J Harlen Bretz, Albion College Class of 1905

Bretz called his home in Homewood, IL “Boulder Strewn”.  In the 1970’s Drs. Larry Taylor and Russ Clark (both emeritus now) took groups of Albion students to visit Bretz.   Bretz donated his journal and boulder collection to the Albion College Geology Department.  Below are a few photos from those early trips.

“All my enemies are dead; I have no one to gloat over”

Bretz first article was published in 1904 in the Albion College newspaper, The Pleiad. The article featured a map of the local surface geology.

From Bretz’s unpublished memoirs-

Several of us with unusual interest in biology under Prof. C.E. Barr had extended our interest to the capture alive of local fauna, from amphibia to reptilia to a bald-faced hornet nest, complete with its inhabitants. In particular, Jay Field and I each possessed 2 black snakes and 2 blue racers, through the winter of our senior year, force-feeding them through what should have been their period of hibernation. What to do with them when graduation came? The answer was quickly found. Eat them! What? Eat 24 feet of snake? We solved that problem and gained temporarily undying fame by advertising a Snake Feed. To the 4 snakes we added a snapping turtle (and its eggs), frog legs and water cress salad. All strictlyorganic. But I found too few frogs, so I added warty toads enough, about a 50-50 chance per diner. We had applications from as many students as 3 inches of snake on the cob per customer could be provided for. Toads were numerous every night in the street under an old-type arc lamp, feasting on insects stunned by the light. This shortage of frog legs was not announced until after the feed. “If your frog leg was of dark meat, it wasn’t frog, it was toad”. One big football man had preferred the dark meat but, immediately after my announcement, he rushed to the door and left his stomach contents on the lawn.

We had thoughtfully invited the local reporter from one of the Detroit dailys. The headlines next morning proclaimed in big black letters that “Albion College students eat snakes.” Many a good Methodist was shocked by this and it earned for us the bitter disapproval of President Dickie.