Walter Curran Mendenhell: Encyclopedia Arctica 15: Biographies

Walter Curran Mendenhall (1871- ), brought a more diverse scientific training to the task of Alaskan development than most men who have had a part in it. His contributions were direct, through his personal explorations, or less direct through his general Geological Survey activities that made him a wise and sagacious mentor and a capable and efficient administrator. In this article, especial attention will be paid to his direct personal participation in the exploration of the Territory and his overall administration will be passed over more briefly.

Born at Marlboro, Ohio, February 20, 1871, Mendenhall's undergraduate educa– tion was received at Ohio Normal University, where he earned the degree of A.B. in 1895. He took postgraduate work at Harvard University in 1896-97 and in Heidelberg in 1899-1900 and was a constant student throughout his entire career. Even while still in college he served in temporary positions on the Geological Survey and became a full-fledged member of that organization in 1894, successive– ly being in charge of the studies of ground water in the western states in 1908, Chief of the Land Classification Board (later the Conservation Branch) in 1912, Chief Geologist in 1922, and Director of the entire Survey in 1931. This later post he held until his retirement from the government, after more than forty-eight years' service, in 1943.

The first assignment he received for Alaska work was in 1898, when he was selected as the Survey geologist to go on a joint expedition that had been arranged

EA-Biography. Smith: Walter Curran Mendenhall

between the U.S. Army and the Survey to explore parts of central southern Alaska. The plans for the expedition called for the assembling of the party near the head of Cook Inlet, from which point the route would follow eastward along the Matanuska Valley and thence into the Copper River Valley as far north– ward as time and conditions of travel permitted. The over-all charge of the expedition was assigned by the War Department to Captain E. F. Glenn, and Menden– hall was to be responsible only for keeping track of the geology and mineral re– sources of the area traversed. There were vexations delays in getting the work started and the party had not proceeded far from its base before it became evi– dent that, if any sort of map of the route was to be obtained, Mendenhall would have to make it. So, struggling along with a pack train manned by a group of inexperienced tenderfeet, the job of maintaining a route survey of the country covered and the making of a record of all the pertinent physical features seen throughout the trip fell to Mendenhall. The fact that a good reconnaissance record was obtained is attributable almost exclusively to his unflagging zeal.

The course of the expedition followed much of the route now traversed by the Glenn Highway. The party thus passed through the Matanuska Coal field into the Nelchina placer gold district and on to Copper Center, though of course be– fore that time few of these features had been known to the general public. Forc– ing their way northward, the party finally arrived at the pass through the Alaska Range whereby that majestic mountain barrier was pierced so that entree was af– forded to streams tributary to the Tanana River. It was a ragged, travel-worn band of explorers that reached this point, but the ever-beckoning lure of seeing a little farther into the unknown led Mendenhall to push on northward and descend the valley of the northward-flowing Delta River. Just how far he reached on this river cannot now be determined, but it is evident that he was almost in contact

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with the main Tanana River before the lateness of the season, shortage of food, and the necessity of rejoining the main party caused him to turn back.

The rpute to the party's starting point followed essentially that taken on the outward journey. A comprehensive report on the results of the expedition was published by the Geological Survey in Part 7 of the 20th Annual Report of the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, under the title, "A Reconnaissance from Resurrection Bay to the Tanana River, Alaska, in 1898," pages 265 to 340, 1900. A somewhat more complete description of the work of this expedition was published under the title "Reports of Explorations in the Territory of Alaska," by the War Department, Adjustant General's Office, Vol. 25, 1899.

Mendenhall's Alaskan career was interrupted in 1899 to enable him, with George Otis Smith, under the general direction of Bailey Willis, to undertake geologic explorations in the Cascade Range of the state of Washington. At the time that work was done the conditions to be overcome differed but little from those on Alaskan expeditions, and served to add greatly to the frontier experience of both these young geologists and to establish a mutual regard that was strength– ened as each took on increasing responsibilities in the institution of which they were a part and in the profession to which they devoted their lives.

The general popular interest awakened by the discovery of the rich gold placers near Nome caused the Geological Survey to undertake extensive explorations through– out the entire tract of southern Seward Peninsula, during the field season of 1900. The easternmost of these parties, working from Koyuk River, near the eastern head of Norton Sound, westward to join with the central party that mapped the region near Council, was in charge of Mendenhall, E. C. Barnard was the topographer associated with Mendenhall in this project. The work was carried on by the members of the party transporting themselves and their supplies, by canoes where practicable, or

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by cross-country hikes, portaging their equipment on their backs where the boats could not be used. The geologic structure of this area is complex and the rocks are highly deformed and metamorphosed and intruded by deep-seated igneous rocks, so that the geologist had to be constantly on his mettle to gain any real in– sight as to their history. In spite of these difficulties, Mendenhall and his associates made satisfactory reconnaissances, covering several thousand square miles of the hitherto unsurveyed region, and prepared reports and maps that were for many years the only authoritative sources of information regarding this part of the Territory. The results of these surveys were published by the Geological Survey as a special report entitled "Reconnaissances in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay Regions, Alaska, in 1900."

Increasing support of the Survey's Alaska program of exploration having received recognition by Congress through allotment of additional funds, the Survey was enabled, in 1901, to undertake several larger projects that it had been able to finance from its former more meager appropriations. Among these more far-reaching projects was a survey of parts of the Territory lying north of the Yukon and extending into western Alaska to include the basin of the Kobuk River. Mendenhall, as geologist, and D. L. Raeburn, as topographic engineer, with five camp hands were assigned to this job.

The plan called for the party to ascend in their canoes Dall River, a tribu– tary of the Yukon that enters that stream near the western limits of the Yukon flats. On reaching the headwaters of that stream, the technical members would search for a suitable pass by which the party could portage streams flowing into the Koyukuk River, descend that stream to the main river, and then select another tributary of the Koyukuk by which the party might portage across the intervening divide to reach boating water on the Kobuk and descend that stream to its mouth,

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ultimately reaching salt water at Kotzebue Sound. To reach the starting point of the field work at Fort Hamlin on Yukon River, the party traveled mainly on steamers of the regular transportation companies, but to avoid undue delay, be– cause the ice had not yet broken up on Lake Labarge, the party made that part of its trip in its own canoes on the open water that lay between the shore and the main body of the ice in the lake. Supplies for the early part of the trip had to be taken by the party in its boats from Fort Hamlin, but on reaching the Koyukuk it was able to replenish its supplies from stores that had been shipped in the previous season to Bergman, at the head of navigation on the Koyukuk River.

The geology of much of the route traversed was exceedingly complex, as the way lay along the borders between the great interior province and the rugged mountains to the north. Difficulties of travel beset the explorers at frequent intervals. Not only were there the ordinary difficulties attendant on treacher– ous watercourses and the arduous labors of back-packing on the portages and the long wearisome hikes to examine the features of scientific importance, but the party had also the misfortune to lose much of its supplies and equipment in a fire that wiped out most of the camp while the men were busy portaging from one of the tributaries of the Koyukuk to the Kobuk drainage. An added trial had to be faced when several of the men were laid low by severe cases of measles, the germs of which had apparently been lying dormant in some rolls of bedding that had not been opened up until the party had already advanced far on its western journey. With self-made clothing, cut from excess blankets and showing the hard knocks to which they had been exposed, it is small wonder that, on their arrival at their journey's end on Kotzebue Sound, these hardy explorers had difficulty in convincing the resi– dents that they really were civilized white men and not some wild denizens of the back country. The report of the results of this expedition was published by the

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Geological Survey as Professional Paper No. 10 , in 1902, a volume of 68 pages and maps entitled "Reconnaissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, by way of Dall, Kanuti, Allen [later authorized name Alatna] and Kowak [later authorized spelling Kobuk] Rivers."

Increasing interest in the Copper River region led the Geological Survey, in 1902, to make special efforts to explore places that had escaped attention heretofore and to present a comprehensive summary of the resources of the area. As a consequence, two separate parties were dispatched to make the necessary survey, the southern one in charge of Mendenhall and the northern one in charge of F. C. Schrader. Associated with Mendenhall on this trip was T. G. Gerdine, topographer, and they were accomplished by the necessary camp hands and their camp gear and equipment were carried by a pack train. In order that full ad– vantage could be taken of the open season, most of the supplies for the expedi– tion were sent in advance to Valdez and sledded from there to Copper Center during the winter by Witherspoon, the topographer who would accompany the Schrader party. The field of exploration for the Mendenhall party included much of the country along the southern face of the Alaska Range, at the head of the Copper River basin, and considerable tracts in the vicinity of Mount Wrangell and the group of volcanic peaks that forms such striking landmarks in the area between the Chitina River and the Alaska Range.

In the course of the work Mendenhall made a hurried examination of the Chistochina district, which was the main area where commercial amounts of placer gold had been discovered. Altogether the Mendenhall party covered some 4,500 square miles of country with the degree of thoroughness adequate for gaining a reconnaissance knowledge of the general facts as to its geography and geology. In preparing a report of the results of the work in the Copper River region, in

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1902, it proved desirable to combine many of the observations made by both the Mendenhall and the Schrader parties rather than publish the results of each of these expeditions separately. The writing of the report was done principally by Mendenhall, and was issued by the Geological Survey as Professional Paper No. 41 , a volume of 133 pages, in 1905. It long remained the only authoritative statement regarding the geology and mineral resources of extensive areas in the northern part of the Copper River region.

The completion of his report on the Copper River region marked the close of Mendenhall's active personal participation in the exploration of Alaska. From then on, his main interest centered around various phases of the Geological Survey's work in the States. Necessarily those interests had important bearing on some of the similar types of activities in Alaska, so that his counsel and advice were constantly sought in assuring that similar problems in the two geographic areas were properly coordinated. This was especially true as regards the conduct of the Land Classification operations in the two areas. In fact, for that type of work in Alaska, the responsibility for the field examinations was placed on the Alaska unit, while the interpretation of those results and the conduct of the office phases of that work was assigned to the Land Classification Board, which for the period from 1910 to 1922 was administered by Mendenhall.

Later, during the period from 1931 to the close of his government service, while Dr. Mendenhall was the director of the entire activities of the Geological Survey, he was the over-all directing head of the Survey's work in the Territory. That his name does not appear more prominently as directing the Survey's work during that period was due more to his self-effacingness and reliance on those to whom he had entrusted responsibility than to any lack of keen interest in the welfare and development of the Territory. One of his earliest acts, on assuming

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the Directorship of the Survey, was to make an inspection trip to the Territory. On this visit, he traveled widely to acquaint himself with local conditions and to familiarize himself with the work of the individual Survey parties that could be contacted in the time that was available to him. He had come up through the ranks so that every phase of the work was familiar to him through his own exper– ience, and though some of the methods and tools were new he could readily com– prehend their application and usefulness. He was always alert to keep abreast of the latest advances that would increase the efficiency of himself or of the organization he directed.

Physically, Mendenhall was long and lank, a typical outdoors man who kept himself in trim to perform whatever duties he might demand of his body. Kindly and extremely courteous in all his dealings, he retained the peacefulness and simplicity of his early Quaker upbringing. He had a keen sense of humor, which he often used to relieve a situation that was becoming tense. Hos slowness of speech and of reaching a decision were often misconstrued as lack of ability to grasp a situation. They were, however, due rather to the carefulness with which he analyzed the problems presented and the care he took that his pronouncements should be clear and not susceptible of misunderstanding. This very forethought made him set in his decisions, one they had been arrived at, and no amount of pressure availed to make him change his mind to conform to more expediency. He was never what might be called "popular" either with his associates or his super– iors, but no one who had dealings with him ever questioned the sincerity of his motives, the richness of the experience he brought to bear on the problem in hand, or the lavishness with which he gave of himself to arrive at the correct solution. He was married on September 15, 1915, to Alice May Boutell and is the father of two daughters.

Mendenhall's scientific attainments have been recognized by his membership in the most distinguished societies having to do with his professional fields, such as the National Academy, the Geological Society of America, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and a host of others. He was honored by the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Wisconsin by being awarded their doctorates of Science. His services were twice retained by the Government after he had reached the usual compulsory age of retirement, so that it was February 1943 be– fore he was finally retired from the Geological Survey, to which he had devoted nearly fifty years of constructive effort and achievement.

Philip S. Smith