Josiah Edward Spurr

Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, he was considered something of a failure as a youth, unsuited for the family fishing business, since on a voyage he invariably became seasick.

J. E. Spurr led two expeditions of historic importance in Alaska for the United States Geological Survey in 1896 and 1898, made without the benefit of telephones, airplanes, the internal combustion engine, or electrical appliances.

In 1896 he led the first expedition to map and chart the interior of Alaska, exploring the Yukon Territory, where gold had been discovered.

During these expeditions he encountered Native Americans, Aleuts, traders, missionaries, prospectors, whiskey smugglers and various con artists.

They read like an adventure including the expedition's experiences with ice dams bearing down on them and lost provisions, as well as interactions with native Indians and missionaries.

After charting these regions, Spurr became the world's leading geological consultant, working for clients including the Sultan of Turkey, Bernard Baruch, and the Guggenheims.

At the age of 68 he became interested in the origin of craters of the Moon, and published four books that made a major contribution to the field.

His last book, Geology as applied to Selenology, published just a year before his death, has been criticised, but was influential in the new field.

Many of his papers, correspondence and photographs are in the American Heritage Center of the University of Wyoming; others are preserved in the Anchorage office of the United States Geological Survey.

1899 (Contributions to) Maps and descriptions of routes of explorations in Alaska in 1898: (by G. H. Eldridge, and others): U.S. Geological Survey Annual Report, 138 p. 1900 Quartz-muscovite rock from Belmont, Nevada; the equivalent of the Russian beresite: American Journal of Science, 4th ser., v. 10, p. 351–358.

A consideration of igneous rocks and their segregation or differentiation as related to the occurrence of ores (with discussion by A. N. Winchell): American Institute of Mining Engineers Transactions, v. 33, p. 288–340.

The ore deposits of Tonopah, Nevada (preliminary report): U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 219, 31 p. Abstract: Engineering and Mining Journal, v. 76, p. 54–55.

(Contributions to) The geological features of the gold production of North Amer¬ica, a discussion by Waldemar Lindgren: American Institute of Mining Engineers Transactions, v. 33, p. 790–845, 1081–1083.

Coal deposits between Silver Peak and Candelaria, Esmeralda County, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 225, p. 289–292.

Descriptive geology of Nevada south of the fortieth parallel and adjacent portions of California: Mining Report, v. 52, p. 232–233.

(with George H. Garrey) Preliminary report on ore deposits in the Georgetown, Colo¬rado, mining district: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 260, p. 99–120.

Genetic relations of the western Nevada ores: American Institute of Mining Engineers Bimonthly Bulletin 5, p. 939–969.

The southern Klondike district, Esmeralda County, Nevada; a study in metalliferous quartz veins of magmatic origin: Economic Geology, v. 1, p. 369–382.

(with George H. Garrey) The Idaho Springs mining district, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 285, p. 35–40.

1913 (with J. E. Garrey and C. N. Fenner) Study of a contact-metamorphic ore deposit, The Dolores Mine, at Matehuala, S.L.P., Mexico: Economic Geology, v. 7, p. 444–484.

1920 (Editor) Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources; a series of studies by specialists: New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 562 p. The copper ores of Lake Superior: Engineering and Mining Journal, v. 110, p. 355–357.

(Contribution to) Economic application of zonal theory of primary deposition ores (by John Carter Anderson): American Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Engineers Transactions, v. 96, p. 22–35.

(Contributions to) Primary downward changes in ore deposits (by W. H. Emmons) : American Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Engineers Transactions, v. 70, p. 964–997.

1925 (with J. Volney Lewis) Ore deposition at Franklin Furnace, New Jersey: Engineering and Mining Journal, v. 119, p. 317–328.

(Co-editor with Felix Edgar Wormser) The marketing of metals and minerals; a series of articles by specialists: New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Basic dike injections in magmatic vein sequences (with discussion by J. F. Kemp): Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 36, p. 545–582, (abstract), p. 167.

(Contribution to) Discussion: Magmas, dikes and veins (by W. Lindgren): American Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Engineers Transactions, v. 74, p. 71–126.

Lunar catastrophic history: Concord, New Hampshire, Rumford Press, 253 p. 1949 Geology applied to selenology: IV.

The shrunken Moon: Concord, New Hampshire, Rumford Press, 207 p. 1975 Into an unknown country: the recollections and journals of an Alaskan expedition, 1898: manuscript written in 1928, based on the diaries J.E.

Spurr kept during the Kuskokwim expedition, subsequently edited by Ray Naddy, illustrated by Robert Wandesforde, and published in seven parts in Alaska Magazine (May–November 1975).