Charles Scott Haley (November 8, 1884 – 1958), a mining engineer, was an expert in the field of
placer gold deposits.
His 1923 work, ''Gold placers of California'' (California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 92, 1923) described all economic occurrences of
alluvial gold deposits in California that were known at the time. Bulletin 92 was the first statewide comprehensive study of tertiary
fluvial
In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...
placers,
dredge fields, and dry placers. Even in the present day, it continues to be a standard reference.
Personal life
Haley was born in
Alameda County, California. His parents, married on October 3, 1876, were Caleb Scott Haley (born February 16, 1833), of
Chebogue, Nova Scotia, and Annie Louisa Barclay (born December 6, 1852) of
Tusket, Nova Scotia.
His paternal grandparents were Ebenezer Haley and Mary Lee Scott. His maternal grandparents were Andrew Barclay and Mary Elizabeth Morton.
In 1907, he received a bachelor's degree from the College of Mining at
University of California, Berkeley.
Haley married at the age of 50, and had six children: David, Janet, Kathleen, Marcia, Allan and Brian. His wife, Jean, was a teacher at
Nevada City Elementary School.
He died at
Grass Valley, California on April 12, 1958.
Career
His early mining experiences were in
Alaska,
California, and
Oregon, as well as
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
, and
Peru.
He opened an office in
San Francisco in 1917, and shortly thereafter, joined the
United States Army Corps of Engineers, attaining the rank of major during World War I.
In 1921, upon returning from an assignment in British Columbia, Haley was retained by the
California State Mining Bureau
The California Geological Survey, previously known as the California Division of Mines and Geology, is the California state geologic agency.
History
Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to the Cali ...
to document California's gold placers. After conducting the study, he authored ''Gold placers of California'': California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 92 and ''Topographic map of
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
gold belt showing distribution of the auriferous gravels'', in 1923.
One of his articles also appeared in the journal, ''Mining and Scientific Press''.
Partial works
* (1923).
Gold placers of California'. San Francisco: California State Mining Bureau. OCLC 3080130
* (1923). ''Topographic map of Sierra Nevada gold belt showing distribution of the auriferous gravels''. San Francisco: California State Mining Bureau. OCLC 81025598
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haley, Charles Scott
1884 births
1958 deaths
People from Alameda County, California
United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel
American mining engineers
20th-century American geologists
UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni
American expatriates in Colombia
American expatriates in Honduras
American expatriates in Peru
Engineers from California