[1][2] After several years working as an elementary schoolteacher and amateur decorative painter and watercolorist, she began to expand into scientific illustration, especially of plants and flowers.

[9] During her lifetime, a colorful biography of her life and travels including expeditions to paint specimens was written by Adela Elizabeth Orpen.

Titled The chronicles of the Sid, or, The life and travels of Adelia Gates, it was published in New York by Fleming H. Revell Company[10] and in London by the Religious Tract Society.

[11] In the book, Orpen describes Gates, who was her governess for 14 years, by saying that "Though an artist, she is not a great genius; though a traveller in many lands, she has had no thrilling adventures.

[12] After her death, over 600 of her works were exhibited and donated to the United States National Museum, which later became the Smithsonian Institution.