author

William Lord Watts

1850–1921

An adventurous Victorian traveler and geologist, he wrote vividly about Iceland’s glaciers and remote landscapes before later turning his attention to California’s oil and gas fields.

1 Audiobook

Across the Vatna Jökull; or, Scenes in Iceland

Across the Vatna Jökull; or, Scenes in Iceland

by William Lord Watts

About the author

William Lord Watts (1850–1921) was a British-born writer, mining engineer, and geologist. His best-known books for general readers are travel narratives about Iceland, including Snioland; or, Iceland, its Jokulls and Fjalls (1875) and Across the Vatna Jökull; or, Scenes in Iceland (1876), which grew out of expeditions across rugged and little-known parts of the island.

Later, his published work focused strongly on geology and petroleum. Catalog records and digitized editions link him to studies such as The Gas and Petroleum Yielding Formations of the Central Valley of California (1894), Oil and Gas Yielding Formations of Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties (1897), and Oil and Gas Yielding Formations of California (1900), showing a career that bridged adventure writing and practical earth science.

A memorial notice published by the Southern California Academy of Sciences identifies him as Professor William Lord Watts and gives his dates as September 24, 1850 to 1921. Reliable portrait images were not clearly available from the sources reviewed, so no profile image is included here.