BIOGEAPHY OF PEOFESSOE XEWTOX. xi 



Of his published reports on iron and steel, the most important are "A 

 Sketch of the Present State of the Steel Industry" (Ohio, Geol. Surv., Eeport 

 of Progress for 1870, p. 529) and "The Ores of Iron, their Geographical 

 Distribution and Relation to the Great Centers of the World's Iron Indus- 

 tries" (Trans. Inst. Min. Eng'rs, Vol. Ill, p. 360). 



In 1875 the Secretaiy of the Interior applied to Professor Henry, the 

 head of the Smithsonian Institution, requesting him to suggest a geologist 

 to take charge of an exploration of the Black Hills, Dakota, for the purpose 

 of ascertaining the extent and value of the gold deposits discovered there. 

 This request was, by Professor Henry, referred to me, and in accordance 

 with my nominations Mr. W. P. Jenney was appointed geologist and Mr. 

 H. Newton his assistant The purely geological work of the expedition 

 was for the most part performed by Mr. Newton, and the report now com- 

 mitted to you for publication is the result. Although limited to a single 

 season, the amount of work accomplished by the expedition was surpris- 

 ingly large and of excellent quality. The topography and geological 

 structure of the Black Hills were accurately determined and mapped, and 

 the collection of fossils made by Mr. Newton and described by Mr. Whit- 

 field contributed a larger amount of new material than that gathered by 

 any single expedition to the West. Mr. Newton took great pains with his 

 report, as he had done in the accumulation of facts, and in its preparation 

 expended about eighteen hundred dollars from his own pocket, when it was 

 quite uncertain whether this sum would be repaid him by the government 

 When presented to Congress its publication would have been immediately 

 authorized except for a selfish and heartless opposition it encountered spring- 

 ing from the fear that it would betray the inaccuracy of previously published 

 descriptions of the geology of this region. This opposition cost Mr. New- 

 ton his life, for when Congress deferred action on his report till another 

 session he determined to employ a part of the interval in revisiting the 

 Black Hills, repeating some of his observations and recording the results of 

 the rapidly-developing mining industry. While engaged in this work he 

 was attacked by typhoid fever, and died at Deadwood, August 5, 1877. 



Previous to his second journey to the West, Mr. Newton had received 

 the appointment of professor of mining and metallurgy in the State Uni- 



