MEMOIR OF W. P. BLAKE 37 



of The Mining Magazine had to be suspended in 1860, and its editor ac- 

 cepted an engagement which prevented him from reissuing it, namely, 

 that of mining engineer to the Japanese government. This position he 

 occupied from 1861 to 1863. In company with Eaphael Pumpelly he 

 organized the first school of science in Japan, and taught chemistry and 

 geology in the school and in the field. He visited China also, returning 

 to the United States by way of Eussian America (Alaska). At this time 

 (1863) he explored the Stickeen Eiver, discovered the great Stickeen 

 glacier, and wrote the first description of what was then supposed to be 

 "the ice-mountains." It is said that his reports to Secretary Seward were 

 influential in procuring the consummation of the purchase of Alaska. 



Upon his return to California, in 1863, he resumed his work as a iield 

 geologist and mining expert, studying especially the character and de- 

 velopment of the Comstock lode. In 186-1 he was appointed professor of 

 mineralogy and geology in the College of California and also mineralo- 

 gist of the State Board of Agriculture. In 1867 he was appointed com- 

 missioner for California to the Paris Exposition, and was selected by the 

 State Department to edit the Eeport of the United States Commissioners. 

 This work, which occupied six. volumes, occupied him mainly until 1871. 

 In 1871 he was selected chief of the scientific corps of the United States 

 expedition to San Domingo and led his party across that island. In 1873 

 he was appointed a commissioner of the United States to the Vienna 

 International Exposition, for the report of which he wrote the portion 

 devoted to iron and steel. His efficient service in connection with two 

 international expositions led to his appointment by the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution in connection with the collection and installation of the United 

 States exhibit of mineral resources at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. 

 This collection formed the nucleus of the Mineral Department of the 

 Xational Museum at Washington. At the Paris Exposition of 1878 he 

 was again one of the United States commissioners and was appointed 

 secretary of the scientific pai't of the Commission. Besides editing the 

 report he wrote several of its chapters on ceramics, glass, etcetera. 



For the following fifteen years or more Professor Blake was actively 

 and widely engaged as an economic geologist in the exploration of dis- 

 tricts and the examination of mines in Arizona, California, Utah, TsTe- 

 vada, Idaho, Montana, and other States and Territories, and published 

 many articles in technical periodicals. A glance at the bibliography ap- 

 pended to this paper will show the extraordinary range of his work. In 

 1895 he was appointed professor of geology and mining and director of 

 the School of Mines at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona ; and 

 although he was already in his seventieth year he engaged in this new 



