Page 134 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

George H. Girty
Girty was a USGS Paleontologist who worked primarily in the southeastern part of the state. He worked with W. T. Lee during much of his time in New Mexico.
In 1907, Gordon (see below) stated in a footnote that a “bulletin of the U.S. Geological Survey treating of the fauna of the Lake Valley formations [sic] is now in preparation by Dr. [George H.] Girty...Girty apparently never completed or published his work on the Lake Valley fauna, which is unfortunate, as most elements of the profuse Lake Valley fauna, even its famous crinoids, have not been comprehensively studied to this day. The stratigraphy of the Lake Valley sequence as recognized in the early 20th century has been considerably refined since the 1940s with the addition of an underlying formation (Caballero) and several members of the Lake Valley Formation.” (Celebrating New Mexico’s Centennial - The Geology of New Mexico as Understood in 1912: An Essay for the Centennial of New Mexico Statehood, Part 2, Barry S. Kues, University of New Mexico. p. 31.)
George H. Girty (1940)
Charles Henry Gordon
Gordon did an extensive amount of work in the area of the Black Range in the first part of the 1900’s. He is the author of the section on Sierra County (pp. 213-285) in Ore Deposits of New Mexico (1910), the co-author (with Waldemar Lindgren, see below) of the section on Luna County (pp. 285-295), and the co- author (with Lindgren and J. M. Hill) of the section on Grant County (pp. 295-348). All of these chapters have extensive information about the geology of the area, as well as the more specific ores and mining activities.
In 1906 and 1907 Gordon was studying the geology of southern New Mexico. In the April 13, 1906, issue of Science (pp. 590-591) he wrote “Lower Paleozoic Formations in New
Mexico". “The older Paleozoic strata have generally been considered absent in New Mexico. During the past summer, while engaged in field work for the U. S. Geological Survey, under the direction of Mr. Waldemar Lindgren, the undersigned found Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian formations at various places along a belt which crosses Grant, Sierra and Luna counties, and extends from the east side of the Rio Grande westward beyond the Arizona line and probably connects with the similar formations of the Clifton copper district in Arizona. The localities where these rocks are best exposed are the Caballos Mountains, the Hillsboro and Kingston mining districts on the east side of the Black Range, in the vicinity of Cooks (sic) Peak, and the Florida Mountains. In these places the Cambrian, Ordovician and Devonian are found. At Lake Valley and west of Silver City, near the mines of Chloride Flat, in addition to the foregoing formations, true Silurian limestone separates the Devonian and Ordovician strata. A more extended account of these formations will appear in a forthcoming number of the American Journal of Science.” (Published with L. C. Graton)
In July 1907, Gordon published “Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Formations in the Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico” in The American Journal of Science, pp. 58-64.
Not much of his chapter in U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 68, Geologic Structure of Parts of New Mexico addresses our area. However, starting at p. 268 and extending to the end of the report there is an informed discussion of this region, including geologic cross sections.
Louis C. Graton
Graton was one of the authors (along with Lindgren and Gordon) of The Ore Deposits of New Mexico (1910). He went on to become a professor in mining geology at Harvard and President of the Society of Economic Geologists in 1931.
Joseph Nelson Rose
Rose is best known as one of the authors of the multi-volume monograph, The Cactaceae. Four genera of plants are named in his honor. His field work in Mexico and other locations was extensive.
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