THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST. 
Vol. XXXIII. JANUARY, 1904. No. i. 
WILBUR CLINTON KNIGHT. 
By S. W. WiLLISTON. 
PORTRAIT— PLATE 1. 
In the death of Wilbur Clinton Knight at the early age of 
forty-four, science has sustained a loss, which can only be truly 
appreciated by those who knew him b€st. A man of rigorous rec- 
titute of character, enthusiastic to a greater degree than is com- 
mon among scientific men even, tireless in activity, and sincere- 
ly devoted to science because of the love of science, the results 
of the work he accomplished in the comparatively few years of 
his mature powers will be known best only to' the university 
which he served so well, and to those friends elsewhere who 
came into close relationship with him. It was my pleasure to 
be a frequent correspondent of Dr. Knight for nearly ten years, 
and to have spent weeks with him in camp and at his own fire- 
side. The news of his death came as a shock while on my way 
to visit him in Laramie in response to a most generous invita- 
tion. I had long since learned to trust him implicitly as an 
upright gentleman and as a friend. 
Professor Knight, the son of a farmer, was born ni Ro- 
chelle, Illinois, Dec. 13, 1858. His father. David A. Knight, 
removed while yet the son was a boy to a farm near Lincoln, 
Nebraska, then near the limits of civilization on the plains. 
Pioneer life developed in the son those traits which have 
brought success to many another western lad, self reliance, vigor 
of purpose and of body, energy and ambition. The naturalist 
was born in the country boy. and those keen powers of obser- 
vation for which he was distinguished were trained as per- 
haps nothing else would have trained them. The faun-i and 
flora and geology of his prairie home surroundings became 
