Summary:

 A history of the USGS related to development of public-lands, mineral, and water resources.  The first part of the presentation will use USGS Circular 1050 as the basis for summarizing events leading to the formation of the USGS, the settlement, development and needs of the western US that guided its work.  Then I'll shift focus and summarize the history of surface-water and streamgaging aspects of the USGS, and finally focus on streamgaging activities in Minnesota, since that's what I know best.

Biography:

James Fallon supervises the Minnesota part of the Hydrologic Monitoring Network for the Upper Midwest Water Science Center, USGS.  He started his career streamgaging and sampling water-quality.  As a hydrologist, he investigated the fate and transport of atrazine through a flood-control reservoir, led the design of the surface-water-quality network of the Upper Mississippi River Basin National Water-Quality Program and did other investigations.  He has authored or co-authored related USGS reports and journal articles.  He has a Master's degree in Water Resources from the University of Kansas Civil Engineering Department and dual Bachelor's degrees in Geology and Spanish from Kansas State University.  In his free time he enjoys making complicated, multi-color spreadsheets, running, cycling, and riding herd on two Labradors with his wife Christina. The kids have flown the nest.