Howe, Ernest, 1875-1932

Dates

• Existence: 1875 - 1932

Biography

Ernest Howe, geologist, was educated at Yale (class of 1898) and at Harvard, where he earned his M.A. (1899) and Ph.D. (1901). In 1900, Howe joined the United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) as an assistant geologist. Most of his early work was done in Colorado under Whitman Cross. Although he served with the U.S.G.S. until 1910, in 1906 Howe was appointed geologist of the Isthmian Canal Commission. After 1910 he went into private practice as a consulting geologist. In 1916-17 he joined the Royal Geographic Society of London's expedition, headed by Hamilton Rice, to the upper Amazon and in 1920 he was hired by the Mexican government to reorganize their geological survey. Throughout his career, Howe published scholarly papers, and from 1926 until his death he served as editor of The American Journal of Science.

Howe's stepfather was Arnold Hague, noted geologist of the U.S.G.S. Hague owned stock in the North Star Mines Company and was related to the managing director, which explain Howe's long association with this California mining operation. The company hired Howe in 1910 and 1911 to survey the North Star and Champion mines. When Hague died in 1917, Howe acted as administrator of his estate and two years later was elected a director of the North Star Mines Company. He continued to act as consulting geologist for the company and through his contacts became involved with other California mines. In 1919, Howe, along with other officers of the North Star Mines Company, invested in the Round Mountain Neocene Drift Placer Mine. This mine was located just north of Grass Valley, the home of North Star, in Nevada County, California. The North Star Mines Company might have invested in Round Mountain, but no ore was found during the development work. Howe joined other investors in the Bantam Syndicate, a financial association created to develop mining properties around West Point, Calaveras County, California. In 1922, the Syndicate, joined by North Star Mines Company, evolved into West Point Consolidated Mines, Inc.

Howe married Anne Wilson in 1905 and the couple had two children, Margaret Bruce Howe and Walter Howe. The family lived in New Haven in the winter and in Litchfield during the summer, with frequent trips to Newport where Howe's mother resided. Howe served two terms in the Connecticut General Assembly during the 1920s.