MEMOIR OF W. G. TIGHT 



19 



Report on Canadian Pleistocene flora and fauna to the British Association for 



the Advancement of Science, Bristol, 1898, 

 Report on the Tertiary plants of British Columbia. Canadian Department of 



Mines, Geological Survey Branch, 1908. 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM GEORGE TIGHT 

 BY J. A. BOWNOCKER 



AVilliam George Tight was born near Granville, Ohio, March 12, 1865. 

 His early life was passed on a farm in the manner customary for boys in 

 central Ohio a half century ago. Denison University was located near 

 by, and there Tight wended his way, graduating in 1886. Coming under 

 the influence of Dr. C. L. Herrick, then at the threshold of his career, 

 Tight developed a fondness for geology and biology, and remained for 

 a year of advanced study, being one of the first two resident graduate 

 students to enroll in Denison University. -That he made a good impres- 

 sion on Doctor Herrick is shown by the fact that in 1890 he was appointed 

 instructor in geology. Two years later he was promoted to an assistant 

 professorship in geology and botany, and in 1898 was made professor of 

 geology and botany, retaining the chair until 1901, when he resigned to 

 accept the presidency of the University of New Mexico. 



While he gave courses in both geology and botany, the former appealed 

 to him most strongly, and he was quick to seek opportunities to extend 

 his knowledge, first at Harvard and later at Chicago, where he received 

 the Ph. D. degree in 1901. While at Harvard he became specially inter- 

 ested in questions of drainage changes, and, returning to Ohio, he found 

 problems of this type on all sides. His vacations, all too short, he spent 

 in the field, and in quick succession published in the Bulletin of Denison 

 University and elsewhere a number of short papers on drainage modifica- 

 tions which marked distinct contributions to the geology of Ohio. Later 

 he studied the history and development of the drainage of southeastern 

 Ohio and adjacent parts of West Virginia and Kentucky, and his re- 

 sults may be found in Professional Paper 13 of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey. This was by all odds the most comprehensive of Tight's con- 

 tributions to geology, and in the writer's judgment it ranks high among 

 the best papers that have appeared in that general field. 



As already stated, he assumed the duties of president of the University 

 of New Mexico in 1901, retaining that position eight years. In that 

 position he seems to have worked with the same enthusiasm that he did 

 in the geological field, and he was as successful as conditions made pos- 

 sible. He enlarged the faculty, added to the equipment, widened the 

 courses of study, and at the same time kept distinctly in mind the needs 



