Brooks, Alfred Hulse

(b. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 18 July 1871; d. Washington, D.C., 22 November 1924)

geology.

Brooks was the dominant figure in the early geological exploration of Alaska and in the formulation of general concepts of the geological framework and natural resources of that then remote region; later he brought about the first applications of geology to military problems and thus became one of the founders of engineering geology.

Brooks was the only son and second of the four children of a self-made and distinguished mining engineer and geologist, Thomas Benton Brooks, who was well known for his studies of the iron and copper deposits of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Brooks received his elementary and secondary education in the Newburgh, New York, schools and from private tutors. He studied engineering in the Polytechnik Institut of Stuttgart (1889) and of Munich (1890), then entered Harvard in 1891. At Harvard he studied under Nathaniel Southgate Shaler and William Morris Davis, graduating with the B.S. in 1894.

His father’s wide acquaintance among geologists had provided opportunities for Brooks’s employment as a junior member of topographical mapping parties of the U. S. Geological Survey in Vermont (1888) and northern Michigan (1889), and in a geological party investigating potential iron ore lands in northern Michigan (1891). While recuperating from an illness in 1893, he undertook some independent geological studies of the Georgia coastal plain and in the region around Newburgh. He joined the Geological Survey as a geologist and petrographer in 1894, and spent the next several years studying various parts of the Appalachian Mountains. In August 1897, Brooks attended the VIIth International Geological Congress in St. Petersburg and then was in Paris until the following spring to study at the École des Mines of the Sorbonne, under Alfred Lacroix, F. A. Fouqué, Charles Bertrand, and Louis de Launay. His studies were terminated by a cable calling him to Washington, to participate in the geological exploration of Alaska.

This exploration had barely begun when Brooks first joined the Geological Survey. Although Alaska had been purchased in 1867, the federal government virtually ignored the new territory for several decades. Interest quickened, however, with the discovery of gold in Alaska and northwestern Canada in the 1880’s; and beginning in 1890, several Survey geologists were attached to exploration parties under military, Coast and Geodetic Survey, or National Geographic Society sponsorship. Charles W. Hayes, one of these early geological explorers, was Brooks’s first chief after his permanent appointment to the Survey. Working under him, Brooks became strongly attracted to the idea that he might assist in the sound scientific development of a new region.

The years 1898–1902 saw a series of long and difficult, but scientifically rewarding, treks through remote and largely unexplored parts of Alaska. During this period, Brooks undertook the exploration of hundreds of thousands of square miles. The geological exploration was conducted under the severest of difficulties; the geologist was required to divide his time between chopping trail for his pack train, assisting in the construction of rafts or boats when unfordable streams were encountered, and assisting in the preparation of a sketchy topographical map of the country through which he was passing—all the while attempting to gain some understanding of the significance of the rocks and topography.

Nevertheless, Brooks, during these years, discovered and named Rainy Pass, now an avenue of air transportation from Anchorage through the Alaska Range to northwestern Alaska; predicted and guided the discovery of the gold bonanzas of the ancient beaches buried beneath the coastal plain at Nome, discovered the tin placers of western Alaska, defined and described a scheme for the physiographical division of Alaska that has only recently been elaborated upon, and laid a general conceptual framework for future studies of the geological history and topographical development of Alaska that was beautifully expressed in his monograph “The Geography and Geology of Alask” (1913).

In 1903 Brooks was placed in charge of the newly formed Alaska Branch of the United States Geological Survey. Annual trips to Alaska between 1903 and 1917 acquainted him with nearly every corner of the territory, and in the meantime his corps of dedicated but highly individualistic geologists completed much of the reconnaissance phase of the mapping of Alaska. His blending of scientific and practical interests resulted, during this period, in a series of major works on the coal and metal resources of Alaska and their possible development and use, and on possible railroad routes in Alaska. He was appointed vice-chairman of the Alaska Railroad Commission when it was formed by Congress in 1912, and he played a major role in bringing into existence Alaska’s major artery of ground transportation, the Alaska Railroad, completed in 1923.

Shortly after World War I broke out, Brooks became impressed with the contributions that geologists might make to the planning of fortifications, to the evaluation of terrain on which fighting might occur, and to the location of adequate water and fuel for military bases and transport systems. His interest led to the creation of the Geologic Section of the American Expeditionary Force, of which he assumed charge in France in 1918. After the Armistice, he was assigned to the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, for which he prepared an analysis of the mineral industries of Lorraine, the Saar, Luxembourg, and Belgium.

Brooks resumed his post as chief Alaskan geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1919, and retained that position until he died at his desk five years later. During those last years he was at work on a history of Alaska and a description of its resources and geological development, finally published as Blazing Alaska’s Trails (1953).

Brooks was a small man, but vigorous and active throughout most of his life. A dark, closely trimmed full beard lent distinction to his rather serious features. In love with nature and the outdoors, he was a bit of a romantic, yet a man of unflinching intellectual honesty and almost excessive humility. He wrote with style and clarity, and devoted a good deal of his time to attempts to improve the prose produced by his Alaskan colleagues and subordinates. He led a quietly happy family life with his wife, the former Mabel Baker, whom he married in Washington, D.C., in 1903, and his two children, Mary and Benton.

Brooks served as president of the Geological Society of Washington in 1910–1911 and of the Washington Academy of Science in 1921. In 1913 he was awarded the Charles P. Daly Medal of the American Geographical Society and the Conrad Malte-Brun Medal of the Société de Géographie (Paris) for the excellence and importance of his work in the exploration and mapping of Alaska. In 1920 Colgate University conferred an honorary D.Sc. upon him. His name will always be associated with Alaska; after his death, the chain of rugged mountains that marks the continuation of the Rocky Mountains across northern Alaska was named the Brooks Range. In addition, the largest peak in the tin district of the western Seward Peninsula bears his name, as does a large river in southwestern Alaska.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete list of Brooks’s ninety-odd books, scientific papers, administrative reports, and popular articles is given in the lengthy memorial by Phillip S. Smith (see below). His most enduring work consists of the long series of monographic reports of his explorations in Alaska that appeared as parts of the Annual Reports, as Professional Papers, or as Bulletins of the U.S. Geological Survey; his monograph, The Geography and Geology of Alaska: A Summary of Existing Knowledge, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 45 (Washington, D.C., 1906); and his book, Blazing Alaska’s Trails, B. L. Fryxell, ed. (1953).

Other writings include short papers, written early in his career, on local geological problems in the Appalachians; notes calling attention to the occurrence of stream tin near the Bering Strait; notes on glacial phenomena; climber’s notes on Mount McKinley and other peaks in the Alaska Range; summaries of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, tin, coal, and petroleum resources of Alaska; reports on transportation problems in Alaska; a lengthy series of reports on water supply, mining, and excavation problems in the areas of interest to the American Expeditionary Force during World War I; and several papers, written near the end of his life, on the future of Alaska and on the role there and elsewhere of applied geology.

Brooks’s Alaskan field notes are in the Alaskan Geology Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.

A detailed account of Brooks’s life is Phillip S. Smith, “Memorial to Alfred Hulse Brooks,” in Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 37 (1926), 15–48. Smith was Brooks’s colleague and successor.

David Hopkins