John Wells Foster

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John Wells Foster (1815-73) was an American geologist and paleontologist, born at Brimfield, Massachusetts. He graduated at Wesleyan University (Connecticut) in 1834, moved to Ohio, studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Zanesville. The field of geology had attracted him earlier, which led to his acceptance of a position as assistant in the Geological Survey of Ohio in 1837. He participated in the investigations of the coal beds of Ohio until 1844. In 1847, along with Josiah Dwight Whitney, he joined Professor Charles T. Jackson, who was the leader of a Geological Survey of the Lake Superior region. After Jackson was dismissed from that position, Foster and Whitney completed the survey in 1850. The U. S. Congress authorized the publication of their findings in works titled: A Synopsis of the Explorations of the Geological Corps in the Lake Superior Land District in the Northern Peninsula (1849), and Report on the Geology and Topography of a Portion of the Lake Superior Land District in the State of Michigan: Part I, The Copper Lands (1850); Part Two, The Iron Region (1851). Afterward he became involved in the politics of Massachusetts and was associated with Henry Wilson in the organization of the Republican party in that State. In 1858 he moved to Chicago where he remained for the rest of his life. He was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1869). Amongst his later publications are these: The Mississippi Valley (1869); Mineral Wealth and Railroad Development (1872); and Prehistoric Races of the United States (1873).