6 
MODERN GEOLOGY IN AMERICA 
part of our continent years before it was recognized in the East. 
At the mouth of the Big Sioux River, Nuttall fell in with an 
old trapper who described to him the great falls which blocked 
canoe navigation at a distance of 100 miles up that stream; and 
who also told him of the famous Indian pipestone ledges beyond. 
So conspicuously botanical in character were Nuttall’s services 
to science that one but wonders under what especial circumstances 
he could have obtained his keen insight into matters geological. 
Elias Durand said of him, soon after his demise, that “No other 
explorer of the botany of North America had personally made 
more discoveries; no writer on American plants, except perhaps 
Asa Gray, had described more new genera and species.” Lists 
of his published memoirs and papers quite generally omitted all 
reference to his recorded geological observations, probably be¬ 
cause of the fact that their importance could hardly be appre¬ 
ciated by writers in other fields of science. In the present con¬ 
nection our main interest focuses upon the transplaning so early 
to the interior of the American continent of William Smith’s novel 
ideas concerning the use of fossils for establishing geological 
chronology. Brief reference to some of the early events in 
Nuttall’s life seems to offer clue. 
Born in Yorkshire, England, in the Mountain Limestone belt, 
and near the scene of Martin’s famous labors on the fossils of 
Derbyshire, young Nuttall is early apprenticed to the printers’ 
trade and after a few years removes to London. There he fol¬ 
lows his trade, until, at the age of 22, he sets out for America, in 
1808. He appears to have been a journeyman of the Benjamin 
Franklin order, since while engaged at his trade he becomes pro¬ 
ficient in a knowledge of the sciences, Greek and Latin, and kin¬ 
dred subjects. During the period of six or seven years that he 
was in London he makes the acquaintance of a number of scien¬ 
tific men. It is probable that at this time he acquired some famil¬ 
iarity with Smith’s important discoveries which were then attract¬ 
ing wide attention from English scientists. It is also quite possi¬ 
ble that Nuttall gained much of his scientific information through 
setting up the types for those very memoirs which have since be¬ 
come geologic classics. Not unlikely he even met Smith, since 
the latter is known to have been often in London at that time, 
and to have taken up his permanent residence there several years 
before the printer-naturalist left his native land. 
