THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST 
Vol. XXI. MAY, 1898. No. 5 
MAJOR FREDERICK HAWN. 
By G. C. Beoadhead, Columbia, Mo. 
[Plate XVI. J 
Forty years ago the name of Maj. Frederick Hawn was 
often heard in geological circles. He was born in Herkimer 
county, New York, January 5, 1810, and died in Leaven- 
worth, Kans., January 31, 1898, aged 88 years. He was of 
Revolutionary German stock, his grandfather, Conrad Hawn, 
having been killed in the battle of Oriskany. He devoted his 
early life to civil engineering, and assisted in constructing 
the first railroad in Pennsylvania, and in 183 1 saw the first 
locomotive placed on its track. 
In 1835 he was engaged in railroad construction in Illi- 
nois, but soon after settled in the town of Weston, Missouri. 
In 185 1 he was engineer on the Hannibal and St. Joseph 
railroad, but soon after was appointed by Prof. G. C. Swal- 
low as an assistant on the Missouri Geological Survey, and 
assigned to the duty of making an examination of the country 
along and near the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph rail- 
road. He made partial examinations of twelve counties of 
Missouri near the railroad line from the Mississippi to the 
Missouri river. The report was .published in Swallow's geo- 
logical report of Missouri, 1855. It called particular atten- 
tion to the lands and the valuable coal beds near the railroad, 
and its circulation greatly assisted the railroad company in 
