RICHTHOFEN IN THE AMERICAN WEST, 1862-1868: THE COMSTOCK LODE, VOLCANOES, AND GEOLOGICAL THEORIZING

Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833-1905) trained at Breslau and the University of Berlin, graduating in 1856. After his geological studies on the Alps and in Carpathia, and before his career in China, he conducted field work (1862-1868) in California and Nevada. He reported his scientific findings on the Comstock Lode, iron ores in the Sierran foothills, and other economically valuable deposits in German periodicals and newspapers and in commercial reports in the United States. He then concentrated on the recent volcanic rocks of the Pacific Coast, work that culminated in a memoir (1868) of the California Academy of Sciences that articulated what was later called Richthofen's law of volcanic succession. While in California, Richthofen associated with other prolific geologists of the American West, including Josiah Dwight Whitney of the California Geological Survey and Clarence King of the Fortieth Parallel Survey (later first director of the United States Geological Survey). Using his connection with mining magnate George Hearst, Richthofen lobbied the California Legislature for support of the state survey under Whitney. Echoes of Richthofen's American studies appeared in in his later geomorphological publications on China and in his monographs on geographical theory.