28 PROCEEDINGS OP THE WASHINGTON MEETING 



fisheries, and finally resulted, some years after the resignation of Doctor 

 Holmes as State Geologist, in the creation of the Fisheries Commission 

 of the State of North Carolina. 



Doctor Holmes' work as State Geologist had brought him prominently 

 before the public, and in 1903 he was chosen Director of the Department 

 of Mines and Metallurgy at the Saint Louis World's Fair. He accepted 

 this appointment and had charge of and organized that department. He 

 planned the exhibits and introduced new features for the exhibits, which 

 have since been adopted by all succeeding expositions. These new fea- 

 tures made the Mine Building of the Saint Louis Exposition the most 

 successful and instructive mining exhibit that was ever made at any ex- 

 position. For special services rendered at this exposition he was deco- 

 rated by several foreign governments. In connection with the mining 

 exhibit, he suggested that an investigation be made of the fuels of the 

 United States, and was successful in persuading Congress to authorize 

 the investigation and make the necessary appropriation with which to 

 carry on the work. Doctor Holmes and, at his suggestion, two repre- 

 sentatives of the United States Geological Survey were created a com- 

 mittee to carry on the investigations which were made during the years 

 1904 and 1905. Although Director of the Department- of Mines at Saint 

 Louis, Doctor Holmes continued to have general supervision of the work 

 of the North Carolina Geological Survey. Early in 1905 the Director of 

 the United States Geological Survey appointed Doctor Holmes to take 

 individual charge of the fuel investigations, and soon after he was ap- 

 pointed Chief of the Division of Technology of the Federal Survey, and 

 then severed his connection Avith the State Geological Survey. 



While connected with the Federal Survey, Doctor Holmes examined 

 mine experiment stations and mine-rescue stations in Great Britain, Bel- 

 gium, France, and Germany, and it was the result of these studies that 

 led to the inauguration of the movement for mine-rescue work in tin's 

 country. 



In 1907 President Roosevelt, on Doctor Holmes' recommendation, se- 

 cured the appointment by the governments of Great Britain, Germany, 

 and Belgium of one expert engineer from each of these countries to visit 

 the United States and then visit, with Doctor Holmes, the more impor- 

 tant coal fields of this country. This was done in order to determine to 

 what extent the safety practices used in other mining countries might be 

 introduced into the United States. It was on the basis of the findings of 

 these engineers that Doctor Holmes developed and organized his investi- 

 gations relating to mine explosions, etcetera. 



