Frank C. Calkins

In 1895, Carlos Calkins was in charge of a hydrographic office in Portland, Oregon, and Frank enrolled in the University of California, graduating in 1899.

[1] Calkins joined the U.S. Geological Survey in 1900 as an assistant to George Otis Smith, who would later become the agency's director.

[1] He "had a penchant for improving the writing of others," according Suggestions to Authors, a style guide for U.S. Geological Survey publications.

[6] When he reached 70 years old, the agency's mandatory retirement age, he received a dispensation and continued to work as an annuitant.

Calkins had retired from the Geological Survey only five years prior, and was living in Palo Alto, California at the time of his death.