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This chapter focuses on the life of Clarence King. Among the first generation of academically trained scientists in America, King had many options. He could follow the path of many of his classmates and continue graduate study abroad, he could begin a career as a scientific writer, or he could take his place as a professor of science at virtually any school in the country. Although his training emphasized traditional outlets and institutions, King chose a different course. He went into the natural world; not as a retreat from society, but as a means of political engagement.

This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Clarence King. King's search for natural truths bore the imprint of John Ruskin, but his obsession with masculine science and adventure as a means of social integration and improvement originated with John Tyndall. He embraced nature as a microcosm of American society. As one of the many geologists who moved through the physical world, he was supposed to uncover mineral resources. Yet he saw his science as one way to impose a grid of order on contemporary America.

This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the purpose of the book, which is to examine the working world of natural scientists, exploring how they used science within American life and, most importantly, illuminating the impact of natural science on American culture. Beginning with the conclusion of the Civil War and the creation of a recognizably modern America, and continuing forward to the emergence of environmentalism as a political force nearly a century later, the book explores the evolving internal paradigms and external forces influencing the design and purpose of American natural science. The chapter also considers the work of Clarence King, Robert Marshall, and Rachel Carson, representatives of the community of natural scientists who blended their work, understanding of politics, and concern for social welfare into a vision of a liberal, cooperative, and scientifically informed America.

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that nature continues to serve as a foundation for American political values, with natural science acting as guide. Key to its modern appeal is an understanding of science as an objective form of knowledge located within the authoritative natural world. The challenge for scientists and citizens alike is to recognize how much of our search for answers in the physical environment is not based on the ability of science to reveal what nature intended but is, rather, a necessary product of human relations in a social environment.

This chapter explores the impact of European mountaineering discourses on Clarence King. It recounts how King, like some of his European counterparts, came to the mountains to escape the confines of a Victorian society. It also examines King's representations of risks taken in the mountains that helped create a distinctly American image of the explorer. The chapter describes King's mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada in 1872 that mythologized the exploration of the West during a period in which some Americans began to worry that the frontier would disappear. It also reveals some of the continuities and differences in the transnational evolution of climbing in North America.

This chapter discusses the development of American geology. Starting with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Silliman, and Louis Agassiz, who spent the latter portion of his career in the United States and proceeding to geological greats such as John Wesley Powell and others, the New World offered unique insights impacting how geology advanced. This difference is related to the immense size of the continent, its wealth of resources, and the variable geologic settings found within. The geologic principles discovered in Europe and other parts of the world were applied to North America as the continent was explored. Contributions to the growing field of geology from American and Canadian geologists of the time, including the further understanding of glacial periods, advancements in mineralogy, and exploration of the natural wonders and economic minerals of North America, including the westward expansion and further study of coal deposits and paleobotany.