Archives West Finding Aid

Josiah Edward Spurr, a geologist and mining engineer, graduated from Harvard in 1893. He was a field assistant with the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, where he did the first rough geologic maps of the Mesabi Iron Range (1893-1894). In 1896 and 1898 he explored the interior of Alaska for the United States Geological Survey. Spurr later worked for the USGS in Utah, Colorado, California, Nevada, and Washington. In 1897 he represented the United States at the International Geological Congress in Russia, and in 1900 he consulted for the Turkish government. Spurr became chief geologist for American Smelting and Refining Company in 1906 but left two years later to set up a private firm, Spurr and Cox (later Spurr and Company). He became vice president of Tonopah Mining Company in 1911. During World War I, he was appointed to the Committee on Mineral Imports and Exports. In 1918, Spurr became editor of Engineering and Mining Journal, and in 1930, professor of geology at Rollins College in Florida. In his later years, Spurr began to study the geology of the moon.