Joseph Thomas Pardee and the Spokane Flood Controversy

Home , Giant current ripples, J Harlen Bretz

Vol. 5, No. 9 September 1995 1995 ANNUAL GSA TODAY MEETING A Publication of the Geological Society of America Preregistration Deadline: September 29 Technical Program Schedule: Surprise Endings to Catastrophism see page 177 and Controversy on the Columbia

Joseph Thomas Pardee and the GSA Beneﬁciary of the Spokane Flood Controversy Pardee and Kelly Estates

Vic Baker Robert L. Fuchs Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 President, GSA Foundation

Mary P. Kelly died in a Missoula, Montana, nursing home on November 16, 1994. Her last years had not been easy, in spite of the careful attention of her close friend, guardian, and attor- ney, Jack McInnis. Mary had broken both hips during the prior two years, and this left her bed-ridden and gener- Joseph ally incapacitated. Additional infirmi- Thomas ties such as pneumonia and circulatory Pardee problems, too often common afflica- tions among the elderly, had taken their toll. However, she had plans for the future right to the end—a return to her Philipsburg, Montana, ranch, driv- ing the two cars that she wouldn’t let Jack sell, attending the GSA Cordilleran Section 1995 meeting in Fairbanks. Figure 1. Late Pleistocene strandlines of glacial Lake Missoula at Missoula, Montana. As recog- These were ambitious plans for an 89- nized by Pardee (1910, 1942), the highest strandlines reach 1280 m. Lake Missoula was 635 m year-old invalid, but Mary was a strong deep in the vicinity of its ice dam in northern Idaho. individual and the only descendant of a unique but largely unheralded geologist, Joseph T. Pardee, who died in 1960. The Pardee-Kelly family chronol- ABSTRACT topographic map. This map shows the ogy, spanning nearly a century, great Potholes Cataract, now recog- Joseph Thomas Pardee (1871– includes such significant events as nized as the product of cataclysmic 1960) played a key role in the Joe’s key role in the resolution of one flooding (Bretz et al., 1956). The year Spokane Flood controversy, in which of the major North American geologi- was 1910. In that same year Pardee the cataclysmic flood origins of the cal controversies of the twentieth cen- (1910) described the geomorphological Channeled Scabland were intensely tury and the second largest gift ever evidence for a great glacial lake occupy- debated during the decades of the received by GSA. Joe Pardee’s career ing the intermontane basins of western 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. and the related chronicle of the Pardee Montana during the late Pleistocene. Pardee first drew attention to glacial family—Joe and his wife Ruby, Mary He described the prominent strandlines Lake Missoula in 1910. He suggested and her husband Ralph Kelly—are a of the lake (Fig. 1) and the evidence for it to J Harlen Bretz as a source of the story of lives spent out of the limelight, lake impoundment behind a glacial cataclysmic flooding, just prior to quietly and frugally, lives that history Mary and Ralph Kelly lobe in the basin of modern Lake Pend Bretz’s famous presentation of the has now shown to have been scientifi- Oreille in northern Idaho. These rela- flood hypothesis to the January 12, cally and financially important to both tions were well known. Pardee (1910, to Philipsburg, Montana, when Joe was 1927, meeting of the Washington geology and to GSA. The article by Vic p. 376) even credited T. C. Chamberlin three, and his father developed the Academy of Sciences. Though Pardee Baker, that starts on the first page of with the discovery of the lake strand- Algonquin mine. Joe’s education was did not publicly advocate the cata- this issue of GSA Today, relates the boil- lines: “Chamberlin conceived the idea at Presbyterian College in Deer Lodge, clysmic flood hypothesis, his 1940 ing controversy that for more than 40 of a glacial dam and furthermore tenta- Montana, and the University of Cali- revelation of the evidence for rapid years surrounded the Channeled Scab- tively suggested that its location was fornia at Berkeley. After college he draining of glacial Lake Missoula, lands, the Columbia Plateau, the in the Pend Oreille region with outflow opened an assay office and operated a including giant current ripples and Spokane (Bretz) Flood, and glacial Lake by way of Spokane.” The glacial lake gold and sapphire mine, but a growing immense flood bars, proved to play Missoula; this is the scientific side of was named for Missoula, Montana, interest in geology led him to the a pivotal role in the eventual accep- the story. The singular financial event where its strandlines were particularly USGS. He and his wife Ruby moved to tance of the cataclysmic flooding occurred upon Mary’s death, when prominent (Fig. 1). Washington in 1909, where the family hypothesis by the scientific GSA’s financial assets were enriched by lived until 1954. community. the addition of the Joseph T. Pardee HYPOTHESIZING THE The records indicate that Joe Memorial Fund. The income from this SPOKANE FLOOD Pardee was perhaps the consummate INTRODUCTION $2.7 million endowment is to be used employee—accurate, thorough, versa- In the summer of 1922, J Harlen by the Society “for research, study and The debate over the origin of the tile, a competent professional, an effec- Bretz began his field research with educational advancement in the field Channeled Scabland region of eastern tive public servant, a clear writer, and a small field parties of advanced students of geology and science.” Washington is one of the great contro- teacher to those who followed. He was in the Channeled Scabland. His scab- Joe Pardee was a career employee versies in the history of geology. The at home with both the leading geolo- land studies continued over the next of the U.S. Geological Survey. He was story, as generally recounted (Baker, gists of his day and the ranchers and seven field seasons. During those years appointed to the Survey in 1909 and 1978, 1981; Gould, 1980), centers on prospectors he associated with in the Bretz traversed the entire region first retired in 1941. During 32 years of the singular role of J Harlen Bretz of field. He fought red tape with a sense on foot and later in his trusty Dodge 4, work, his investigations ranged from the University of Chicago, but there of humor, and his reports from the an early enclosed-body car. He did this glacial deposits to gold deposits, from was another major participant in that field occasionally ended with a snatch with parties of students and his wife, mine sites to dam sites. Joe Pardee debate, Joseph Thomas Pardee. of appropriate original verse. Much of son, daughter, and collie dog. spent most of his career on geology in Bretz (1978, personal communica- Joe Pardee’s career was spent mapping Bretz’s first paper on the Chan- the northwestern United States, with tion) recalled that his interest in the in the Northwest, often accompanied neled Scabland was the text of an oral particular emphasis on Montana. Born scabland problem was first piqued by in Salt Lake City in 1871, Joe grew up looking at the newly published Quincy Spokane Flood continued on p. 170 in a mining family. The family moved Estates continued on p. 173 Spokane Flood continued from p. 169 found that Pardee’s “glacial” deposits phenomena I describe certainly IN THIS ISSUE were actually flood bars (Bretz, 1974). appear to be river work “if you could only show where all the water came presentation to the Geological Society Various correspondence in the from in so short a time.” Surprise Endings to of America (Bretz, 1923a). In that paper 1920s led Bretz to believe (Bretz, 1978, Catastrophism and Controversy he took special care not to call upon personal communication) that Pardee on the Columbia: cataclysmic origins. The paper provided was actually considering flooding from PARDEE’S SCABLAND • Joseph Thomas Pardee and the a detailed description of physiographic a glacial Lake Missoula as a cause for HYPOTHESIS Spokane Flood Controversy ..... 169 relations in the region. He did note, the scabland topography. Bretz (1974) Brian K. McDonald, grandson of • GSA Succeeds to Pardee and however, that the indicated channel speculated that Alden dissuaded Pardee Thomas Large, a confidant of both Kelly Estates ...... 169 erosion required prodigious quantities from the idea. Bretz saw a memoran- Bretz and Pardee in the 1920s, has Travel Grant Program ...... 170 of water. Referring to the three outlets dum of September 25, 1922, to David extensively researched correspondence Notice of Council Meeting ...... 170 at the south end of the Hartline Basin White, chief geologist of the U.S. Geo- relating to the origins of the cata- GSA on the Web ...... 170 (Dry Coulee, Lenore Canyon, and logical Survey, in which Alden noted of clysmic flooding hypothesis. Thomas Long Lake Canyon), Bretz (1923a, Pardee’s work: “… very significant phe- PEP Remarks ...... 171 Large wrote prolifically on various p. 593–594) stated, “… these are truly nomena were discovered in the region Penrose Conference Scheduled ..... 173 speculations concerning scabland distributary canyons. They mark a southwest of Spokane.… The results so Forum ...... 174 origins. Correspondence (researched distributive or braided course of the far … require caution in their interpre- Getting Rid of Garbage: A Room by McDonald), in the summer of 1922 Spokane glacial flood over a basalt tation. The conditions warn against Problem for the 21st Century ...... 174 to Barton W. Evermann, contains the surface which possessed no adequate premature publication.” GSAF Update ...... 176 following passages: pre-Spokane valleys.” At the famous 1927 “scabland 1995 Annual Meeting The idea of a truly catastrophic debate” at the Geological Society of … One of Pardee’s most interesting theories is that this broad belt of Overview and Schedule ...... 177 flood appeared in Bretz’s second scab- Washington (Bretz, 1927) Pardee was 1996 Preliminary Announcements: rough lava extending from Medical land paper (Bretz, 1923b). His interpre- silent on the Missoula source for the Lake and Cheney down through the Southeastern Section ...... 181 tation of the mounded scabland gravel flood. Bretz believed that Pardee’s supe- state to Pasco is due to sub-glacial Northeastern Section ...... 182 deposits as subfluvial bars led directly riors at the Survey, particularly Alden water erosion. Neither glacial nor GSA Research Grants Awarded ...... 183 to the requirement for great water and Kirk Bryan, were antagonistic to river erosion will account for it as it Calendar ...... 184 has no gradient, while water under depths. This paper also included the the cataclysmic flood hypothesis. Did pressure under the ice could cut out GSA Meetings ...... 186 first detailed geomorphic map of the Pardee indeed first hypothesize the a hole of any depth and rise again Penrose Conferences ...... 186 entire Channeled Scabland, showing flooding associated with the Spokane where resistance was least. I have as Classifieds ...... 187 the overall anastomosing pattern Flood controversy? Did the critical yet not been able to pick any flaws in the hypothesis. As yet we are very assumed by a great flood of water. reception accorded Bretz’s hypothesis much in doubt as to the depth of Much of the 1920s research in (Baker, 1978) provide a deterrent to his the ice sheet. Some evidence which I GSA TODAY September the scabland region centered around own theorizing? have would indicate not over 200 feet Vol. 5, No. 9 1995 Spokane, Washington, where the Pardee wrote to Bretz in 1925 sug- between Cheney and Medical Lake. glacial margin was presumed to be gesting that Bretz consider the draining Objection will be made that this is not sufficient to cause ice movement GSA TODAY (ISSN 1052-5173) is published monthly located. Bretz named the hypothesized of a glacial lake as a possible source for over so large an area but it must be by The Geological Society of America, Inc., with offices at cataclysm the Spokane Flood because the cataclysmic Spokane Flood. In 1926 3300 Penrose Place, Boulder, Colorado. Mailing address: remembered that there is an average P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301-9140, U.S.A. Second- the flood source seemed to lie near that correspondence to J. C. Merriam, Bretz slope from here to Pasco of about 14 class postage paid at Boulder, Colorado, and at additional city. A year prior to Bretz’s first scab- wrote: feet per mile. mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to GSA Today, Membership Services, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO land work, W. C. Alden, chief of Pleis- Mr. Pardee of the Federal Survey, who … Prof. J Harlan Bretz of U. of Chi- 80301-9140. tocene geology at the U.S. Geological has seen much of the scablands, has cago has been to see me twice since I Copyright © 1995, The Geological Society of America, Inc. Survey, sent a junior Survey geologist, suggested that his glacial Lake Mis- wrote you. He has a group of geology (GSA). All rights reserved. Copyright not claimed on content J. T. Pardee, to study the scabland soula might have afforded the water students and they have gone over prepared wholly by U.S. Government employees within the for these enormous rivers if it were some of my work. He thinks that scope of their employment. Permission is granted to individ- region near Spokane. The result was a uals to photocopy freely all items other than the science suddenly drained out across the glaciation on the “prairies” may be articles to further science and education. Individual scientists brief article (Pardee, 1922) proposing plateau. This comment indicates Wisconsin but I am quite sure he does are hereby granted permission, without royalties or further that the Cheney-Palouse scabland tract tha[t] his former view of scablands by not make allowance for the aridity of requests, to make unlimited photocopies of the science arti- was created by glaciation of rather land ice and concomitant subglacial this climate and its effect on slowing cles for use in classrooms to further education and science, drainage under ordinary climatic down weathering. Furthermore he and to make up to five copies for distribution to associates unusual character. Bretz visited Pardee’s melting has been abandoned. Even must account for the two other glacial in the furtherance of science; permission is granted to make field locations a season or two later and more than five photocopies for other noncommercial, non- our ultra-conservative in Pleistocene profit purposes furthering science and education upon pay- geology, Dr. Alden, wrote that the Spokane Flood continued on p. 171 ment of the appropriate fee ($0.25 per page) directly to the Copyright Clearance Center, 27 Congress Street, Salem, Massachusetts 01970, phone (508) 744-3350 (include title and ISSN when paying). Written permission is required from GSA for all other forms of capture, reproduction, and/or dis- ANNOUNCEMENT tribution of any item in this journal by any means. 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170 GSA TODAY, September 1995 Spokane Flood continued from p. 170 accompany each GSA member’s 1996 PEPTALK PEP dues statement, so another quick way trains at lower levels which in no way to join PEP is to fill in the back of the connect with the dissected plateau Barbara L. Mieras, Partners for Education Program Manager prairies. He says my “out-let” by way flier and return it to us. If you’re of Mica, California Creek, and North already a PEP member, you might want Pine will stand. Also my marginal to share the flier with someone else moraine at Pantops. Thinks he may (your Partner?) We’re currently averag- find some evidence of ground ice on PEP Members “Bridging the Gulf” south side of the Spokane Valley ing one new PEP member a day. Let’s keep going! above the city. May leave a student PEPpy greetings to all present and of dynamic science education resources here to hunt for it. I am willing he In New Orleans, we’ll also be future members of the Partners for Edu- for you to examine. We’d like to have should. He goes after Pardee hard on hosting a PEP reception on Tuesday, cation Program. Please come see us at everyone see your smiling volunteer origin of Palouse soil and glaciation November 7, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. farther South-west. As Pardee is a the GSA 1995 Annual Meeting in New faces, so if you’re not the camera-shy This will be a great opportunity to meet careful man and had six weeks and Orleans, where geoscience education sort (or even if you are), please proceed a “Ford” to go over the ground while other volunteers who share in K–12 promises to be a captivating topic. The directly to the nearest mail drop and Bretz had about 10 days and only geoscience education. Watch for more Geology Education category received a send us a picture of you (and your Part- “Shank’s mares” it looks like a good details at the meeting registration and fight in prospect. whopping 118 abstracts, and the two ner, if possible) for display in the PEP the PEP booth. Finally, don’t forget to educational theme sessions, Environ- booth. Confirmation that Pardee’s views save Monday, November 6, from 4:00 mental Issues across the Geoscience You can also let everyone in New are accurately presented in Large’s let- to 6:00 p.m., to participate in the Earth Curriculum (T45) and Making Connec- Orleans know you’re part of the PEP ters is provided by correspondence in Science Educators’ Social Hour, the tions: Ties between K–12 and Univer- team by wearing a PEP volcano sticker 1943 between Pardee and University of Rock Raffle, and the Share-A-Thon. sity Education (T46), each received on your registration badge. If you don’t Michigan professor W. H. Hobbs, who If you have a tempting rock, mineral, more abstracts than any other theme receive your sticker before the meeting, proposed (Hobbs, 1943) a glacial origin or fossil sample to donate to the Rock sessions. we’ll have a supply at the PEP booth. If for the Channeled Scabland. Hobbs Raffle, please call us at (800) 824-7243 Whether or not you’re a PEP mem- you haven’t joined PEP but would like wrote to Pardee about the 1922 paper for more information. Thanks! ■ ber, please stop by our PEP-SAGE booth to, we’d be glad to remedy that situa- and received the following reply: (#414 and 416). We’ll have plenty of tion at the booth, too. Incidentally, a … The “drift” referred to in the article Partnering information for you and lots bright purple PEP registration flier will in Science consists of bouldery deposits which at that time (1922) I interpreted as a gravelly till transported and deposited by glaciers that extended far over the Columbia Plateau. The principal feature of the deposits that suggested glacial action is the presence of large boulders, some of them of foreign origin. From information of the region that has been made available since 1922, however, I have concluded that the deposits are more likely the work of flood waters, such as postulated by Bretz, rather than of glacial ice. That is—I do not regard them as conclusive evidence of glaciation. On the other hand the deposits are indirectly, if not directly, related to glaciation and may have been formed by streams that gouged out the channels and basins under an ice cover as you suggest. Though Pardee may not have advocated the cataclysmic flood origin of the scablands, Bretz was not its first proponent. McMacken (1937) attributed a “Flood Theory” to a teacher at Lewis and Clark High School, Alonzo P. Troth, who appar- ently never published his hypothesis.

PARDEE’S REVELATION Whatever the origins of the cataclysmic flooding hypothesis, J. T. Pardee played a major role in the resolution of the Spokane Flood controversy. His contribution came in rather dramatic fashion at a 1940 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle, Washington. Howard Meyerhoff (1978, written communication), who attended that meeting, recalls a key moment in a session organized to debate various proposed origins of the Channeled Scabland. The session, held on Tuesday afternoon, June 18, was entitled “Qua- ternary Geology of the Pacific.” The session paper titles suggested that non- flood origins of the Channeled Scab- land would be strongly advocated. A postmeeting field trip had been organized during which Richard Foster Flint of Yale University would demonstrate the evidence for a noncataclysmic origin of the Channeled Scabland. Bretz was invited to participate, but he refused, noting that all of his ideas were in print and that the field evidence would speak for itself. Early in the session Flint gave a well-prepared synopsis of his complex arguments (Flint, 1938) of proglacial outwash stream aggradation and inci- sion. Flint had proposed that the surface form of the scabland flood bars was that of “non-paired stream-cut terraces in various states of dissection” (Flint, 1938, p. 475). This was an idea

Spokane Flood continued on p. 172

GSA TODAY, September 1995 171 Spokane Flood continued from p. 171 Emphasis in previous work centered on the role of the “outrageous hypothesis” that Bretz (1923a) had introduced, but (Davis, 1926) proposed by Bretz. For- rejected after further study. Flint (1938) mal scientific publications provided the proposed that the normal process of major source for description of the con- channel aggradation by proglacial out- troversy. However, correspondence wash streams was followed by dissec- among the participants reveals a more tion to leave remnants of a fill that complex and human character to the locally resembled bar forms. controversy. Hypotheses in geology Subsequent papers at the 1940 have a profoundly human dimension. meeting reiterated various hypotheses Though often associated with single for the origin of the Channeled Scab- individuals, usually the authors of land. E. T. Hodge (1940) presented his key scientific papers, hypotheses may scenario involving glacial erosion in emerge from exchanges with colleagues the scablands associated with complex over controversial explanations. The damming and diversions by river ice. multiple working hypotheses described I. S. Allison (1940) presented a synopsis by Gilbert (1886) and Chamberlin of Flint’s fill hypothesis and contrasted (1890) are worked out among the it with his own ice-jam theory. In a members of a scientific community. later paper Allison (1941) pointed Similarly, the eventual acceptance of a to key shortcomings in the Flint Figure 2. Giant current ripples at Camas Prairie, north of Plains, Montana. The ripples are com- controversial explanation by that com- hypothesis. posed of foreset-bedded gravel and consist of ridges up to 15 m high, spaced as much as 200 m munity is also a human process. The The eighth speaker in the session apart. They cover approximately 10 km2 of northern Camas Prairie. Spokane Flood controversy provides an was Joseph Thomas Pardee, who rose excellent example of the social dimen- to speak on “Ripple Marks(?) in Glacial sion to achieving reliable scientific Lake Missoula.” The modest title and knowledge. the low-key delivery were deceiving. Pardee quietly described the “ripple ACKNOWLEDGMENTS marks” at Camas Prairie (Fig. 2), an I thank Brian K. McDonald for intermontane basin in northwestern sharing the results of his archival Montana. He described their size as research into correspondence relating “extraordinary,” heights of up to 15 m to the Spokane Flood controversy. and spacings of as much as 150 m Conversations with the late J Harlen (Pardee, 1940). His written discussion Bretz provided the stimulus for my (Pardee, 1942) also had an understated original research into the history of title, “Unusual Currents in Lake Mis- the controversy. soula.” His work, dating back to before Bretz’s studies, clearly demonstrated REFERENCES CITED that Lake Missoula was the source of catastrophic floods through the Chan- Allison, I. S., 1940, Flint’s fill hypothesis of origin of scabland: Geological Society of America Bul- neled Scabland. He noted that about letin, v. 51, p. 2016. 2000 km3 of water were held in the Allison, I. S., 1941, Flint’s fill hypothesis for lake. Moreover, the glacial dam im- channeled scabland: Journal of Geology, v. 49, pounding this lake had clearly failed p. 54–73. suddenly, with a resultant rapid drain- Baker, V. R., 1973, Paleohydrology and sedimen- ing of the lake. Evidence for this failure tology of Lake Missoula flooding in eastern Wash- Figure 3. Giant flood bar at the mouth of a small tributary to the Flathead River valley near included severely scoured constrictions ington: Geological Society of America Special Perma, Montana. Described as “gulch fills” by Pardee (1942), the deposit is an eddy bar (Baker, in the lake basin, huge bars of current- Paper 144, 79 p. 1973) formed during the rapid draining of glacial Lake Missoula. The low terrace in the fore- transported debris (Fig. 3), and the ground consists of lacustrine silt emplaced by the reformation of glacial Lake Missoula after its Baker, V. R., 1978, The Spokane Flood controversy giant current ripple marks. However, and the Martian outflow channels: Science, cataclysmic draining phase. v. 202, p. 1249–1256. Pardee (1942) did not state the con- nection to the Channeled Scabland. Baker, V. R., editor, 1981, Catastrophic flooding: The origin of the Channeled Scabland: Strouds- Perhaps he generously left that point burg, Pennsylvania, Dowden, Hutchinson and to Bretz. published in 1910, only one year after ical field evidence (e.g., O’Connor and Ross, 360 p. In the summer of 1952, Bretz, then he began his 32 year career with the Baker, 1992). Unresolved issues remain Baker, V. R., and Bunker, R.C., 1985, Cataclysmic nearly 70 years old, returned for his last U.S. Geological Survey. His last paper as to the numbers, sizes, and timing late Pleistocene flooding from glacial Lake Mis- summer of fieldwork in the Channeled soula: A review: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 4, on the subject appeared in 1942, the of the late-glacial floods (Baker and Scabland. The purpose was to investi- p. 1–41. year after his official retirement from Bunker, 1985; Waitt, 1985), which have gate new data that had been obtained Baker, V. R., and Nummedal, D., editors, 1978, government service on May 30, 1941, now been named for Lake Missoula in surveys for the Bureau of Reclama- The Channeled Scabland: Washington, D.C., at the age of 70. His recognition of the (Bretz, 1969), the source that was so tion’s Columbia Basin project. H. T. U. NASA Planetary Geology Program, 186 p. giant current ripples of Lake Missoula well documented by Joseph Thomas Smith accompanied him, acting in the Bretz, J H., 1923a, Glacial drainage on the was followed by the documentation of Pardee. field as “skeptic for all identifications Columbia Plateau: Geological Society of America 15 scabland ripple fields by Bretz et al. Bulletin, v. 34, p. 573–608. and interpretations” (Bretz et al., 1956, (1956) and nearly 100 by Baker (1973) DISCUSSION p. 761). George E. Neff of the Bureau of Bretz, J H., 1923b, The Channeled Scabland of and Baker and Nummedal (1978) (Fig. the Columbia Plateau: Journal of Geology, v. 31, Reclamation pointed out many new The Spokane Flood controversy has 4). The hydraulics of the cataclysmic p. 617–649. exposures of flood sediments. been cited as an illustration of the role flows have proven to be physically con- Bretz returned from the 1952 field of hypotheses in geological science. Spokane Flood continued on p. 173 sistent with the various geomorpholog- season with a wealth of new data. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had been especially generous in supplying maps, aerial photographs, and sedimentologi- cal information. Bretz wrote the exten- sive report over the next year. In that paper (Bretz et al., 1956), the most convincing evidence for cataclysmic flooding proved to be the presence of giant current ripples on bar surfaces (Fig. 4). These showed clearly that bars 30-m high were completely inundated by Figure 4. Giant phenomenal flows of water. Numerous current ripples at Spirit examples of giant current ripples were Lake, Idaho. The partial found on the same bars that Flint had forest cover indicates interpreted as normal river terraces. the immense scale of Such features could have been pro- these bed forms. duced only by the flow velocities associated with truly catastrophic discharges. J. T. Pardee may have been wrong in his 1922 interpretation of scabland flood bars, but his 1940 description of giant current ripples proved to be the key point for convincing skeptics of the cataclysmic flood hypothesis. His first paper on glacial Lake Missoula was

172 GSA TODAY, September 1995 Spokane Flood continued from p. 172 Chamberlin, T.C., 1890, The method of multiple tal glacier: Science, v. 98, p. 227–230. Pardee, J. T., 1922, Glaciation in the Cordilleran working hypotheses: Science, v. 15, p. 92–96. region (Spokane area, Washington): Science, v. 56, Hodge, E. T., 1940, Glacial history of southeastern p. 686–687. Bretz, J H., 1927, Channeled Scabland and the Davis, W. M., 1926, The value of outrageous geo- Washington: Geological Society of America Bul- Spokane Flood: Washington Academy of Science logical hypotheses: Science, v. 63, p. 463–468. letin, v. 51, p. 2024. Pardee, J. T., 1940, Ripple marks (?) in glacial Lake Journal, v. 17, p. 200–211. Missoula, Montana: Geological Society of America Flint, R. F., 1938, Origin of the Cheney-Palouse McMacken, J. G., 1937, Vicissitudes of the Bulletin, v. 51, p. 2028–2029. Bretz, J H., 1969, The Lake Missoula floods and scabland tract: Geological Society of America Spokane River in late geological times: Pan- the Channeled Scabland: Journal of Geology, Bulletin, v. 49, p. 461–524. American Geologist, v. 68, p. 121. Pardee, J. T., 1942, Unusual currents in glacial v. 77, p. 505–543. Lake Missoula, Montana: Geological Society of Gilbert, G. K., 1886, The inculcation of scientific O’Connor, J. E., and Baker, V. R., 1992, Magni- America Bulletin, v. 53, p. 1569–1600. Bretz, J H., 1974, Memories, part III: University of method by example: American Journal of Science, tudes and implications of peak discharges from Chicago, Department of Geophysical Sciences, v. 31, p. 284–299. glacial Lake Missoula: Geological Society of Amer- Waitt, R. B., 1985, Case for periodic colossal unpublished manuscript, 136 p. ica Bulletin, v. 104, p. 267–279. jökulhlaups from Pleistocene glacial Lake Mis- Gould, S. J., 1980. The panda’s thumb: New York, Bretz, J H., Smith, H.T.U., and Neff, G.E., 1956, soula: Geological Society of America Bulletin, Norton, 343 p. Pardee, J. T., 1910, The glacial lake Missoula: v. 96, p. 1271–1286. ■ Channeled Scabland of Washington: New data Journal of Geology, v. 18, p. 376–386. and interpretations: Geological Society of America Hobbs, W. H., 1943, Discovery in eastern Wash- Bulletin, v. 67, p. 957–1049. ington of a new lobe of the Pleistocene continen-

Penrose Conference Scheduled The four and one-half day confer- lodging. Limited support is available ence will commence with a late-after- for some graduate students, and we are noon summary of the southern San attempting to obtain partial support for Tectonic Evolution of the Gulf of Andreas system and plate motions. Mexican geoscientists and some partici- The next day and a half will involve pants from outside North America. California and its Margins sessions on the deep marine areas and Application deadline is margins of the Gulf of California. Then November 1, 1995. Prospective April 16–21, 1996 we will spend a day and a half on a participants should send a letter field trip in the Loreto area, led by Paul of application to Paul Umhoefer. Umhoefer, Becky Dorsey, and Larry The letter should describe briefly your A GSA Penrose Conference, “Tec- with respect to integration of marine- Mayer, during which we will examine research related to the objectives and tonic Evolution of the Gulf of Califor- and land-based research, and the ana- structures, rock units, and landforms plan of the conference, and your nia and its Margins,” will be held April logues it may provide to the develop- related to the formation of the Gulf of phone, fax, and E-mail address, if avail- 16–21, 1996, in Loreto, Baja California ment of other oblique continental rifts, California. On the last day of the con- able. The conference is designed to Sur, Mexico. Loreto, a small fishing and young oceanic rift systems, and trans- ference, we will compare the Gulf of involve all of the participants in either tourism town, with direct air service form-type plate boundaries. California to other rifts and discuss keynote presentations, short oral talks, from Los Angeles, is located within the The objectives of this Penrose Con- experimental, analytical, and geody- poster presentations, or active discus- Gulf extensional province on the Gulf ference are to assess the state of knowl- namic modeling of oblique rifts. sion. Thus, in your letter of applica- of California. The conveners of the edge of the Gulf of California region, We are especially interested in hav- tion, if appropriate, please indicate a conference are Paul Umhoefer, Joann investigate areas and topics of greatest ing a conference that is truly interna- title for your prospective short talk or Stock, and Arturo Martín. potential future research, and stimulate tional and involves many researchers poster. After the applications are This conference will focus on the collaboration on future research proj- from Mexico and the United States, received, formal invitations will be sent tectonic development of the Gulf of ects in both earth and ocean sciences. as well as outside North America. Our out in December 1995. California region during the past In order to assess the tectonics of the predecessors said it nicely 20 years ago, Please direct any questions to one ~15–20 m.y. The Gulf of California is Gulf of California and its margins, the when they summarized the first Pen- of the conveners: Paul J. Umhoefer, one of two examples on Earth of active conference will cover all aspects of the rose Conference on the Gulf of Cali- Department of Geology, Box 4099, oblique-rift plate boundaries. The Gulf subject, including relation to the San fornia in the February 1975 Geology: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, of California, and its link to the San Andreas fault, plate motions, marine “… the conference ended with discus- AZ 86011, (520) 523-6464, fax 520- Andreas fault system, received much geology and geophysics, seismotecton- sion of where and when to hold the 523-9220, E-mail: attention during the early days of plate ics, magmatism, structural geology, tec- next Gulf of California conference. [email protected]; Joann tectonics as a demonstration of the tonic geomorphology, stratigraphy and Hopefully, this would occur in Mexico, Stock, Seismological Laboratory 252- simplicity and the kinematic consis- paleontology, geodynamics and model- particularly in light of the need to 21, California Institute of Technology, tency of the transform model. As a ing of rifts, and comparison to other establish better liaison with Mexican Pasadena, CA 91125, (818) 395-6938, geologically young and currently active young rifts. The geographic range of scientists.” We couldn’t have said it fax 818-564-0715, E-mail: plate boundary, the Gulf of California the conference encompasses the better. [email protected]; Arturo has been the subject of continued marine realm of the Gulf of California The conference will be limited to Martín, Departamento de Geología, investigation by many geoscientists. and its mouth and the onshore mar- about 70 participants. The conference CICESE, P.O. Box 434843, San Diego, Because it is an active and accessible gins in Jalisco, Sinaloa, and Sonora on fee has not yet been established, but we CA 92143-4843, (011-52 from U.S.) plate boundary, it is the focus of a the east, the Salton Trough in Califor- hope that it can be less than $750. The 617-4-45-01, ext. 2425, fax (011-52 growing community of researchers. nia on the north, and the eastern mar- fee will include ground transportation from U.S.) 617-4-49-33, E-mail: However, this region has not received gin of the Baja California peninsula on from/to the Loreto airport, registration, [email protected]. ■ the attention it merits, particularly the west. food, field trip, and double-occupancy

Estates continued from p. 169 her will established a trust for the bene- where they wrote and farmed. In 1946 Philipsburg to be old and poor. True, fit of Mary, with GSA designated as the they returned to the family homestead they were old, but they were decidedly by Ruby and Mary. He provided impor- remainder beneficiary upon Mary’s in Philipsburg, Montana. This ranch not poor. This is not to say that the tant geological input for the siting of death. In late 1987 Mary and her hus- was their home for the rest of Ralph’s Pardees and Kellys were miserly. They the Grand Coulee and Hungry Horse band, Ralph Kelly, each set up charita- life and until Mary entered the nursing enjoyed life, they traveled, and Mary dams, and he played a major role in ble remainder unitrusts for their per- home in Missoula. evolved into a supporter of every chari- the discovery of phosphate deposits. sonal estates. GSA was again named as In their later years the Kellys trav- table cause that managed to locate her His paper USGS Bulletin 842 (see Refer- a remainder beneficiary of these uni- eled extensively. Just about every trip mailing address. ences list) is considered to be an trusts, in both cases to the extent of ended with an increase in the Philips- What is the legacy of these unsung authoritative and thorough compila- a 25% interest. Ralph died soon there- burg rock collection. Although neither lives that are now concluded? Through tion of the ore deposits of west-central after, and Mary became the sole was trained as a geologist, Mary and the Pardee and Kelly philanthropy, Montana. As for his role in the Chan- income beneficiary of all three trusts. Ralph maintained a keen interest in many young people will become inter- neled Scabland controversy, after grad- Upon Mary’s death last year, these rocks, geology, and landforms. Mary ested in Earth and science, and many ually piecing together the evidence, three interests passed to GSA, thereby described herself as a geologist “by future geologists will receive direct and gathered over a vast area and a long creating the Joseph T. Pardee Memorial infusion” as a result of those months in indirect financial support during their period of time, Joe Pardee reported his Fund. the field with Joe and Ruby in Montana careers. The Pardees and the Kellys conclusions in the 1942 GSA Bulletin Mary Kelly was a journalist, not a and the Northwest. An example of her were masters at surprise, and they paper “Unusual Currents in Glacial geologist, but long summers in isolated writing ability is the memorial she saved the best for last! Lake Missoula,” and orally in 1940. Rocky Mountain cabins and field wrote to her father, and which was These were landmark findings that camps with Joe and Ruby had a published in the GSA Bulletin (see REFERENCES CITED brought the final piece to the Chan- decided influence on her. Born in the References list). Kelly, Mary Pardee, 1963, Memorial to Joseph neled Scabland puzzle and allowed Bitterroot Valley of western Montana, Reflecting on the lives of Joe Thomas Pardee: Geological Society of America resolution of the controversy. she grew up in Washington, D.C. Pardee and Mary Kelly, it is impossible Bulletin, v. 74, no. 5, p. 39–42. Joe Pardee’s penultimate published toward the close of the era of horse- to establish a point source for the sig- Pardee, Joseph T., and Schrader, Frank C., 1933, work was “Late Cenozoic Block Fault- drawn carriages and gaslights. The fam- nificant wealth that was accumulated Metalliferous deposits in the Greater Helena mining in Western Montana,” which ily traveled extensively because of Joe’s over a century. We can only assume it ing region, Montana: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 842, 318 p. appeared in the GSA Bulletin in 1950. field work, and Mary returned to Mon- to be a supurb manifestation of frugal, This work consolidates the ideas tana to attend the University of Mon- hard-working lifestyles at modest Pardee, Joseph T., 1942, Unusual currents in glacial Lake Missoula, Montana: Geological formed during more than 40 years of tana in Missoula, where she earned a income levels combined with careful, Society of America Bulletin, v. 53, p. 1569–1599. field work and observation. Joe Pardee degree in journalism. She worked many conservative, consistent investing. The Pardee, Joseph T., 1950, Late Cenozoic block fault- died in 1960 and left his entire estate years for newspapers in Montana and camouflage was near-perfect, for in ing in western Montana: Geological Society of to Ruby. When she died in 1976, the Alaska. She and Ralph met in Great their later years Mary and Ralph were America Bulletin, v. 61, p. 359–406. ■ estate was valued at $1.2 million and Falls, wed, and moved to Fairbanks, considered by the townspeople in

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