author
Harold W. (Harold Wellman) Fairbanks
1860–1952
A geologist, field researcher, and gifted science writer, he helped bring the landscapes and natural history of the American West to a broad audience. His books turned rocks, mountains, earthquakes, and conservation into engaging lessons for younger readers.
3 Audiobooks
The Western United States: A Geographical Reader
by Harold W. (Harold Wellman) Fairbanks
Conservation Reader
by Harold W. (Harold Wellman) Fairbanks
Old Mines of Southern California Desert-Mountain-Coastal Areas Including the Calico-Salton Sea Colorado River Districts and Southern Counties
by William H. Storms, Harold W. (Harold Wellman) Fairbanks
About the author
Born on August 29, 1860, in Conewango, New York, Harold Wellman Fairbanks studied at the University of Michigan and earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1896. He became an authority on the geology and geography of the Pacific Coast, writing more than 40 articles on California’s rocks, minerals, landforms, and physical geography.
Fairbanks combined scientific research with accessible educational writing. His books included Stories of Our Mother Earth (1899), Home Geography (1902), Physiography of California (1903), Stories of Rocks and Minerals (1903), The Western United States (1904), and later works on conservation and physical geography. He also contributed to studies of California’s geology and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
His work helped make earth science approachable for general readers and schoolchildren, especially through vivid descriptions of the landscapes of the western United States. He died in 1952.