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Joseph Silas Diller (1850-1928)
Joseph Diller was born in Plainfield, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1850. He graduated from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University
(now part of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) in 1879 and then spent the next four years conducting post-graduate studies at the Universities of Harvard and Göttingen.
From 1873 until 1877 Diller taught at the State normal school in Westfield, Massachusetts. From 1881 until 1883 he was a geologist on the Assos expedition to Asia Minor. In 1883 he
became an assistant geologist for the United States Geological Survey and traveled across the United States.
Joseph Diller worked with the USGS for some forty years, until 1923. While his
principal interest was in petrography, he was responsible for
production of numerous geological maps, reconnaissance surveys
and economic geologic studies. A majority of these were in
Southern Cascadia, the complex region of southern Oregon and
northern California that encompasses portions of the eastern
Great Basin, Sierra Nevada, Cascade Volcanic, Great Valley,
Klamath Mountains and Coast Ranges geologic provinces. Among his
achievements were the production of six maps as part of the USGS
Geologic Atlas Folio Series, in-depth reports on the evolution
of Crater Lake and Lassen Peak, detailed descriptions of several
mining districts, and the preparation of sets of hand specimens,
thin sections and descriptions for colleges and universities. He
was also a specialist on asbestos, coal, placer gold and chromic
iron ore.
In 1883 John
Wesley Powell, director of the United States Geological
Survey, sent Professor J.S. Diller and Everett Haden to Crater Lake as the first Geological Survey party to visit the
caldera and study its formation. Their investigation of lava
flows and rock formations would form the basis for Diller's
later theory that the mountain top collapsed rather than
being blown away. Another topic of their study was the
creation of Wizard Island, to which they journeyed on a log
raft in order to view its cinder cone at close range.
[Historic
Resource Study, Crater Lake NP]
He is perhaps
best remembered for his studies of Crater Lake and analysis of
Tertiary peneplanation and regional uplift.
Bibliography (Partial)
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Diller, J.S., 1886, Notes on the Geology of Northern California, United States Geological Survey Bulletin 33, 23p.
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Diller, J.S., 1891, A late volcanic eruption in Northern California and its peculiar lava, United States Geological Survey
Bulletin 79, 33p.
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Diller, J. S., 1895, U. S. Geological Survey Atlas - Lassen Peak, California - Folio (No. 15), U.S. Geological Survey, 1895, 4
pp. 2 sheets of illustrations, 3 maps.
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Diller, J.S., 1902, Topographic development of the Klamath Mountains, United States Geological Survey Bulletin 196.
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Diller, J. S., 1906, U. S. Geological Survey Atlas - Redding, California, Folio (No. 138), 1906, 14, (1) pp, 3 maps.
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Diller, J. S., and Kay, G. F., 1909, Mineral resources of the Grants Pass quadrangle and bordering districts, Oregon: U.S.
Geological Survey Bulletin 380, p. 48-79.
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Diller, J.S., 1914, Mineral resources of Southwestern Oregon, United States Geological Survey Bulletin 546, 147p.
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Diller, J.S., 1915, Guidebook of the Western United States: Part D - The Shasta Route and Coast Line, United States Geological
Survey Bulletin 614, 142p.
Related
Links
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Geologist, Joseph S. Diller, Steel Points |
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Mount Shasta from the Northwest, showing great snowbank in head of Diller Canyon. North American Fauna No. 16, Plate II.
This canyon, Clinton Hart Merriam wrote, "I named Diller Canyon, in honor of J. S. Diller of the U. S. Geological Survey, in recognition of his admirable researches on the
geology of Shasta." |
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Cones on summit platform of Cascade Range. The sharp peak on the right is Union Peak; in the distance is Mount Pitt; in the
foreground are Wizard Island and Crater Lake. Crater Lake National Park. Klamath County, Oregon. circa 1901. Plate 2 in U.S. Geological Survey, Professional paper 3. 1902.
U. S. Geological Survey (online)
Photographic Library. Joseph S. Diller |
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