Caswell Silver (June 25, 1916 – October 18, 1988) was an American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

who was President of Sundance Oil Company from 1960 to 1984. In addition to the business of oil and gas exploration, he was active in the

American Association of Petroleum Geologists The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with more than 40,000 members across 129 countries as of 2021. The AAPG works to "advance the science of geology, especially as ...

and published original research on petroleum geology. He endowed the Caswell Silver Foundation at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

Early life and education

Silver was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and grew up in

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

as the next to youngest of four brothers and a sister. After first enrolling at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

in 1934, for reasons of health he headed west and ultimately enrolled at the

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1940 with a major in geology and mathematics. He went to work for the US Geological Service, mapping silver mining districts in the

San Juan Mountains The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. He subsequently served as an assistant

topographic Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scien ...

and hydrographic engineer with the

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...

Cape Fear, North Carolina Cape Fear is a prominent headland jutting into the Atlantic Ocean from Bald Head Island on the coast of North Carolina in the southeastern United States. It is largely formed of barrier beaches and the silty outwash of the Cape Fear River as ...

.Ashburn, "Memorial to Caswell Silver".

Military service in World War II

Silver joined the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

in 1942 and served three years in the Photo Interpretation Branch of the

Naval Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

in the South Pacific in Guadalcanal and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, attaining the rank of Lieutenant.

1945–1988

After the War, Silver returned to the University of New Mexico, where he completed a master's degree in geology. "Silver always said that he chose a master's degree program in geology rather than in physics, which he also loved, because he liked to gamble". Making his home in Albuquerque, Silver worked as a consultant in gas exploration and development, and eventually became an independent operator while also being a consultant on oil and gas exploration and precious metals mining. Silver also conducted research, joined the

(AAPG), and became a fellow of the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitch ...

. He published several scientific papers, and in 1952 co-authored a book with Vincent C. Kelley on “The Geology of the Caballo Mountains”. He helped to found the New Mexico Geological Society in 1947 and served as its president in 1957-8. In 1959 Silver moved with his family to

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, where he had purchased a controlling interest in Sundance Oil Company, a Utah company. At the time, Sundance was earning small royalties and had no full-time employees. Over the next 24 years, serving as President of the company, Silver built Sundance into an independent oil and gas exploration company, discovering and developing fields in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

and, in 1971,

Alberta, Canada Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territ ...

. Over the years, the company's stock exchange listing moved from the Salt Lake Stock and Mining Exchange, to the

Pacific Coast Stock Exchange The Pacific Exchange was a regional stock exchange in California, from 1956 to 2006. Its main exchange floor and building were in San Francisco, California, with a branch building in Los Angeles, California. In 1882, the San Francisco Stock an ...

, to the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was know ...

. Silver continued to publish research and remained active in the AAPG and other professional associations. In 1980 he was a founding trustee of the

Foundation. In June 1984, Silver resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Sundance. He sold all of his family's interests in the company.

Caswell Silver Foundation

In 1980 Caswell and his wife Elizabeth established the Caswell Silver Foundation as a

501c3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

endowment at the University of New Mexico. This Foundation is administered by the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and supports visiting professorships, graduate fellowships, undergraduate research, and lectures by distinguished scholars.

Selected publications

* Vincent C. Kelley and Caswell Silver. "Stages and epochs of mineralization in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, as shown at the Dunmore Mine, Ouray County, Colorado," ''Economic Geology,'' March 1946, Vol. 41: 139-159. * Caswell Silver, "Jurassic Overlap in Western New Mexico," ''AAPG Bulletin'', January 1948, Vol. 32: 68-81. * Caswell Silver. "Occurrence of Gas in Cretaceous Rocks of San Juan Basin," ''New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook,'' 1950. * Vincent C. Kelley and Caswell Silver. ''Geology of the Caballo Mountains, with special reference to regional stratigraphy and structure and to mineral resources, including oil and gas.'' University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque, 1952, 286 pages + 9 maps/sections in pocket. * Caswell Silver. "Cretaceous Stratigraphy of the San Juan Basin", ''New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook'', 1951. * Caswell Silver. "Stratigraphic Possibility in the San Juan Basin", ''New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook'', 1951. * Parry Reiche, Vincent Cooper Kelley, Caswell Silver. ''Regional Tectonics of the Colorado Plateau and Relationship to the Origin and Distribution of Uranium'', Prepared in Cooperation with U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Raw Materials, Volumes 2-5. 286 pages. University of New Mexico Press, 1952. * Caswell Silver. "Manganese Deposits of the Mogollon Rim", ''Economic Geology'', 1955. * Caswell Silver. "Relation of Coastal and Submarine Topography to Cretaceous Stratigraphy", ''Four Corner Guidebook to San Juan Basin,'' 1957. * Caswell Silver. "History and folklore of the San Juan region," pp. 222–234 in ''Southwestern San Juan Mountains'' (Colorado), Kottlowski, F. E.; Baldwin, B.; ds. New Mexico Geological Society, 8th Annual Fall Field Conference Guidebook, 258 pages. * Caswell Silver. "Principles of Gas Occurrence, San Juan Basin", ''AAPG Memoir 9: Natural Gases of North America'', 1968. * Caswell Silver. "Entrapment of Petroleum in Isolated Porous Bodies", ''AAPG Bulletin'' merican Association of Petroleum Geologists Vol. 57, No. 4, 1973: 726-740. * Kam Chiang and Caswell Silver. "Abstract: Hoadley – A Potential Supergiant Gas Field in South-Central Alberta, Canada," ''AAPG Bulletin,'' Vol. 66, No. 7 (July), 1982.

Honors

* Caswell Silver was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree (Sc.D.) from the University of New Mexico in 1981. * In Silver's honor a mineral, Caswellsilverite (NaCrS₂), found in a meteorite that fell in Norton County, Kansas in 1948, was registered with the International Mineralogical Association in 1982.

Personal life

Caswell married Elizabeth Silver (née Bauserman) on August 5, 1936, and they had two daughters, Anne Silver and Sue Silver Harivandi. Elizabeth Silver died in Santa Fe on July 3, 2009, at the age of 93."Elizabeth Silver Obituary,
''Santa Fe New Mexican,'' 2009
More information on her life is given in th
funeral notice
etrieved July 20, 2014 Caswell Silver was a brother of

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

geologist

Leon Silver Leon Theodore Silver (April 9, 1925 – January 31, 2022) was an American geologist who was professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He was an instructor to the Apollo 13, 15, 16, and 17 astronaut crews. Workin ...

(who also served on the Caswell Silver Foundation board), and a great-uncle of statistician-journalist

Nate Silver Nathaniel Read Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, writer, and poker player who analyzes baseball (see sabermetrics), basketball, and elections (see psephology). He is the founder and editor-in-chief of ''FiveThirtyEigh ...

. Caswell Silver is buried in

Santa Fe National Cemetery Santa Fe National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in the city of Santa Fe, in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. It encompasses , and as of 2021, had 68,000 interments. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it ...

, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

External links

* "Oil Wildcatting Hasn't Disappeared," February 18, 1974 interview of Caswell Silver by CBS News reporter

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

regarding the oil crisis. Available at

Vanderbilt Television News Archive The Vanderbilt Television News Archive, founded in August 1968, maintains a library of televised network news programs. It is a unit of the Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt University, a private research university located in Nashvil ...

, program ID 232953.Cronkite CBS News interview of Caswell Silver

Caswell Silver Foundation website
at University of New Mexico.

References

;Notes ;Sources This biography draws substantially on the testimonial by Silver's long-time colleague Nolan Ashburn, published in the bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists: Nolan Ashburn. “Memorial to Caswell Silver, 1916-1988,�

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver, Caswell 1916 births 1988 deaths Businesspeople from New York City People from Waterbury, Connecticut Businesspeople from Albuquerque, New Mexico People from Denver 20th-century American geologists 20th-century American businesspeople American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent University of New Mexico alumni United States Geological Survey personnel United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers Scientists from New York (state) Military personnel from Colorado