Arthur Lakes was born in Somerset, England in 1844 and was educated at Queens College, Oxford. Around 1865, he immigrated to the United Stated and ended up in Colorado by the late 1860s where he was hired by Jarvis Hall to teach drafting and drawing.

In addition, he was an ordained Deacon of the Episcopal Church in Colorado and preached at mining camps. Lakes had a variety of interests, chief among them were geology and paleontology.

On March 26, 1877, Lakes and Henry C. Beckwith, a retired naval officer, were surveying a ridge of tilted strata, called a hogback, near Morrison when they discovered bones of such size that Lakes at once realized their importance.

Arthur Lakes served on the CSM faculty from the founding in 1874 until 1893.  He died in 1917.  Lakes is credited with successfully deciphering much of the geology of Colorado and, as an economic geologist, guiding mineral exploration which was so important to the State. 

Aside from teaching, Lakes noted for his discoveries of dinosaur bones and other fossils on a hogback formation called Dinosaur Ridge near Morrison, Colorado. During a period of unemployment in 1878-79, he worked in the field at Como Bluff, Wyoming, excavating and drawing renderings of dinosaur fossils.

His field notes and drawings are now at Yale University in the Peabody Museum. In 1880, he resumed teaching at the Colorado School of Mines where he remained until 1893, when he became a mining consultant.

Lakes was a prolific writer. In Oliver Jones’ Bibliography of Colorado Geology and Mining from Earliest Explorations to 1912, published in 1914 as Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin No. 7, there are no less than 259 entries under his name. Aside from numerous articles, Lakes wrote several books. His most famous book was Prospecting for Gold and Silver, published in 1895. A first edition in its very attractive gilt stamped cloth binding is highly sought after by collectors.

Arthur Lakes collected fossil, rock and mineral specimens which formed the foundation for CSM's extensive collection.  He is also known for his work in uncovering the prehistoric dinosaur tracks and bones near Red Rocks park.  Some of Lakes original paintings of dinosaurs reside in the library.

For several years, Berthoud and Arthur Lakes would play "musical chairs" with Geology. Yet, even though Berthoud was primarily a civil engineer with considerable knowledge in many fields and Lakes would earn the title of "Father of Colorado Geology," the Geology Building would become Berthoud Hall.

Arthur Lakes Library would remember the geologist. But Berthoud taught Geology first at Mines, and Lakes earned a reputation for his cultural background, which included both ends of the spectrum, from ministry to art.

The $800,000 cost of the Arthur Lakes Library, which was completed in 1955,  came from State monies to build and equip. 

In 1979, the library was rededicated to celebrate its $2 million enlargement and extensive remodeling.  The State appropriated $1.56 million for the work, while $1 million from the Boettcher Foundation provided for the Boettcher Reading and Reference Center for Energy, Environment and Public Policy.