Louis Caryl Graton

Who was Louis Caryl Graton?

Louis Caryl Graton, American geologist, chemist and educator, began his career in 1900 as assayer for Ledyard Gold Mines Ltd., near Rockdale, Ontario. He moved on to Canadian Goldfields Ltd. later in 1900, then entered McGill University as a graduate student, studying many of the famous mines of Ontario and Quebec. He continued his studies at Cornell University in 1902-1903.

In 1903, Graton was hired by Waldemar Lindgren of the US Geological Survey to assist Lindgren's restudy of the Cripple Creek, Colorado goldfields. This began an association that lasted until Lindgren's death in 1939. While at the USGS, he studied ore deposits in the southern Appalachians, New Mexico and California.

In 1909, Graton was appointed assistant professor of mining geology at Harvard; he advanced to full professor in 1912, a position he would hold for 37 years. Graton made important contributions in applying the science of geology to the practical job of finding ore. He was notably successful in "selling" geology to the mining industry, in an era when many companies doubted the value of employing mining geologists. He became Professor Emeritus in 1949.