Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/30

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ARNOLD HAGUE

HAGUE, ARNOLD, geologist and author, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 3, 1840. His father, a leading clergyman of the Baptist denomination, was a "man remarkable for his firm devotion to principles, and for a power of conversation, which he delighted to use in defense of his convictions." For fifty years he was a trustee of Brown university, and he was one of the founders of Vassar college. To his mother Arnold Hague feels himself indebted for moral training which was of great value. From his childhood and youth of good natural physique, he was an ardent lover of nature. As a child he had an especial taste for collecting the autographs of distinguished people. He pursued a course of study at the famous "Albany boys' academy," and was graduated at the Sheffield scientific school, Yale, in 1863. He took courses of professional study in Göttingen, Heidelberg, and the Freiberg Mining academy, in Germany, specializing in chemistry, mineralogy and geology. He received from Columbia university, the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.

He began his practical work as a geologist with the United States exploration of the 40th parallel, to examine the resources of a belt of country 100 miles wide, along the first transcontinental railway, and acted as a geologist and explorer in the Cordilleras of North America in the service of the United States from 1867-77; was government geologist of mines in China, in the service of Li Hung Chang, 1878-79; was geologist to the United States Geological Survey, 1880-1904; and was a member of the forestry commission appointed by the National Academy of Sciences to recommend a policy for the preservation of the forests of the Rocky Mountains which resulted in the setting aside of forest reservations by President Cleveland. He is a member and also the secretary of the National Academy of Sciences; a member of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia; of the Geological Society of London; of the Geological Society of America; of the Century club, New York; the Cosmos club, Washington; the University club of New York and the Metropolitan club