1846 Emmons Agricultural Map of New York State - Geographicus - NewYork-emmons-1846

Ebenezer Emmons (May 16, 1799October 1, 1863), was a pioneering American geologist whose work includes the naming of the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

in New York as well as a first ascent of Mount Marcy.

Early life

Emmons was born at

Middlefield, Massachusetts Middlefield is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 385 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Middlefield was first settled in 1780 and w ...

, on May 16, 1799, son of Ebenezer and Mary (Mack) Emmons. Emmons entered Williams College at age 16 and graduated with a degree in medicine in 1818. He went on to study medicine at

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

. After graduating, he practiced as a doctor in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. In 1824, he assisted Chester Dewey in preparing a

geological map A geologic map or geological map is a special-purpose map made to show various geological features. Rock (geology), Rock units or stratum, geologic strata are shown by color or symbols. Bed (geology), Bedding planes and structural features such ...

of Berkshire County, in which the first attempt was made to classify the rocks of the Taconic area. He eventually attended the Rensselaer School (now Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) for geology. There, he was inspired by professor

Amos Eaton Amos Eaton (May 17, 1776 – May 10, 1842) was an American botanist, geologist, and educator who is considered the founder of the modern scientific prospectus in education, which was a radical departure from the American liberal arts tradition of ...

, and graduated in the first class in 1826. While giving much of his time to natural science at

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

, he also became a professor in chemistry and later obstetrics at

Albany Medical College Albany Medical College (AMC) is a private medical school in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1839 by Alden March and James H. Armsby and is one of the oldest medical schools in the nation. The college is part of the Albany Medical Center, whi ...

Geological Survey of New York

Emmons was designated by

Jules Marcou Jules Marcou (April 20, 1824 – April 17, 1898) was a French-Swiss-American geologist. Biography He was born at Salins, in the ''département'' of Jura, in France. He was educated at Besançon and at the Collège Saint Louis, Paris. After co ...

as the founder of American

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

stratigraphy, and the first discoverer of the primordial fauna in any country. In 1836, he became attached to the

Geological Survey A geological survey is the systematic investigation of the geology beneath a given piece of ground for the purpose of creating a geological map or model. Geological surveying employs techniques from the traditional walk-over survey, studying outc ...

of the State of New York, and after a lengthened study, he grouped the local strata (1842) into the Taconic and overlying New York systems. The latter system was subdivided into several groups that were by no means well defined. Emmons had previously described the

Potsdam sandstone The Potsdam Sandstone, more formally known as the Potsdam Group, is a geologic unit of mid-to-late Cambrian age found in Northern New York and northern Vermont and Quebec and Ontario. A well-cemented sandstone of nearly pure quartz, in the 19th c ...

(1838), and this was placed at the base of the New York system. It is now regarded as Upper Cambrian. In 1844, Emmons obtained fossils in his Taconic system for the first time. The species obtained were found to differ from all then-known Palaeozoic fossils and now represent the primordial group. Marcou advocated for the term Taconic to be generally adopted in place of Cambrian. Nevertheless, the Taconic fauna discovered by Emmons proved to include only the lower part of Sedgwick's Cambrian. Emmons contributed to a series of volumes on the ''Natural History of New York'' (1848), writing about agriculture and geological topics. He also issued a work entitled ''American Geology'', containing a statement of the principles of science with full illustrations demonstrating the characteristics of American fossils (1855–1857). The overthrust in New York, which places Lower Cambrian rocks in contact with Middle

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

rocks, is known as Emmons' line, formerly Logan's line after

William Edmond Logan Sir William Edmond Logan, FRSE FRS FGS (20 April 1798 – 22 June 1875), was a Canadian-born geologist and the founder and first director of the Geological Survey of Canada. Life William Edmond Logan was born into a well-to-do Montreal family ...

. This segment is named after Emmons and extends from Canada through

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, New York, and farther south. It traverses through the city of

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

and the Poesten Kill Falls and Gorge. He named the

(1838) and

Taconic Mountains The Taconic Mountains or Taconic Range () are a range of the Appalachian Mountains, running along the eastern border of New York State and adjacent New England from northwest Connecticut to western Massachusetts, north to central western Vermont. ...

(1844) and acquainted the public with these regions. A scientific disagreement with New York State Geologist James Hall regarding the age of the rocks in the Taconic System led Emmons to leave New York State. Emmons held that the Taconic System rocks were of Cambrian age, but Hall was convinced that they were

in age. (Emmons was ultimately found to be correct.) As a result of the dispute, Emmons was banned from the practice of geology in the state of New York and sued Hall for slander and libel. In 1851, after losing the lawsuit, Emmons was hired by the state of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

for the newly created position of State Geologist. He continued in that position until his death in 1863, at his plantation in

Brunswick County, North Carolina Brunswick County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 136,693. Its population was only 73,143 in 2000, making it one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. With a no ...

Adirondack mountain climber

Emmons gave the Adirondacks their name in 1838. The name "Adirondacks" is an Anglicized version of the

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

''ratirontaks'', meaning "they eat trees", a derogatory name the Mohawks historically applied to neighboring Algonquian tribes due to their practice of eating the buds and bark of trees when food was scarce. Emmons led the first recorded climb of Mount Marcy on August 8, 1837. His party was looking for the headwaters of the East Fork of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

which it claimed was at Lake Tear of the Clouds on the mountain. Mount Emmons in the Adirondacks is named for him.

References

External links

William S. Powell (ed.): DICTIONARY OF NORTH CAROLINA BIOGRAPHY
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Emmons, Ebenezer 1799 births 1863 deaths People from Middlefield, Massachusetts American geologists American botanists Williams College alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Albany Medical College alumni People from Berkshire County, Massachusetts Williams College faculty

Early life

Geological Survey of New York

Adirondack mountain climber

See also

References

External links