J Harlen Bretz (2 September 1882 – 3 February 1981) was an American geologist, best known for his research that led to the acceptance of the
Missoula Floods and for his work on caves.
Early life and education
Bretz was born on 2 September 1882, in the small town of
Saranac in
Ionia County,
Michigan. He was the first of Oliver Joseph Bretz and Rhoda Maria Howlett's five children. His father was a farmer, and proud descendant of early
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
settler in Ohio, John Bretz.
The county's birth registry recorded his name as "Harlan J Bretz" at birth, but he was listed as "Harland J Bretz" on the
1900 United States Census. When he entered college in 1901, he applied as "J Harlen Bretz". At around the time he completed his graduate studies in 1913, he stopped using a point after the initial at "J". According to his two children, his given name was actually "Harley". Bretz's daughter Rhoda Bretz Riley went on to explain that "he invented the Harlen thing, just as he had invented the J in front of his name", though this contradicts official records. Most friends and associates just called him "Doc" in his later life.
Bretz earned an
AB degree in
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
from
Albion College
Albion College is a private liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students in 2014.
They participate in NCAA Division III and the Michigan Intercolle ...
in 1905, then started his career as a high school History and Physiography (study of the physical features of the Earth's surface) teacher in
Seattle. During this time, he became interested in the geology of
Eastern Washington, and began studying the
glacial
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...
geology of the
Puget Sound area. He continued his studies at the
University of Chicago where he earned his PhD in geology in 1913. He became an assistant professor of geology, first at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle ...
and then the University of
Grand Coulee
Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed in the U.S. state of Washington. This National Natural Landmark stretches for about 60 miles (100 km) southwest from Grand Coulee Dam to Soap Lake, being bisected by Dry Falls into the Upper and Lo ...
The Spokane floods: an outrageous hypothesis
In the summer of 1922, and for the next seven years, Bretz conducted field research of the
Columbia River Plateau
The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Columbi ...
. Between the Summer of 1922 through 1931 he wrote 15 papers.
Since 1910 he had been interested in unusual
erosion features in the area after seeing a newly published
topographic
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scie ...
map of the Potholes Cataract. Bretz coined the term
Channelled Scablands
The Channeled Scablands are a relatively barren and soil-free region of interconnected relict and dry flood channels, coulees and cataracts eroded into Palouse loess and the typically flat-lying basalt flows that remain after cataclysmic floods w ...
in 1923 to describe the area near the
Grand Coulee
Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed in the U.S. state of Washington. This National Natural Landmark stretches for about 60 miles (100 km) southwest from Grand Coulee Dam to Soap Lake, being bisected by Dry Falls into the Upper and Lo ...
, where massive erosion had cut through basalt deposits.
[Bretz, J Harlen (1923). "The Channeled Scabland of the Columbia Plateau". Journal of Geology 31: 617–649.] The area was a
desert, but Bretz's theories required cataclysmic water flows to form the landscape, for which Bretz coined the term
Spokane Floods
The Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods or the Bretz floods or Bretz's floods) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the las ...
in a 1925 publication.
Bretz published a paper in 1923, arguing that the
Channelled Scablands
The Channeled Scablands are a relatively barren and soil-free region of interconnected relict and dry flood channels, coulees and cataracts eroded into Palouse loess and the typically flat-lying basalt flows that remain after cataclysmic floods w ...
in
Eastern Washington were caused by massive flooding in the distant past. This was seen as arguing for a
catastrophic explanation of the geology, against the prevailing view of
uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always operated in the universe in ...
, and Bretz's views were initially discredited. However, as the nature of the
Ice Age was better understood, Bretz's original research was vindicated, and by the 1950s his conclusions were also vindicated.
Bretz encountered resistance to his theories from the geology establishment of the day. The geology establishment was resistant to such a sweeping theory for the origin of a broad landscape for a variety of reasons, including lack of familiarity with the remote areas of the interior
Pacific Northwest where the research was based, and the lack of status and reputation of Bretz in the eyes of the largely
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
-based geology elites. Furthermore, his theory implied the potential possibilities of a
Biblical flood
The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is the Hebrew version of the universal flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre- creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the microc ...
, which the scientific community strongly rejected. The
Geological Society of Washington The Geological Society of Washington is a learned society based in the Washington, D.C. area. According to its constitution, "The object of the Society is the increase and diffusion of geological knowledge"
Founding and early history
The Geologi ...
invited the young Bretz to present his previously published research at a meeting on 12 January 1927, where several other geologists presented competing theories. Bretz saw this as an ambush, and referred to the group as six "challenging elders". Their intention was to defeat him in a public debate, and thereby end the challenge his theories posed to their conservative interpretation of
uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always operated in the universe in ...
.
Another geologist at the meeting,
Joseph Pardee
Joseph Thomas Pardee (May 30, 1871, in Salt Lake City, Utah; † March 2, 1960, in Philipsburg, Montana) was a U.S. geologist who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, and contributed to the understanding of the origin of the Channeled Scablands ...
, had worked with Bretz and had evidence of an ancient
glacial lake that lent credence to Bretz's theories. Pardee, however, lacked the academic freedom of Bretz, as he worked for the
United States Geological Survey, so did not enter the fray.
Bretz defended his theories, kicking off an acrimonious 40-year debate over the origin of the
Scablands
The Channeled Scablands are a relatively barren and soil-free region of interconnected relict and dry flood channels, coulees and cataracts eroded into Palouse loess and the typically flat-lying basalt flows that remain after cataclysmic floods w ...
. As he wrote in 1928, "Ideas without precedent are generally looked upon with disfavour and men are shocked if their conceptions of an orderly world are challenged".
Both Pardee and Bretz continued their research over the next 30 years, collecting and analysing evidence that eventually identified
Lake Missoula as the source of the
Spokane Floods
The Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods or the Bretz floods or Bretz's floods) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the las ...
and creator of the
Channelled Scablands
The Channeled Scablands are a relatively barren and soil-free region of interconnected relict and dry flood channels, coulees and cataracts eroded into Palouse loess and the typically flat-lying basalt flows that remain after cataclysmic floods w ...
. Research on open channel hydraulics and NASA satellite images in the 1970s further vindicated Bretz's and Pardee's theories.
National Geographic observes: "As philosopher
Thomas Kuhn observed, new scientific truths often win the day not so much because opponents change their minds, but because they die off. By the time the
Geological Society of America finally recognized Bretz’s work with the
Penrose Medal
The Penrose Medal was created in 1925 by R.A.F. Penrose, Jr., as the top prize awarded by the Geological Society of America. Originally created as the Geological Society of America Medal it was soon renamed the Penrose Medal by popular assent of t ...
, the field’s highest honour, it was 1979 and Bretz was 96 years old. He joked to his son, "All my enemies are dead, so I have no one to gloat over."
Caves and karst
Bretz wrote an extremely influential paper on the morphology and origin of
limestone caves in 1942, followed by detailed studies of the caves of
Missouri in 1956, and
Illinois with Stanley Harris, in 1961.
Later life
Bretz and his wife Fanny Belle Challis (1881-1972), whom he had met at Albion College, married in 1906, and had two children, Rudolf Challis Bretz and Rhoda Bretz Riley. The Bretz family settled in
Homewood, Illinois where they bought property and constructed a
Sears Catalog Home
Sears Modern Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Co., an American retailer.
From 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 of these houses in North America, by the company's count. Sears ...
on it in 1921. Bretz nicknamed the property "Boulderstrewn" because of all the rocks and minerals he collected and was given that were placed around the property. He donated a portion of this collection to
Albion College
Albion College is a private liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students in 2014.
They participate in NCAA Division III and the Michigan Intercolle ...
in the 1970s. Boulderstrewn was renowned for being an active place, where Bretz hosted many parties with students and faculty from the
University of Chicago. His post-retirement body of work includes ''Geology of the Chicago Region'' (1955), ''The Caves of Missouri'' ''(1956),'' ''Washington's Channeled Scabland'' (1959), ''Caves of Illinois'' (1961), and ''Geomorphic History of the Ozarks'' (1965), in addition to his 1949 ''Incomplete Genealogy of the Family of John Bretz Of Fairfield Co, Ohio, with a Partial History of One Line of Descent in this Family''.
Awards and honours
The
National Speleological Society
The National Speleological Society (NSS) is an organization formed in 1941 to advance the exploration, conservation, study, and understanding of caves in the United States. Originally headquartered in Washington D.C., its current offices are in ...
made Bretz an honorary member in 1954.
Bretz received the
Penrose Medal
The Penrose Medal was created in 1925 by R.A.F. Penrose, Jr., as the top prize awarded by the Geological Society of America. Originally created as the Geological Society of America Medal it was soon renamed the Penrose Medal by popular assent of t ...
, the
Geological Society of America's highest award, in 1979, at the age of 96. After this award, he told his son: "All my enemies are dead, so I have no one to gloat over."
Each year at
Albion College
Albion College is a private liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students in 2014.
They participate in NCAA Division III and the Michigan Intercolle ...
, the J Harlen Bretz Award is given to the most outstanding senior in the geology department.
Bretz Drive in
Homewood,
Illinois was named in his honour.
plaque was dedicated to Bretz in 1994 outside th
Visitor Center at Dry Falls State Parkin
Coulee City,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
that reads "Dedicated to J Harlen Bretz who patiently taught us that catastrophic floods may sometimes play a role in nature's unfolding drama".
Notes
Bibliography
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* Digitized for the web by Michael McMillan.
*
*
External links
Ice Age FloodsStudy of Alternatives and Environmental Assessment,
National Park Service.
*
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...
's ''
NOVA''
''Mystery of the Megaflood''was an episode about the Scablands and Dr Bretz.
Ice Age Floods Instituteis a nonprofit organization committed to public recognition and education about the Ice Age Floods.
The J Harlen Bretz Papersat University of Chicago Library.
Victor R Baker The Spokane Flood debates: historical background and philosophical perspective..
J Harlen Bretz Memoirswritten in his early 90s in four volumes.
Albion trips to Boulderstrewn, Homewood, ILdetails of Albion College student visits to Bretz's house Boulderstrewn in
Homewood,
Illinois.
New York Times ObituaryObituary for "Jerry" Harlen Bretz in the NY Times.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bretz, J Harlen
1882 births
1981 deaths
Albion College alumni
Catastrophism
20th-century American geologists
American people of German descent
Penrose Medal winners
University of Chicago alumni
University of Chicago faculty
University of Washington faculty