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Bretz's Flood: The Remarkable Story of a Rebel Geologist and the World's Greatest Flood

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Bretz's Flood: The Remarkable Story of a Rebel Geologist and the World's Greatest Flood. By John Soennichsen (Sasquatch Books, 2008, 290 pp.)

John Soennichsen has written a colorful geological detective story featuring a Michigan farm boy born Harley Bretz, who changed his name to J Harlen Bretz and, under that name, became the University of Chicago's legendary Professor of Geology.
Bretz, when fortyish, under took to explain the origin of what he called the 'channeled scablands' around Spokane, Washington. To explain the mystery, Bretz adopted T. C. Chamberlin's 'Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses', marshalling every hypothesis that he or others could devise, then going out in the field to look for features that negated them. One negation, and that hypothesis was discarded. Amazingly, every hypothesis failed, if based on Geology's revered dictum of 'Uniformitarianism', namely, the 'present is the key to the past.' Left standing was what he himself called an 'outrageous hypothesis'. The channeled scablands had been formed by a flood of a magnitude never before witnessed on Earth!
Geologists, particularly those from the U. S. Geological Survey, attacked Bretz and his sacred-cow-slaying theory to the extent that Bretz nearly suffered a nervous breakdown. From James Gilluly the words "preposterous", "incompetent" and "wholly inadequate" crackled in the air. Bretz challenged the doubters to go into the field and check for themselves. This fell on deaf ears until finally Gilluly did what Bretz asked. After that Gilluly had the grace to say of himself: "How could anybody have been so wrong?"
Aerial photos of Mars, taken in 1971 by the Mariner 9 spacecraft were identical to aerial photos taken of the channeled scablands. Bretzian floods had once occurred on Mars!
in 1979 the farm boy from Michigan received the Geological Society of America's highest award the Penrose Medal. Still feisty at 97, he complained all his enemies were dead. There was no one to gloat over.
And why have I told you this? Bretz was my hero. In 1939 as a 19-year-old freshman I took Bretz's course in geology and found his presentation so fascinating that I changed my major from English to geology. And while I was a soldier overseas, he was the only professor who wrote letters to me. Moreover even while I was a freshman he predicted I'd be a famous geologist and I've tried to live up to that prediction (not in geology but in mineralogy).

F. Donald Bloss
Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Geosciences, Virginia Tech

Engagingly-written account of the maverick geologist who rocked his world in the 1920s with theories of how the "channeled scablands" of eastern Washington came to be. J Harlen Bretz spent 10 summers with graduate students mapping and writing about the area. For his trouble, he earned the scorn of the USGS for having stepped outside of uniformitarian orthodoxy. The catastrophe he proposed had scoured the "frosting" of loess (wind-driven soil) off thousands of square miles of land now making up the Quincy Basin and surrounding land. Much later in his career, he settled on Lake Missoula as the source of the tremendous volume of water responsible for carving out the dramatic coulees and cataracts.
Soennichsen gives us a self-confident professor greatly loved by his students and very effective in his Socratic method of teaching. Bretz was also a family man who enjoyed 66 years with his "Fanny Girl." An atheist who worshiped nature, it was one of the ironies of his life that his theory was at first rejected because it seemed to support the Noahic flood. Not until 1979 when he was in his 90s was he finally awarded the Penrose Medal, the GSA's most prestigious award.
This book will be enjoyed by geologist and layman alike. All those interested in the Ice Age Floods Geological Trail announced by President Obama in March of 2009 will want to get this book.

Author Soennichsen brings to this work both the science of a significant geologic event and his considerable skills as a biographer. The result is a captivating account of J. Harlan Bretz's lifelong determination to convince a doubting scientific establishment that one of the postulates of their field was in error - that the earth's physical condiditon today could result at least in part from a catclysmic event, rather than only from predictable slow processes. While I knew the story of the event well from other readings (particularly David Alt), Soennichsen brought to me the character of the man who withstood the barbs and arrows of doubt and lived to see vindication.

The book does a very nice job of going thru Bretz personal history. It then describes his work in documenting the floods of eastern Washington. I have read previous books on these floods and this book offers new details.

This really is a great story in two senses. First, you learn about the very interesting geology that was a result of the series of ice age floods from glacial lake Missoula through Idaho, across Washington, and into the Pacific via the Columbia River (in all honesty, though, if your only interest is geology you will probably be better served by Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Humongous Floods). Second, is the very interesting human story of J Harlen Bretz.

Professor Bretz taught geology at the University of Chicago in the early part of the twentieth century. Through a series of field trips, he began to notice a strange geological history in the scablands of Eastern Washington. Professor Bretz is an interesting character whose personality John Soennichsen does a very nice job of developing. I honestly thought, during the first couple of chapters, that it was a rather amateurish history story but as Mr. Soennichsen developed the story and brought the reader into Professor Bretz's life, passion, and flood-scoured problem, I really enjoyed it. It is rare that historical biography leaves me wanting more, but this book did and having finished the book I miss Bretz almost as much as I missed Frodo at the end of the trilogy. It is written very well and engaged me to read it almost straight through.

Reading through Bretz's Flood, I found myself wanting to go out and drive through Moses Coulee, Grand Coulee, and the Potholes. I was just in the area a few weeks ago and did a part of the Ice Age Flood Geological Trail. The book added a perspective I didn't have when I drove through there (I'm glad we have reservations to camp in the area again next year on Memorial Day) but I also think my perspective on the area helped me enjoy the book.

The book is as much about Professor Bretz's quirky personality and determined passion to show the geological community where the scablands really came from. At the end, there is a summary of who he was and it does a nice job of bringing it all together, "Though outwardly callous, brusque, and berating, he was surrounded by hundreds of students who loved him, regularly voting for him as their favorite teacher despite his being the greatest taskmaster they would ever have in their lives......" OK, you really ought to read the book before any more is given away.

This book tells the remarkable story of J Harlan Bretz. A man who came to geology relatively late in life, yet who was able to unravel the geological story of the Columbia River basin with its maze of dry coulees. After several years of field study he came to the conclusion that the geological formations he had observed could only be the result of massive flooding. He was pilloried by establishment geologists of his time as the prevailing wisdom was that geological processes had shaped the modern world we see by acting slowly over very great time spans. He was further criticized because his theory smacked of "Biblicism". The author has done an excellent job of interweaving Bretz's discoveries with the story of his life and particularly of his field trips to the Columbia River Basin where he observed first hand the geological features he was working on. His theory has been totally vindicated with the discovery that during the later stages of the most recent Ice Age a huge lake was created in the vicinity of Missoula, Montana when the Clark's Fork River was temporarily dammed by a finger of the continental glacier. The lake was about the size of Lakes Erie and Ontario combined. The ice dam failed catastrophically and released all the water it had dammed up in the space of a week or so. This happened not just once but several times over a few thousand years. The humongous floods released when the ice dam failed created not only the coulees of Eastern Washington, but also series of rolling hills that are, in fact, giant ripple marks created by the massive amount of water flowing over them, and did much to shape the present configuration of the Columbia River Gorge. The author has done a remarkable job of weaving together the essences of a geological text book and a fascinating detective story. It is a terrific read!

J. Harlen Bretz was a remarkable researcher and had to overcome the conventions put into place by the geological professionals. He may have helped other researchers understand that field study is much better than hypothesis and previously known land events. Moreover, he changed the thinking of many learned genealogists who believed the standard of erosion and time is what shaped our canyons and valleys. Lastly, his personal life was interesting and showed his love of teaching and including his students with his everyday life. His recognition came late in life, but one has to admire his tenaciousness and intelligence.

I found this book to be a great introduction to the effects of the megafloods in Washington as presented primarily as a biography of Dr. Bretz. The book descibes the progression of his theory over a decade through each of his major papers. It also spans his childhood and later years.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's part detective story, part biography, part history, part science and geology. Very well written and keeps you interested to the last page.

I enjoy a biography that's told with affection, and this one is. It seems J Harlan Bretz was a great teacher as well as a brilliant scientist. He endured a lot of resistance from his academic peers, but he did not give up. A real inspiration.

I borrowed this book from my local public library (which has 2 copies!) Eastern Washington is a strange landscape indeed and Bretz's flood theory is just fascinating. His life's work is also an example of real applied science and personal integrity. Good reading in our modern times.