Increase Allen Lapham (c. 1811 – September 14, 1875)[1] was an American writer, scientist, and naturalist, whose work focused primarily on the what is now the U.S. state of Wisconsin.[2][3] He made maps of the area and published numerous books on the archaeology, biology, and geology of the region, and discovered both the Panther Intaglio Effigy Mound and Milwaukee Formation. He founded the Wisconsin Natural History Association, and served as the state's Chief Geologist for two years. He also lobbied Congress and the Smithsonian Institution to establish an agency to predict the weather around the Great Lakes and this became the National Weather Service.[citation needed]
Biography
Born in Palmyra, New York, his family moved to Pennsylvania, back to New York, to Ohio then to Louisville, Kentucky (1827–1830) then back to Ohio while his father, Seneca Lapham, worked on the canals in various locations. Lapham was of entirely English ancestry, all of which had been in what is now the United States since the early 1600s. His ancestors were among the first English colonists to establish Rhode Island.[4] He displayed a talent for scientific observation early on while working on the canals and their locks, producing drawings that he could sell at the age of thirteen.[citation needed]
In July 1836, Lapham moved to Kilbourntown (which soon incorporated into the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and worked closely with Byron Kilbourn in his business and development endeavors.[5] The two had worked together previously on the Miami Canal and Lapham considered him a loyal friend and mentor. Before the end of the year, Lapham had published a Catalogue of Plants and Shells, Found in the vicinity of Milwaukee, on the West Side of Lake Michigan, perhaps the first scientific work published west of the Great Lakes.[citation needed]
In 1848,[6] Lapham founded the Wisconsin Natural History Association, a predecessor of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters,[7] of which he also was a charter member.[citation needed][8][9]
Many of his works and early maps were used for various civil projects such as canal and railroad development. In 1844 Lapham published the first substantial book on the geography of the Wisconsin Territory. His first map of Wisconsin was made in 1846.[10] He published many more papers and books through his life, particularly on geology, archaeology and history, and flora and fauna of Wisconsin, including publication by the Smithsonian Institution.[11]
Lapham was one of the first people to recognize the cement potential of certain rock strata seen along the banks of the Milwaukee River. Those strata, now known as belonging to the Milwaukee Formation, were later mined for high quality natural hydraulic cement. Milwaukee thus went on to become the country's leading producer of natural hydraulic cement from 1876 to 1910.[14]
Honors
Lapham is considered "Wisconsin's first great scientist"[16] and the "Father of the U.S Weather Service,"[17][18] based upon his lobbying to Congress and the Smithsonian Institution to create such an agency to forecast storms on the Great Lakes and both coasts.[19] When the agency was created through the U.S. Secretary of War, Lapham made the first such accurate Great Lakes storm warning from Chicago.[20]
A genus of North American plants, Laphamia,[26] was named for him by Asa Gray.[27] Several species of invertebrates from the Paleozoic rocks of Wisconsin, such as Nuculites laphami (Cleland, 1911)[14] and Ekwanoscutellum laphami (Whitfield, 1877),[28] were also named in honor of him. Certain markings found on iron meteors were designated by J. Lawrence Smith[29] as Laphamite markings.[30] A formerly existing glacial lake was provisionally named Lake Lapham.[31] The Wisconsin Archeological Society awards the Lapham Research Medal,[32] first doing so in 1926.[33] The U.S. Navy named a ship SS Increase A. Lapham during World War II.[34] The University of Wisconsin has an Increase A. Lapham Professorship.[35] Lapham was inducted in 1992 into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame[36] and in 2003 into the Wisconsin Forestry Hall of Fame.[37]
The centennial of Lapham's birth was celebrated in 1911.[38] In 2011, celebration of the bicentennial was planned, including an Increase A. Lapham Day at Aztalan State Park.[39]
^Graham Parker Hawks, Increase A. Lapham, Wisconsin's first scientist (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1960)[page needed]
^Barquist, Barbara; Barquist, David (1987). "The Beginning". In Haley, Leroy (ed.). The Summit of Oconomowoc: 150 Years of Summit Town. Summit History Group. p. 9.
^"Poor's Manual of Railroads". H.V. & H.W. Poor. September 29, 1891. Archived from the original on August 4, 2024. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Google Books.
^Callary, Edward (2016). Place Names of Wisconsin. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 150. ISBN978-0-299-30964-0.
^Lapham, I. A. On the Man-shaped Mounds of Wisconsin.Report and Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for the years 1857 and 1858, v. 4, 1859, pp. 365–368. (copy)