Ol^t PROCEKDINGS OF THE WASHINGTON MEETING 



and thus preventing surface water from following down the outside of 

 the shaft. In connection with this work he began his study of the 

 geology of the Sierra Xevada. This survey was begun for those who 

 had emplo3'ed him. but he continued it for man}- years at his own ex- 

 l)ense. In 1895 he went to Mexico and spent the last six years of his 

 life in developing a mining property for the San Fernando Mining 

 Compan}^ at San Fernando, Estado de Durango. where he died on Juh' 

 25, 1901^^ 



In 1861 he married Miss Mary Collier, of Brooklyn, New York ; of 

 their five children four survive him. After separation from his first wife 

 he married, in 1894, Miss Jane Dearborn, of Orange, Xew Jersey, who was 

 his constant and helpful companion during the last years of his life. 



This is a bare outline of the life of our friend and fellow-member. At 

 the end of this notice is given a list of his published papers on geological 

 subjects. But neither this brief outline nor the list of papers affords a 

 just estimate of the personal influence of Mr Mills on the men who knew 

 him well ; for that influence was moral rather than scientific. 



In 1879-'80 I was intimately associated with Mr Mills. He was then 

 the superintendent of the Sao Cyriaco Gold Mining company of Boston, 

 with property on Rio do Peixe, near Serro, in the diamond regions of 

 Brazil, and I was his assistant. In that capacit}^ I had direct supervision 

 of the engineering work under his charge and had also to act as his in- 

 terpreter. Owing to his various relations with Brazilians and the neces- 

 sity of communicating with them in the Portuguese language and 

 through me, I had unusual opportunities for knowing his methods, liis 

 motives, and his character. Such relations were less enlightening in 

 his case, however, than they would have been with many men, for Mr 

 Mills was not a man who had anything in his character to cover up. 

 What he was in public he was in private— an upright man in everj^ sense. 



One great service Mr Mills did in Brazil was, in the face of the customs 

 of generations, to set up and maintain successfully a standard of honor- 

 able dealing between employer and emplo3'e. At the time of our resi- 

 dence in the diamond regions slavery was still in existence in Brazil, and 

 he was frequently and forcibly reminded that the company's work could 

 be done only by the use of slave labor. It was not expected that the 

 company should own slaves, but that it would rent them of their Bra- 

 zilian owners. Against the use of slave labor in any form Mr Mills set 

 his face from the outset, though he fully realized that it would be very 

 difficult to find enough free workmen. He was convinced, however, that 

 the chief reason free labor was so difficult to find and more difficult to 

 hold was because it was not well or promptly paid. His idea was to 

 convince the employes that their wages would be paid promptly' once a 



