26 PROCEEDINGS OP THE BOSTON MEETING 



MEMORIAL OF GROVE KARL GILBERT ^ 

 BY W. C. MENDENHALL 



Grove Karl Gilbert was born at Eochester, New York, on May 6, 

 1843. He died at Jackson, Michigan, May 1, 1918, five days before 

 his seventy-fifth birthday anniversary. 



He himself considered that his career as a geologist began in 1869, 

 with his appointment as assistant to Dr. Newberry on the Ohio State 

 Survey. It ended on April 22, 1918, nine days before his death, when 

 he transmitted to the United States Geological Survey, for publication, 

 two completed chapters of a projected larger work on the Basin Eange 

 problem. Thus, in his last days, he returned to one of his earliest 

 major subjects, completing, as it were, one of those rhythmic cycles 

 which had furnished the theme of one of his most thoughtful papers. 



Gilbert's half century of active professional life spans a highly pro- 

 ductive period in the development of American geologic science and 

 of organizations for the advancement and application of that science, 

 and to this development he contributed in a masterly and constructive 

 way. He began as a museum worker and became a State Survey assist- 

 ant. He then joined in succession two of the great Federal exploratory 

 surveys, and when they were merged in the present United States 

 Geological Survey he became a member of its staff and continued to be 

 the wise and trusted counselor of each of its directors until his death. 

 Especially throughout the formative period of Powell's directorship was 

 Gilbert's counsel most intimate and potent. A broad foundation of 

 methods and policies was then laid on which the organization stands 

 today. 



Meanwhile, with varied advisory and administrative responsibilities, 

 many of them none too congenial to a man whose tastes were essentially 

 those of the student and investigator, he contributed widely and always 

 authoritatively to the solution of the problems of the time in geology and 

 cognate subjects. 



^ Manuscript received by the Secretary of the Society June 20, 1919. 

 Note. — The 'writer is deeply indebted to many relatives and friends of Mr. Gilbert 

 for unpublished biographical material. Especial mention should be made of Mr. A. M. 

 Gilbert, San Francisco, California, who has given the freest and most generous access 

 to his father's records ; Mrs. Emma Gilbert Loomis, Jackson, Michigan, who has supplied 

 facts and incidents not available from any other source ; Mr. H. W. Henshaw, associate 

 on the Wheeler Survey and friend since 1872 ; from his letters I have quoted freely ; 

 Miss Alice Eastwood, San Francisco. California, long an intimate friend of the Gilberts. 

 It is hoped that the rich biographical material may somewhere be more adequately used 

 than is practicable in this brief sketch. 



