Pettee, William Henry, 1838-1904

William Henry Pettee (1838-1904), geologist and professor of mining engineering, studied at Lawrence Scientific School (later part of Harvard University) and continued his studies at the Royal Mining Academy in Freiberg from 1865-68. During the summer of 1869 he went with Josiah D. Whitney as part of the South Park Topographical Expedition to do field work in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and he also accompanied Whitney on the California State Geological Survey in 1870-71.

Professor of mineralogy at University of Michigan.

Geologist and professor of mining engineering; assistant (1870-1971) to J. D. Whitney on California State Geological Survey.

Biography

William Henry Pettee (1838-1904) was born in Massachusetts, the son of Otis Pettee who was a manufacturer of cotton goods, inventor of cotton milling machinery, and president of the Charles River Railroad. William graduated from Harverd in classical studies in 1861. He spent the next three years studying engineering at Lawrence Scientific School (later part of Harvard University), during which time he also assisted in teaching chemistry. He continued his graduate studies from 1865 to 1868 in Freiberg, Saxony, at the Royal Mining Academy and visited mining areas throughout northern Europe. On his return to Cambridge in 1869 he became an instructor in the new school of mines which Harvard had requested Josiah D. Whitney to found. During the summer of 1869 Pettee went with Whitney as part of the South Park Topographical Expedition to do field work in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In 1870-71 Pettee was given leave to become an assistant to Whitney on the California State Geological Survey. Pettee is particularly known for his barometric determination of altitude and his studies of the beds of gold-bearing gravels. His work led to the publication of Whitney's book Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California and to Contributions to Barometric Hypsometry. Pettee did his field work in the northeastern part of the state (mainly the region of the Yuba and Feather Rivers) in 1870 then went to the Geological Survey office in San Francisco in 1871 for the reduction and arrangement of the summer's observations. He returned to Cambridge and served as Assistant Professor of Mining from 1871 to 1875. When the University of Michigan established its School of Mines, he was invited to become Professor of Economic Geology and Mining Engineering; he continued at the University of Michigan for the next 29 years. In 1879 he returned to California to complete his observations on the auriferous gravels so they could be included in Whitney's 1880 publication. Pettee did the behind-the-scenes research for many publications and was active in the American Institute of Mining Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Philosophical Society and other learned organizations.