Who was J Harlen Bretz?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 เม.ย. 2023
- From 2019: CWU's Nick Zentner was building a new auditorium lecture to be filmed in March of 2020. It never happened. This is an early draft of that lecture - now being used for Zentner's GEOL 351 class in Spring, 2023. Tom Foster photos are featured.
![บุษบา - เมนทอล [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IGnWPokSEis/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm just an ole farm truck driver, but your lectures are the most interesting programs I've ever seen. I started watching your shows 3 years ago right before Covid hit. I used to drive out that way a lot. I noticed your local geology, and I had to know more about it. Then I found your classes, and videos. Thank you so much for helping me understand everything. I go to sleep in my truck listening to your lectures at night when I'm out. Please keep them coming. That area fascinated me. I never went to college, but I can really understand you and your method of teaching. Thank you soooooo much!!!!
I got a BA in Geology at Albion College in Michigan. One year, we geology majors got loaded into a van and took a field trip to Homewood, Illinois. First, we visited a quarry to look at Silurian trilobites and such, and then we were taken to Dr. Bretz's house for a tour of his rock and map collection. Then we were taken into the basement, for a tour of his home-made wine cellar. He made his own wines - from all kinds of fruits and plants (dandelion wine! "Little Eva's Funny Stuff"!) He gave us several bottles of wine and a rock. And when I say rock, I mean a 5-ton flood erratic. One rented truck and a destroyed cement staircase later, we planted the rock in the courtyard of the Science Center, right outside our Chair's window. It sits there today, to puzzle future geology students. A wonderful man, and a great memory.
You truly are a gift to Washington state. I’ve lived here nearly all my life, and it wasn’t until I began watching your videos and lectures that I truly understood how unique and magnificent the geologic history of Washington is. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. Cheers
Shear cliffs n a flat bottom,,,you canna beat abit o Alice
This is great example of the importance of fieldwork.
Among the many things I've learned from you, is that Tom Foster (RIP) was a great photographer, and that J. Harlen Bretz was smarter than many others of his time.
Thanks for all you've done. Not only since 2020's "at home" series, but the classes, and all the live streams to help us learn more about geology, and how it really is important to our lives.
A retired history teacher, I have no geologic credentials at all. Nonetheless, captured by this story just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning, and by Nick's enthusiasm and lack of jargon in TH-cam videos, I watched every TH-cam video about the Ice Age Floods and the Scablands that I could find online, and made a point of adding my own pilgrimage to the Scablands onto the itinerary of a long-planned trip (my 4th) along the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Fort Vancouver, WA in August of 2022. Having now seen in person the Vantage erratic, Frenchman Coulee, Palouse Falls, Wallula Gap, and the columns in the Drumheller Channels near Crab Creek Marsh Unit #3 - as iconic an Ice Age Flood site as any - my interest in, and fascination by, this story has not diminished in the slightest. If the opportunity presents itself, and my finances will allow, I would gladly return for more, and more thorough, exploration.
Wow! I would love to undertake such a trip along at least part of the Oregon trail. Is there any way you could share your planning for such a trip? We live in Indiana and could drive to Missouri for the start of the trail, or perhaps fly to some airport along the trail, rent a car, and drive a portion of the trail.
😊
It's amazing in person isn't it? : )
Never ceases to amaze me sir, your skill, at amassing and presenting information in such a way, as to captivate just about any listener. You are a treasure to the world of education. I tip my hat sir…
Born and raised in the scablands where the contours and erosive elements had to be viewed and considered literally every day. It seemed like the processes necessary to create them were pretty obvious. Confusion came from public school teachers who hadn't actually been out there, on foot , trying to convince me that frenchman's coulee was formed by a trickle of water. Thank you Nick for exploring Bret's story and presenting his ideas. I appreciate your passion for science thus not allowing personal bias to interfere with data. You are a great link between the hard science of geology and the lay public. Keep it up.
Your ability to take in so much scattered information, synthesize it and build a cohesive “story” is amazing Nick! I have been following your work for several years now and continue to enjoy the journey. I appreciate your style; you celebrate the perspective of those who’ve gone before and those who continue the search regardless of their level of academic achievement. For this, we who follow your journey thank you!
I got my masters in geology at Eastern (EWU) back in the 1990s and of course have to have an appreciation for the Channeled Scablands and the work of Bretz. I do, very much so for the reasons expressed here in your video. But more than that is my appreciation for you and the outreach educating the general public about science and the geologic history and processes behind our grand landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. You and your works are nothing less than a regional treasure and am very thankful for it.
OMG - Nick, my Great Uncle is on the list of young scouts listed on the newspaper on the left. I knew my Grandfather and his brother went to school on Capital Hill about the same time as Bretz’s Seattle teaching. William Coyle is the young man. If he was on the hike it might explain why he was so brave latter on during WW1. He was a highly decorated soldier. I only met him once. I know it was him; that is where he went to school; time is right; name is right. My Grandfather may have known Bretz but he would have graduated before this time. - Grammie by the Lake.
Is that cool or what! 😊
@@okiejammer2736Six degrees of Nick Zentner!
What a great story about some exceptional people. An interesting journey thru original discoveries to present day. 🐻
Every time I see this information I am fascinated by it. I was born and raised, and currently live, between the headwaters of the Purcell Trench Flood and the Channeled Scablands. I love this stuff, and I'm planning a photo-trip to the Scablands this Spring/Summer. I have fished many of the lakes southwest of Spokane, and remember with fondness Banks Lake and Steamboat Rock.
After seeing the story at Dry Falls, I flew over E Washington and it was so obvious. Thanks for this, Nick.
This is a marvelous presentation Professor. Harlen Bretz theories, the massive floods and the crazy geology one sees in the Columbia Gorge, not only the Palouse and Scablands, were impressed upon me while hiking and rock climbing as a young man in the Columbia Gorge fifty plus years ago. Please continue your TH-cam Geology lectures, they are utterly fascinating, and makes me want to continue my education even into my seventies and beyond. Thank You!! P.s. the title Cataclysms on the Columbia, published by Timber Press in the late 1980's was my " field book" for many years, now replaced by your works.
You are on track to make this massive topic the most understandable it has ever been. His mind boggling achievements and Your shared connections make this a truly fascinating one-of-a-kind story. i can't wait for the finished product 🙏
Think of the size required for an ice berg able to transport a 100 ton Argillite rock originating from Canada, down the Purcell ice sheet lobe and calved off into lake Missoula; now think of the depth and power of the flood that carried this rock laden ice berg 600 miles through waterfalls, cataracts and gorges, and ending its journey deep into Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
Bretz is the common denominator between the Great Lakes geology and PNW geology. You've hit on the major places I'm connected to through my life: Eugene, Oregon, Seattle/Tacoma, Montana, Chicago and Michigan.
Thoroughly enjoyable and informative. Always learn more about Washington. So worth watching. Thanks Nick for taking the time and energy to educate us.
Thanks for gathering your videos, lectures, etc into one location. Not everyone feels like you do to attribute what they have learned to the right people. RIP Tom Foster. For some it is about sharing the information and others it is about discoveries. Some people are pushed to explore due to their desire for recognition and without that impetus may never have pursued it....to then show to others. I enjoy your teaching Nick.
My Dad would had loved this. Working for the Army Corp of Engineers for years in the Columbine River Gorge and then with the USGS. thanks! I liked it also....
Well done as usual Nick. Thank you.
Your story`s are wonderful,and yes it is sad when folks cant get out and see stuff,your country is full of visual feast`s to view geology laid bare.
Excellent geology story line! Dr. Zentner you have explained the Bretz narrative exceedingly well. Thank you.
I could watch that animation over and over. Sooooo Coooool!
Cleverly and well presented. My take on this story, 'don't seek affirmation for what you do', life is much happier and easier if you just follow your interests for your own pleasure of understanding and learning. This why you are so special Sir, as you seem to me to follow this ethos but graciously share your journey with us. Thank you.
Agee, agree! Following our own interests is it’s own reward. We flourish that way.
I loved that you did this video the way you did it. I never would have learned that he basically took over what others noticed. That is the nature of mankind. He got the doctorate after doing an incredible amount of work, therefore he got the credit. Personally I am not surprised as that happens all the time.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Information Gold
Thank you for a nother great lesson, looking forward to the lectures from the end of March (could only catch one)
Thank you, love your lectures. My husband and I will have to get out to see the Scablands.
Thank you thank you thank you Sir Nick Zentner. I saw your animation on another channel and had no idea you were the one behind it's production. Also thank you for being a good human and not getting into the weeds of human personalities and our foibles but letting us know maybe why things happened. Thank you for connecting histories of high schools, city development, migration, highways, cars, trains, agriculture, music, and on and on to these stories of discovery. Having visited some of these places even back where your family story and Bretz's came from and seeing there beauty and grandeur. Wondering how did that get there, where did that come from, why is this place so fertile, why, why, why??? Wow would I like to go on one of those trips with your groups. The folks look like curious folks I would like to meet!
This was just wonderful!! Not one minute of it could I miss. Spellbound throughout the presentation. I was born by the Spokane R. near the falls 68 years ago. I spent so much time exploring the lands & lakes, hiking, fishing...this was like finding a rare gem in the pebbles & sands..homesick now. You are a great teacher. Thankyou, Nick.
Folks are blind till they see mother nature in action with own eyes,too many lazy sceptics ,yes it was wonderful to hear about Hasrlen Bretz and his work,clearly he was a man of great integrity who got up went out and did all the exploring with his students,many of whom wil have many fond memorys of there adventures together.
Nick, as always superb! from Bishops Stortford, UK. nearly as far away from Washington state as you can get, but boy do you make great videos, thank you.
This is one of the more subtle and mind blowing aspects of the story of the ice age floods. Bretz was truly a genius to have put the pieces of the puzzle together. Bravo Nick!
😊😊
Thanks for this great presentation!
Hi, Nick!! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome 'V-lecture'!! Wanted to get over to Ellensburg last week, but just couldn't break free... Hopefully we'll be seeing some vids .... Standard human nature.... let pride/egotism get in the way of actually learning something... LOL Thanks again!
No criticism possible. Thanks for giving a shout out to the Ice Age Flood Institute. I joined my local chapter last year.
Great story telling. Raw is good.
Great introduction to the scientific exploration of the region, and the person who was responsible for a big piece of it.
If anything, your view has become more nuanced, which is good.
Good overall. I think you're right to minimize the controversial side of the story. I would like to know more about the papers he was reading at the time and maybe a little history of some of the students or kids he led out on those expeditions. I always appreciate that last flood video. It does drive the point home. Thanks Nick. Take care.
Wow! How ground truth trumps bookish guesses every time. Thanks!
Outstanding summary on J Harlen Bretz!!! Thank you for doing this. I would like to know more about the Spokane side of the story some day. Seemed rather fascinating part of the story. Terrific work Nick.
Great info! Thanks!!!
Bretz County, WA
Since we have numerous countries named Grant, without even leaving the region, how about we free Grant County, Washington from this confusion and rename it Bretz County? 🤔😃
Dry Falls is the greatest feature of the floods AND the greatest landmark here in what is now Grant County. "No, not Grant County Oregon, I'm from the one in Washington. Yeah, Washington state, not DC." lol 😆
If this is ever on the ballot here in Grant County WA, the northernmost of the TWO Grant counties we have here in former Oregon Territory, we will enthusiastically vote...
Yes to (J Harlan) Bretz County! 🤠👍
"We are all now catastrophist"...
Wasn't it nice of the "Scientists" to finally come and see the empirical evidence for themselves, and stop being dismissive of actual "scientific" data. 😋
It was exciting to learn about Bretz as a kid here. He's our most celebrated scientist.
Keep up the great work!
🤠🙏🕊
My guess is that if Bretz hadn't carried an ego with him in his travels and had offered up at least _some_ attributions for the finer points of his work, he might have made a bigger impression in the Academy and with the public. Like anyplace else, in any organization or society there are turf wars, possessiveness, tribalism, and an attempt at self-preservation, all of which conspire to leave a lot of hurt feelings and indignation in its wake. Some of that one can probably attribute to the arrogance of youth; we're seeing that in the present day. BUT....in any enterprise reputations are at stake, and the one thing we can say about J. Harlen Bretz is: *_He put in the work._* No one can quarrel with _that._
Wow!!!! Thank you, kindly ❤...prof. nick, does it, again!😊
awesome, thank you
👨💻🕵️♂️great documentary.
Wow! what a great story! J. Harlen Bretz was way ahead of his time, and he had walked the land, and made maps and notes. It felt bad that it took so long for him to be recognized. I remember when I first came to Washington state. there was a big hill on south Hill! and it took some time but they moved that hill the whole dang hill. it was big. The next time i saw the area it had a huge mall on it called south hill mall. well they at least named a place after the mighty hill. Goodness knows what they did with the truckloads of land they moved. civilazition has had a huge impact on the land. and it still is. Without much thought too I may add.
Thank you for posting this. The mix of historical photos and graphics and your narrative was great.
All this makes the "Badlands" make sense which I saw when young and wondered what the heck happened here. Thanks for a very interesting story and talk and all the photos and maps about Washington geological history
Thanks for doing this Nick.
I really enjoyed it!
Well, now I’ve done it. I bought a copy of the Roadside Geology of Washington, at your recommendation. Because we live in Indiana and are getting almost too old to travel, at least I can now read about it. And who knows, maybe we do have some travel left in us.
Excellent ! You have greatly expanded my knowledge-base. I have read bits and pieces over the years, but this is fantastic! Thank you very much.
One of your best talks, Nick. A pleasure, as always, to hear about one of the most amazing geological stories ever told.
Good video. And thanks for reminding me about the Ice Age Floods Institute. Need to check out their calendar of events.
Excellently done video!!! Thank you for sharing it with us.
A great summary about J. Harlan Bretz. I had an Illinois Geological Survey Bulletin on the glacial geology of the Chicago area. I think it was from the '20s. It got me started in geology. I would have loved to visit with him. Subsequently, I got my Bachelors degree in Geology and spent several months in the Tri-Cities area mapping springs. I mentioned Bretz to a geologist in Richland and was shocked to hear he had no idea who he was!
Now I have to read "Bretz's Floods" and the other one I got after watching one of your live streams a year later. Great stuff.
This is excellent! I look forward to watching the polished version. I really wish my Dad could watch your lectures, he would have loved them! He studied a lot of this geology when he was attending the Montana School of Mines, now Montana Tech.
Saw another doco on him. First person to actually work out about Glacial Lake Missoula, & Scablands topography. Absolutely fascinating!
The next biggest revelation was not until early 1960’s about Plate Tectonics’.
Geology of the Earth was what made it, & its’ never ceasing changes’ through various ways! Geology ‘rocks’ in EVERY way! 🇦🇺
Read the Bretz book, learned & taught some of the fieldsites. Lived the PNW experience. Great stuff Nick. Mega Subject !
Nick did you come to the UI in 2016 to the GSA there? Was Randall Carlson there then? I have always found the slack water deposits most intriguing.
Always wondered at the Columbia River Gorge. Been there twice. The Cascades rock bridge legend fascinated me. Intuited the gorge must have been blasted out by mega floods. Now I know. Must get up to Grand Coulee someday. Thanks much from a retired drafting teacher from NC.
Another great video Professor.
Fascinating as a Bretz - all be it from a branch that choose to go to Australia - to hear the history and the science that came before his work, travelled in parallel to his work and occurred after the work of Bretz.
All things should be read in as much context as can be gathered. Great job.
It's amazing to consider how much was known back then... and how much more is known now... and how much there is yet to know.
Excellent as always Nick. This was an interesting perspective, thank you
“I like it. I like it a lot!” Thanks Nick.
I like this format Nick and that ending was perfect. 😆
I was at an archeological society meeting in missouri last month and the presentation was about dugout canoes, some of which had been found in caves.
J Harlen Bretz did a lot of cave research in missouri and made it into the presentation. It's a small world.
Good overview of the research and the man. I like the automation showing the outflow from Lake Missoula because it tied together all the individual places that Bretz visited to finally get the “whole” story. You also said that “everyone” knew about the Columbia Basin Irrigation diversion. I didn’t know that. I enjoyed lecture and look forward to the final cut.
Well done. I've watched your recent Bretz studies but this creates the background for which you are soing now.
Thanks for this. Bretz was a true genius and I never tire of seeing his maps and hearing his story
I love watching the interesting videos you put out!
The time period Bretz was in Seattle and Lower Columbia river area was about the same time Sam Hill was into developing both areas... wonder if those two ever crossed paths socially...
Thanks for the info it's very interesting
Amazing, well done video. My first time to Dry Falls was in 1963 or 64. I was a teenager. So of course I was skeptical of the floods concept. We also went to the petrified forest at vantage. I thought they were crazy to talk about wet forests there. Over the decades running around Eastern Washington I've learned bit by bit about it all. Now that I've been studying with Nick for almost 18 months, I not only accept the floods but marvel at the size of them. I think going to the shoreline of Lake Missoula in 1980s convinced me of how large the floods were. I'm looking forward to what will come this spring in the videos. I'm now beginning to marvel at how the theory was put together and proven. Of course there were a number of people who helped Bretz with parts of the story. They each deserve credit. I can understand the professional atmosphere in Bretz's time and somewhat since. In 67 to 71 I did duel majors at CWU in anthropology and education. A large topic in my anthropology classes was about the history of competition, infighting and nastiness that existed in that field. The point of that topic was to strive to teach not behave in those ways and to become completely professional and scientific. Through life I have seen that most of the sciences have been affected by these behaviors. The science is being done by humans. My hope and from what I've seen in Baja to BC, is that there is less of this happening today. This week I traveled from wenatchee to Spokane and back. Since last summer I have been thinking about the floods and the basalt flows a lot. During my travel this week I was purposely thinking about the floods and what a huge event each was. I resolved to read more about them. Low and behold these videos are helping to organize my thoughts. Thank you.
32:10 Grand Pa is in Texas on US Hwy 80, “Wikipedia: much of which was once part of the early auto trail known as the Dixie Overland Highway. As the "0" in the route number indicates, it was originally a cross-country route, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Its original western terminus was at Historic US 101 in San Diego, California.”
Where is he in Texas? Who took Grand Pa’s picture? Is that utility pole supporting telephone or power lines?
I’m 73 and as a kid I rode around the country by car with my parents, including several trips to California. Even in the 1950s long distance road trips were adventurous; service stations weren’t ubiquitous, flat tires, blowouts, and mechanical problems were common, hotels were fewer, farther apart, and reservations essential. Those were different times - highway travel was not for sissies!
¡Ándale!, Grand Pa Zentner! Ya done good!
Thankyou for another amazing video love your work.
Almost all important discoveries start with "yeah, right, sure /s" from the audience. I sat through one presentation in my field in 1995, and at the same time my co-worker and I turned towards each other and went "this changes EVERYTHING." We weren't wrong, but clearly we hadn't been seeing A LOT of the big picture.
STUNNING!
Wonderful!
Wouldn't Bretz's story (from the book Bretz's Flood) make a cool movie? What a personality!! ❤
Great stuff! The curiosity and diligence of the high school teachers is a great angle, and great exemplar of how science can be done at all levels!
New Glarus? That's some beautiful country up there. And some damn good beer 😉
Some very good spatzel also.
@@lvstofly truth. I grew up about a half hour south of the Cheddar Curtain and they always put on one hell of an Oktoberfest in NG. Haven't gone in some time, maybe I'll schedule the next visit back home to coincide with it lol
Thank you for sharing history of J Harlen Bretz. How many partnerships did it take to accomplish an excellent presentation?
Niagara? A tiny little trickle, compared to what happened at Dry Falls.
I like the way it appears his notebooks were the recycled backside of typewritten articles (drafts?) [at 20:51].
goody... well i do have other things to so...and i love audio books , i have had to put counter measures into my day , kuz some of those people ,frankly are not worh the time or agrivation to my reflux so thsnks Mr. B. c.u..
worth!
I don't have any of those Canadian erratic or that glacial till in my part of Wisconsin. I live in the Driftless Area ;)
The brightness of a star can not be seen till it is beyond this earth into the darkness of space .
Well done Nick.
Have you any input on the 17400bp triple segment earthquake on the Wasatch Fault thar triggered the Bonneville Flood on the 2nd slosh?
I still believe that the time it took to carve out all of eastern Washington with water was how long the so called "Lake Missoula" existed also.
How can anyone call themselves a geologist with a straight face if they're never going to leave the ivy-covered walls of their chosen institution of higher education *_TO DO THE RESEARCH,_* and instead hide behind a bunch of books and scientific publications? I have no doubt Bretz was motivated in large part by ego; but indignation is a _great_ motivator, and that alone was likely enough to get him out in the field to map it out and do the grunt work to explain all this. Give him credit for _that._ While science and the scientific method is no place for intellectual turf wars and inflated egos, people are people - always and everywhere - and you're never going to get away from that. Shouldn't have take 97 years for Bretz to be recognized for his genius, but politics is what it is, and the scientific community isn't immune to it.
Proving, once again, those who look are the ones most likely to see. Today, he would be dismissed as an armchair geology enthusiast. No academic would be willing to credit him with having an intellect. They would snarl with open hostility at the very idea of anyone outside of their profession being able to observe, record, and hypothesize at all. Sad state of affairs, if you ask me.
I think you exaggerate... Do you think Nick would discredit him or do you think Nick would actually look at his data?
@@swirvinbirds1971 I think Nick Zentner is a great geologist and lecturer, with lots of miles under his boots. He probably doesn't have time for us armchair enthusiasts though, because most lack the foundation to posit ideas clearly, and he is likely focused on his own research. I'm sure many people reach out to him with questions and hypotheses on a daily basis. Hundreds, if not thousands of people, who may be convinced they have discovered something important, but even if they managed to solve all the mysteries of the universe, how would he find them in the vast ocean of voices in email and comments on videos. There's only so many hours in a day, and just so much energy a person has to devote to his work. The limitations are real, so even the most persistent pest with an idea is unlikely to get a hearing from the most accessible professors.
I think Bretz's legitimacy came with the technology that substantiated his findings. Kinda a bit ahead of the future.
Probably no relation But I have an uncle who is a retired geologist for the USGS, His name is Tom Bretz.
❤❤ so interesting, always! Nick, sounds like you need chicken soup. Be well
Mr Zentner, I just saw you on a Zorro video!
The animation seems to show the flood going into the Cooley. Shouldn't lie animation show how the floods actually formed the Cooley rather than flowing into the Cooley. The Cooley didn't exist before the floods began. Am I correct?
@@roblangsdorf8758 yes, I would think that there was probably some run off from the glacial dam that had formed a river. Much smaller in size. Then when the dam burst that first time there was some stream the rushing water mainly followed and spread widely around that. Then as it hit the lower elevations would be just demolishing everything in its path. Similar to how a tsunami moves into the coastline only at a much higher rate of speed. All that churning would then form the Cooley and waterfall similar to the smaller scale Niagara falls do. I also think it probably occurred over a longer period. Not just instantly. Since there were several occurrences of the dams forming and receding. Each time removing a little or a lot more material.
Noticed an errata. 3:05. Others may agree whomever have followed recent lectures.