Noah Fields Drake was born on January 30, 1864 near Summers, Washington County, Arkansas. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1888 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He worked for four years with the State Geological Surveys of Texas and Arkansas and also worked for the United States Geological Survey as a geologist and surveyor before entering graduate school at Stanford University in 1893. Drake received his A.B. in 1894, his A.M. in 1895, and his Ph.D in 1897. He then worked as professor of geology and mining at the Imperial Pei Yang University, Tientsin, China from 1898 to 1900 and again from 1905 to 1911. He met Mary Eleanor Shockley, a missionary from Lancaster, Ohio, in China and they married in Pei Tai Ho, China on August 30, 1904. They had two children, Doris, born July 22, 1906 in Pei Tai Ho, China and Vera Marie, born February 19, 1909 in Tientsin, China.

In 1911, Drake returned to the U.S. to teach at Stanford University for a year. In 1912, he took a position as Professor of Geology at the University of Arkansas and held this until he retired from teaching in 1920. His wife Mary died on December 25, 1926. He married Lota West Fairchild on December 23, 1932.

Drake Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas is named after Noah Fields Drake because he donated $3,500 that was used to purchase the land. He also received many honors for his work in geology. Dr. Drake died suddenly of a heart attack on May 4, 1945.