Clarence Rivers King was an American geologist, mountaineer, and author. He was the first director of the United States Geological Survey from 1879 to 1881. Nominated by Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes, King was noted for his exploration of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Image: Clarence King
Image: Signature of Clarence King
Clarence King as a young man
Clarence King; Camp near Salt Lake City, Utah. The exploration of the Survey of the Fortieth Parallel. Photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, October 1868.
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the United States government whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879, to study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The agency also makes maps of extraterrestrial planets and moons based on data from U.S. space probes.
USGS headquarters in Reston, Virginia
A USGS gauging station on the Scioto River below O'Shaughnessy Dam near Dublin, Ohio
Clarence King, first director of the USGS from 1879 to 1881
