10 GROVE KARL GILBERT— DAVIS 



buried all the deeper because his courageous philosophy of life led him to live joyously. He 

 kept his griefs and disappointments to himself and radiated only good cheer upon his comrades. 



His field notebooks are more open to quotation, and many extracts from them will be found 

 on later pages. It has been like reviewing a long chapter in the history of American geological 

 exploration to look them over. Detailed sections representing much painstaking observation 

 on desert mountain slopes speak aloud of the fatigues and rewards of outdoor work. As one 

 sees successive items of evidence noted day after day, one may imagine the exhilaration with 

 which new areas were entered. An occasional explanatory phrase suggests the manner in 

 which the writer might have spoken at a scientific gathering, when recounting the enlivening 

 experiences of search and discovery. Official letters have frequently afforded more entertain- 

 ment than might be expected from such a source ; they shed much light on Gilbert's manner of 

 dealing with men as well as with problems, and they repeatedly reveal his inexhaustible gener- 

 osity as well as his absolute fair-mindedness. His published essays and reports are well known 

 as models of impersonal, logical presentation. The capitalization of certain names, such as 

 "Basin Ranges," which he there adopted has been omitted in accordance with present official 

 practice. It has been indeed a high privilege to enter so deeply into Gilbert's way of thinking 

 as the review of all these records has permitted. 



Yet, in spite of much effort, information on various points of interest is not to be had. 

 Truly, if nothing were lost or forgotten biographical memoirs would grow to an unwieldy length; 

 but it is deeply regretted that so much of the innermost and best should vanish beyond recall. 

 Many personal records have disappeared, as the marks of light footsteps disappear from a 

 surface of wind-blown sand. Concerning the mental life of Gilbert's boyhood and early man- 

 hood, there are only such glimpses as are set forth on the preceding pages of this chapter; con- 

 cerning the deeper feelings of later years a few paragraphs will be foimd on later pages. Only 

 the record of scientific accomplishment is fairly complete. Would that the penciled outlines 

 in the little pocket diaries had been written out elsewhere more at length; and yet how short 

 would have been their endurance as the centuries roll by even had they been engraved on tab- 

 lets of stone with an iron quill. 



Over the infinite prairie of level eternity, 

 Flying as flies the deer, 



Time is pursued by a pitiless, cruel oblivion, 

 Following fast and near. 



Ever and ever the famished coyote is following 

 Patiently in the rear; 



Trifling the interval, yet we are calling it "History — " 

 Distance from wolf to deer. 



