August 1, 1969

Pea Ridge (Benton County) native Hugh Miser died at his home in Washington DC. Miser was a geologist who spent much of his career with the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Over the course of his career, he produced geologic maps of large parts of many states and oversaw explorations of mineral deposits critical to the national World War II efforts. Miser’s hobby was collecting quartz crystals from Arkansas, and he assembled a large collection of beautiful and unusual specimens. He donated some of these crystals for the manufacture of radio equipment during World War II and presented large collections of crystals to the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) and the University of Oklahoma upon his retirement from the USGS.