney Volunteers as California Geological Survey assistant Determines age of Sierra by finding fossils in metamorphosed slate Went to Mount Shasta region at end of season
1864	Field studies of Yosemite, Nevada, Sierra Nevada

1866	Stepfather dies Gardiner and King come up with idea for 40th Parallel Survey at Yosemite
1867	Congress approves 40th Parallel Survey with King in charge King begins survey with study of Comstock Lode in Nevada
1868	Great Basin field work
1869	Utah field work Recognizes that Lake Bonneville and Lake Lahonton were Pliocene lakes
1870	Contributes to Mining Industry (Volume III of 40th Parallel Survey) Study of western volcanoes (Shasta, Rainier, Hood) Climbed Mount Shasta and named the Whitney glacier
1871	Rocky Mountain/Great Plains field work Wrote articles about active glaciers in American Journal of Science and Atlantic Monthly Winters in Hawaii
1872	Field work in California, Nevada, Wyoming Exposes diamond fraud Winters in San Francisco
1873	Mining consultant Works on survey results Climbs Mount Whitney Finds fossils in the Owens Valley
1876	Elected to National Academy of Sciences (youngest member)
1877	Wrote article "Catastrophism and Evolution" in American Naturalist Gave speech of same topic to graduating class at Sheffield Scientific School
1878	Wrote Systematic Geology (Volume I of 40th Parallel Survey)
1879	United States Geological Survey formed
1880	King becomes first director of United States Geological Survey
1881	Resigns directorship of USGS
1887	Meets and falls in love with Black woman named Ada
1888	Marries Ada under assumed name of James Todd
1893	Wrote "The Age of the Earth" in American Journal of Science King put in Bloomingdale Asylum
1901	King dies from tuberculosis on December 24 in Phoenix, Arizona

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