4 JOHN CASPER BRANNER— PENROSE tMEM0,B " v^xxl; 



In some of his later trips to Arkansas after the survey closed he carried on geologic investi- 

 gations previously unfinished and produced valuable results, some of which were described 

 in various scientific journals and in the publications of scientific societies,. 



Much of the geologic work on the survey was done by Doctor Branner personally, and 

 much of it was done under his supervision by geologists whom he had gathered about him from 

 different parts of the country and by students who had followed him from Indiana University. 

 A remarkable spirit of enthusiasm pervaded them all, and nothing manifested their loyalty to 

 their chief more strikingly than when in 1907, many years after the survey had closed, the 

 surviving members who had assisted Doctor Branner presented to him a portrait of himself as 

 "an expression of their high regard and of their appreciation of his example and inspiritaion as 

 a geologist and as a man." In replying to this presentation Doctor Branner said: "To every 

 member of that former organization I feel strongly attached. A more loyal and more faithful 

 body of men can not be found anywhere. As long as the survey lasted everyone exerted him- 

 self to the utmost to do honest scientific work and faithfully to serve the legitimate interest of the 

 people of the State; and it is a great pleasure to know that our work in Arkansas is more highly 

 thought of by the people of that State as time passes." 



Doctor Branner was offered the professorship of geology at Stanford University in 1891, 

 and resigned as State geologist of Arkansas and as professor of geology at Indiana University 

 to accept the appointment. The new institution had just been founded and endowed by 

 Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford in memory of their son and only child, Leland Stanford, jr.' 

 The president of the university at that time was Dr. David Starr Jordan, with whom Doctor 

 Branner had formerly been associated at Indiana University; and in California, just as in 

 Indiana, these two men worked together and gathered about them a teaching staff of dis- 

 tinguished scholars from all parts of the United States. The result was that Stanford Univer- 

 sity rapidly became a recognized institution of advanced learning; in fact, it never went through 

 the condition of slow development which has marked many educational institutions, but it 

 jumped almost immediately to the first rank, and is to-day everywhere regarded with ad- 

 miration and respect. 



Doctor Branner entered upon his duties as professor at Stanford University in the winter 

 of 1892, and for over a quarter of a century, both during his official connection with it and 

 after his retirement, he was active in its development, displaying the same energy and force 

 that he had shown in previous work in other fields. His influence with his students was of an 

 intellectual character which was truly astonishing and which impressed all who came in contact 

 with him. In 1899 Doctor Branner was made vice president, and in 1913 was made president, 

 though he still retained his position as head of the department of geology. In December, 

 1915, he retired from the presidency, greatly to the regret of the trustees and faculties, and 

 was made president emeritus of Stanford University. In spite of his retirement his interest 

 in the welfare of the university was always manifest and always sought. 



In addition to Doctor Branner's educational and administrative work at Stanford, he 

 always maintained his active interest in Brazil, and in 1899 he made a trip to that country 

 for the purpose of studying the immense ocean reefs lying off the coast of Pernambuco, and of 

 distinguishing those composed of sandstone from those of coral origin, a work that had never 

 been done before. Doctor Branner had been familiar with this region ever since his early 

 days in Brazil with Doctor Hartt, but he had not had an opportunity to study it in detail until 

 this trip. The research covered some 1,300 miles of coast line, and a large amount of new 

 geologic information was secured. 



Doctor Branner was so deeply interested in exploration in Brazil that every time he visited 

 it he found new material or new districts which he desired to investigate on future trips. In 

 1907, therefore, he again returned to Brazil in order to study the geology of the black diamond 

 districts of the State of Bahia and adjoining regions. His work covered vast areas, not only 

 in Bahia but in the States of Alagdas and Sergipe. Many thousands of square miles were 

 examined, and the general geology as well as the mineral resources were carefully observed. The 



