William E. Davies

Unless you just crawled out from under a rock, you've most certainly heard of William E. Davies. Davies authored Caverns of West Virginia for the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, published in 1949. This book has been the most popular title ever put out by the WVGES. The WVGES received so many requests after it had sold out that the book was revised and re-issued in 1958, this volume completely selling out within 6 years. Demand was still so high that the book was again re-issued, along with a supplement, in 1965. The work that Davies did for Caverns was the inspiration for WVaSS. That's probably the extent that most West Virginia cavers know about Bill Davies.


W. E. Davies, photo from the National Cave and Karst Research Institute's Davies biography

Davies (NSS 345) was President of the National Speleological Society from 1954-56, and served as Science Vice President from 1951-53. He was chairman of NSS Research Advisory from 1951-53, and the editor for the Bulletin (precursor to the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies from 1957-63. He is listed as one of the original three of the board of directors and one of the original seven of the board of trustees from the NSS articles of incorporation. He was awarded Certificate of Merit in 1950, became an Honorary Member in 1960, and an NSS Fellow.

W. E. Davies passed away in 1990, but the efforts he helped put in motion live on today.



http://www2.nature.nps.gov/nckri/map/maps/engineering_aspects/davies.htm

http://www2.nature.nps.gov/nckri/map/maps/engineering_aspects/text.htm

http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/karst/kigconference/rco_proposedmap.htm

http://www.caves.org/nss-business/bog/app-c.html

http://www.caves.org/nss-business/bog/table-4e.html