History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Charles A. White
CHARLES A. WHITE, geologist and author, was born at North Dighton, Massachusetts, January 261 1826. He came to Iowa in December, 1838, the year Iowa was organized into a Territory, stopping first at Burlington. He received the degree of M. D. from Rush Medical College in 1863 and the degree of A. M. from Iowa College at Grinnell in 1866. He was made State Geologist of Iowa in 1866 by act of the Legislature, working in that field until 1869, publishing his report in two columns. He was chosen Professor of Natural History in the State University of Iowa in 1867, serving until 1873, when he was elected to the same position in Bowdoin College where he remained two years, when he received the appointment of Paleontologist to the Geological and Geographical Surveys, in charge of Lieutenant Geo. M. Wheeler. In 1875 he was Geologist and Paleontologist to the United States Survey of the Territories, in charge of Major J. W. Powell. From 1876 to 1879 he was holding the same position in the Geological Survey of the Territories, under Dr. F. V. Hayden. He served as curator in charge of the Paleontological Collections of the United States National Museum at Washington from 1879 to 1882 and was detailed to act as chief of the Artesian Wells Commission in 1881, under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. He was Geologist and Paleontologist of the United States Geological Survey from 1883 to 1892. In December, 1899, he was elected foreign member of the Geological Society of London. During this period Dr. White published by the Smithsonian Institution a large number of scientific works in his specialties.