[2] White graduated from West Virginia University in June 1872 with a bachelor's degree in geology[2] and did postgraduate studies in Geology and Chemistry from Columbia School of Mines and received a doctoral degree from the University of Arkansas in 1880.

[4] From 1884 to 1888, he worked as an assistant geologist for the United States Geological Survey, focusing on coal in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

He worked as a geologist at the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey from 1897 onwards, eventually becoming chief of staff.

[5][6][7] In 1904 he was hired by the Brazilian government as head of the "Comissão de Estudos das Minas de Carvão de Pedra do Brasil" (Commission for Studies on Brazilian Coal Mines), whose aim was to identify the potential of Brazilian coal, and whose report, published in 1908, was a milestone for understanding the geology of the Paraná Basin in Southern Brazil.

[8] This report had an important contribution to the development of Continental Drift Theory, published by Alfred Wegener in 1912.