Walter Curran Mendenhall (February 20, 1871 – June 2, 1957), was the fifth director of the
US Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, an ...
.
Life
Mendenhall was born in
Marlboro, Ohio
Marlboro is an unincorporated community in Stark County, Ohio, United States.
Demographics
History
Marlboro was laid out in 1827, taking its name from Marlboro Township. The community was originally built up chiefly by Quakers. By 1833, Marl ...
to William King Mendenhall and Emma P. Garrigues. He graduated from
Ohio Normal University. He married Alice May Boutelle (born 1876); the couple had two daughters, Margaret Boutelle Mendenhall (born 1916) and Alice Curran Mendenhall (born 1918).
He was a distant relation of
Thomas Corwin Mendenhall
Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (October 4, 1841 – March 23, 1924) was an American autodidact physicist and meteorologist. He was the first professor hired at Ohio State University in 1873 and the superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Surve ...
, superintendent of
U.S. National Geodetic Survey
The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is a United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping and charting; and a large number of applications ...
.
USGS career
In December 1930, Hoover appointed
George Otis Smith
George Otis Smith (February 22, 1871 – January 10, 1944) was an American geologist.
Life and career
Smith was born in Hodgdon, Maine. He graduated from Colby College in 1893 and earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1896. He s ...
to the newly reorganized
Federal Power Commission
The Federal Power Commission (FPC) was an independent commission of the United States government, originally organized on June 23, 1930, with five members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The FPC was originally created in 1 ...
and then appointed Walter C. Mendenhall to succeed Smith as Director of the
US Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, an ...
, honoring not only a commitment to appoint the heads of scientific agencies from within the civil service but also a commitment to support basic research. Mendenhall and Smith were both 59 years old. Mendenhall had joined the Survey in 1894, fresh from
Ohio Normal University, and had mapped in the Appalachian coal fields. In 1898, he had been one of the pioneer geologists in Alaska, and in 1903 he had become one of the first ground-water specialists in the Water Resources Branch.
An early member of the Land Classification Board, he became its chairman in 1911 and in 1912 the first Chief of the Land Classification Branch. For eight years before becoming Director, Mendenhall had been the Chief Geologist. Although more than half his surveying career had been in administrative work, he had made notable contributions to the geology of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
, and his study of the principles in ground-water hydrology had helped to establish it as a field of scientific endeavor. King, Powell, Walcott and Mendenhall all were members of the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.
Mendenhall's directorate was pivotal in the history of the Geological Survey. In spite of the difficult times, the depression years, and the beginning of World War II, he encouraged the Survey, as he had the Geologic Branch, to emphasize the necessity of basic research and created an environment in which, in the words of the Engineering and Mining Journal, "scientific research, technical integrity, and practical skill could flourish."
A year after Mendenhall became Director, the Federal budget was sharply cut as the effects of the depression began to be felt. The appropriations were not restored to earlier levels until the late 1930s, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, but the Survey subsisted, even grew, on funds transferred from agencies formed to combat the depression by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. The Tennessee Valley Authority, established in May 1933, turned to the Survey to meet its need for maps of the entire valley and for a much expanded program of stream gaging throughout the basin.
In 1943, as the Federal Government began planning for the postwar era, Director Mendenhall, who had served 2 years beyond then mandatory retirement age by
Presidential exemption
A presidential exemption is the power of President of a state to overrule or exempt certain laws or legal decisions.
United States
As an example from the separation of federal and state powers of the United States, in the U.S. Code Title 16 Cha ...
, was succeeded by William Embry Wrather.
Walter Curran Mendenhall biography
U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior Mendenhall died in Chevy Chase, Maryland
Chevy Chase () is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place (Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland) that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in th ...
, 1957.
Publications
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran, "Progress in physics in the nineteenth century" Sun Publishing, c1901.
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran,
Reconnaissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotzebue Sound Alaska
USGS Professional Paper No.10. (1902)
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran, and Schrader, F.C.
The mineral resources of the Mount Wrangell district, Alaska
USGS Professional Paper No.15, (1903)
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran,
Development of underground waters in the eastern coastal plain region of southern California
USGS Water Supply Paper No.137. (1905)
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran,
Development of underground waters in the central coastal plain region of Southern California
USGS Water Supply Paper No.138. (1905)
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran,
Development of underground waters in the western coastal-plain region of southern California
USGS Water Supply Paper No.139. (1905)
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran,
Geology of the Central Copper River region, Alaska
USGS Professional Paper No.41, (1905)
* Leighton, Morris Morgan, "Walter Curran Mendenhall (1871-1957)" AAPG Bulletin; March 1958; v. 42; no. 3; p. 682-690
* Deming, D. "Walter Curran Mendenhall: Quaker scientist" Ground Water. 2004 May-Jun;42(3):465-71.
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran,
Some desert watering places in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada
USGS Water Supply Paper No.224. (1909)
* Mendenhall, Walter Curran,
Ground waters of the Indio region, California, with a sketch of the Colorado desert
USGS Water Supply Paper No.225. (1909)
References
External links
*
Portrait of Walter Curran Mendenhall
via the US Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, an ...
Photograph of Walter Curran Mendenhall
via the US Geological Survey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendenhall, Walter Curran
1871 births
1957 deaths
People from Stark County, Ohio
Ohio Northern University alumni
United States Geological Survey personnel
American geologists
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Writers from Ohio
Presidents of the Geological Society of America
Scientists from Ohio