Background
Joseph Austin Holmes was born on November 23, 1859 in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. He was the son of Reverend Zelotes L. Holmes, a Presbyterian minister with scientific tastes, and of Catherine (Nickles) Holmes.
Joseph Austin Holmes was born on November 23, 1859 in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. He was the son of Reverend Zelotes L. Holmes, a Presbyterian minister with scientific tastes, and of Catherine (Nickles) Holmes.
Holmes' education was received in the local schools and at Cornell University, where he was graduated in 1881, having specialized in agriculture and science.
He received honorary doctorates from the University of Pittsburgh in science and The University of North Carolina in law.
Holmes was appointed professor of geology and natural history at the University of North Carolina, where he remained for ten years and where he continued to lecture after he was appointed state geologist in 1891. In addition to his geological studies he showed political ability by inaugurating a campaign for the building of good roads by the use of convict labor and by increased taxes.
While still state geologist, in 1903-1904 Holmes was put in charge of the department of mines and metallurgy at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. In connection with this appointment he took up the testing of fuels and structural materials, conducting his demonstrations with such skill that he was put in charge of testing laboratories for the United States Geological Survey. The waste of mineral resources was given much attention in the Roosevelt administration, and Holmes became prominent in the conservation movement.
By 1907 the work with which he was associated had become so important that it was organized as the technological branch of the Survey, with Holmes as its chief. About this time his attention was directed, by a series of disasters, to the investigation of accidents in mines. Explosions and fires in coal mines were taking a terrible toll of life, and there was serious need for scientific study and educational propaganda. The technological branch was expanded into the United States Bureau of Mines in 1910, and Holmes, who had worked for the reorganization, was selected from several candidates as director. With high ambitions for the success of the new bureau, he took up earnestly the problem of the disgraceful mortality in American mining. A model mine for testing explosions was developed at Bruceton, Pennsylvania. Holmes contended that dust from bituminous coal is dangerous by itself, a tenet contrary to the old belief that coal dust could not explode without gas.
At the first national mine-safety meeting, organized in Pittsburgh in October 1911, mine operators were impressed by the demonstrations. Federal and state rescue stations were established in the coal and metal mining regions, and a number of railroad cars were equipped as movable safety and rescue stations. Holmes made popular the slogan "safety first" and maintained an effective educational campaign for the reduction of industrial accidents. The arduous traveling necessary for building up these services told on his health, particularly as he did not spare himself in the long and wearing work. Notable force of character, as well as dexterity of action, was required for impressing Congress and the mining industry as to the importance of what he was doing.
By 1915 he was forced to retire to a sanitarium in New Mexico, and in July death came to him in Denver from tuberculosis. Coal mines throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia closed while operators and miners paid homage to him.
Holmes went down to history as a prominent geologist and occupational safety and health pioneer, best known as the first director of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. Shortly after his death the Colorado School of Mines established the Joseph A. Holmes professorship of safety and efficiency engineering, and the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association was formed under the auspices of the Bureau of Mines. Holmes was decorated by the governments of Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Japan.
Holmes belonged to the Geological Society of America (charter member), American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute of Mining Engineers, American Society for Testing Materials, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Academy of Science in Washington, American Forestry Association, Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi fraternities, Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, Chapel Hill (a founder), Cosmos Club in Washington, St. Louis Club, and Engineer's Club in New York.
Holmes was well-liked and respected by his colleagues. He was noted for unselfishness. He sometimes used his own money to complete projects in North Carolina and once reduced his salary to increase an assistant's. North Carolina State Geologist Joseph Hyde Pratt described him as "a splendid representative of the Southern Christian gentleman. "
Holmes was married on October 20, 1887, to Jeanie Isabella Sprunt of Wilmington, North Carolina. She, with two sons and two daughters, survived him.
