Amos B. Bowman

Amos B. Bowman was born at Blair, but soon after, his parents moved to Ohio. Later he had a very distinguished career as a renowned scientist in Canada and the United States.

Following university studies in Germany, he graduated as a civil and mining engineer, and travelled in Europe writing articles for the New York Tribune.

An outstanding authority on geology, he had charge of a five-year California geological survey. He then joined an official Canadian geological survey, surveying the Cariboo mining region, and prepared reports on many sections of British Columbia.

Bowman promoted the interests of Fidalgo Island in British Columbia, whose possibilities impressed him. In recognition of his services, the town of Anacortes was named after his wife, Anna Curtis Bowman. He published a newspaper, and gave liberally in land to induce the building of a railroad up the Skagit Valley.

It was said of this outstanding scientist that “he often impoverished himself to enrich others.”