32 Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters. 
THE SIOUX CITY SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 
By H. C. POWERS. 
In every city and village in our land there are always 
some men who are more interested in the phenomena of 
Nature than the others. They not only observe closer, 
but try to learn why. They reason about the things they 
see and try to know what causes have produced the 
effects they see about them. There is an affinity or com- 
mon feeling between such men which always draws them 
together to talk of what they are interested in and com- 
pare notes on what they have seen. Nearly all men have 
some hobby, some pursuit they follow from pure love of 
it. Nearly all of us lead two lives separate from each 
other, one in the business or profession we are compelled 
to follow for a support, and the other for relaxation, 
amusement or interest in scientific phenomena of some 
kind. 
Here in Sioux City, back in the days when its inhabi- 
tants were fewer in number than now, there were such 
men. A few in number who were interested in the things 
that Nature was doing, were in the habit of gathering 
together in the evening after the business of the day was 
done, to talk about the subjects they thought about. In 
all concretions there is a nucleus or center about which 
the material which forms the concretion gathers. So in 
the group of friends in our city who gathered to talk of 
scientific matters, there was one who seemed to be the 
leader, and in whose office the meetings were held. This 
was Mr. D. H. Talbot, who is still in our city. Such was 
the beginning of the Sioux City Scientific Association, 
which was organized and incorporated in the year 1885. 
Of the group of men who were charter members then, 
some have gone over the “Great Divide,” learning secrets 
we can never know here. Others have left the city, some 
