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Witness to a Legend:Walter Bucher Meets Gene Shoemaker at Meteor Crater
During his Heidelberg student days, Bucher visited the mysterious Ries and Steinheim basins in southern Germany, then interpreted as cryptovolcanic gas explosions structures. In 1920, while teaching at Cincinnati, he recognized a replica of Steinheim at nearby Serpent Mound. At the 16th International Congress, 1933, he reported his discovery of five more American cryptovolcanoes: Jephtha Knob, KY; Upheaval Dome, UT; Decaturville, TN; Wells Creek, TN (his major mapping project) and Kentland, IN. His last publication (Am. J. Sci. v. 261, p. 597-649, 1963) was a debate-in-print with Robert S. Dietz, who had reinterpreted Bucher’s cryptovolcanoes as impact scars or astroblemes.
During that debate, Bucher questioned the impact origin of Meteor Crater, although he had visited it only briefly in the 1930s. I came into the picture when he decided to take a closer look. In a letter dated March 10, 1964, he asked me to drive him there, because “...since my slight occlusion in 1957, I am unable to walk and climb fast.” Delighted to oblige, I embarked on one of the most memorable experiences of my professional life. Over two days, our conversations covered global tectonics, his misadventure with a fraudulent oil company upon returning to his native land in 1911, our experiences in Nazi Germany, his rule for working among moonshiners in the hills of Kentucky and Tennessee during Prohibition (never refuse a drink!), and much more.
After an adventurous trip (my ’61 Ford Falcon broke down en route), Gene Shoemaker and Jack McCauley (USGS, Flagstaff) met us at Meteor Crater on May 2nd, 1964. Before long, sparks were flying between Gene and Walter, both at their brilliant best and enjoying themselves. While Gene demonstrated the evidence for impact, I held on to Walter for dear life, as he teetered on the crater’s edge. Upon leaving, he conceded the impact origin of Meteor Crater but still insisted: “the Ries, that is different.”
Afterwards, in a gracious letter dated May 10th, 1964, Walter Bucher thanked me for “…guiding me by the hand when I stumbled along wind-swept slopes…I have had few days in life so thoroughly crammed full of new insights into geological matters…I shall always treasure our trip as a rare bit of living.” There was one more letter and then, on February 18th, 1965, a telegram with the sad news of his death on the previous day. In 1966, the American Geophysical Union honored its former president by establishing a Walter H. Bucher medal for “…original contributions to basic knowledge of the Earth’s crust.” The first recipient was Bob Dietz. Uncle Walt would have approved.
I can’t resist finishing this tale with the only Uncle Walt legend I can verify. One Christmas, I was pleased to receive a card signed Professor and Mrs. W.H. Bucher, and sent him a (less formal) card in return. A couple of weeks later, an identical second card arrived, signed in Walter Bucher’s hand writing: Professor and Mrs. W.E. Elston.
- Wolfgang E. (Wolf) Elston, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
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Among my distinguished Columbia professors of grad student days, 1949-53, Walter H. Bucher (1888-1965) evokes the fondest memories. Even now, former students delight in telling Uncle Walt stories about his legendary absent-mindedness, indelible German accent (although born in Akron, Ohio), classroom histrionics, and, above all, his sense of humor, kindness, and open mind. We forgive him for defending the losing side of two great 20th century debates: mobility of continents and oceans and the effects of impacts by meteorites, asteroids, and comets on Earth, Moon and other planets.
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