In 1950 Charlie drove to Montana in an old convertible roadster with his 7-year-old son Charles, Jr. and a rumble seat full of camping gear to scout for a house. Montana State College had hired him as its first geology instructor.
Montana State College had started a Department of Geography and Geology in 1947. The first staff member was Nicholas Helburn, a geographer, and he hired Charlie. Most colleges in the U.S. were understaffed and thousands of ex-GIs were enrolling after the end of World War II.
Charlie soon sold his red and yellow Piper - it didn't have enough power for him to fly through mountain turbulence.
After settling in the family learned that the previous owner of their house in Bozeman had rented space in the furnace room to a student. The housing shortage was so severe students were living in tarpaper shacks. Charlie began to provide anonymous scholarships.
While at Montana State he spent several years studying the Precambrian gneisses in the Tetons. His former students still talk about how he injected a human touch to scientific study. In his research paper in the 1956 Jackson Hole Field Conference he says: “An observer, examining a large outcrop of this type of augen-gneiss, cannot avoid the sensation of being intently watched by hundreds of eyes; hence the name Bright-eyed Gneiss for this local lithologic type." (p. 36)
In the paper's introduction, he provides descriptions of the rocks both from the viewpoint of the climber and the scientist.
Research paper and Bright-eyed Gneiss.
Field work in the Tetons.
Montana State alumni remember Charlie's sense of humor. One of his exams began with "Do all of the problems. Remember, in math only one answer is correct but in earth science the geologist has his pick." One of the problems asked, "Each earthquake belt is accompanied by a buckle. True or False."
A favorite part of teaching during those years was Saturday field trips. With field gear, a hand lens, notebook, and a bottle of acid in his pocket, he would lead a line of vehicles along the Madison River or up Hyalite Canyon or through the snake country of Horseshoe Hills to the trilobite beds.
And he made sure he was on 10-month teaching contracts so he could spend a couple of months doing research and field work.
The Bradley family.
Maynie and the geological fireplace.
Teacher of the Year.
In 1957 Bradley was promoted to full professor and became Dean of the Division of Science at Montana State, and three new geologists were hired: Robert J. Foster, William J. McMannis, and John Montagne. Foster was replaced in 1961 by Robert A. Chadwick. Together, Bradley (general geology), Robert A. Chadwick (mining geology; igneous petrology), William J. McMannis (structural geology) and John Montagne (geomorphology) formed the backbone of the program for more than two decades and built a strong reputation for excellence in field based geology education at MSU.
Many of the classic articles on southwest Montana geology were written by these individuals during this time. In 1959, a graduate degree program was developed in geology at the Master of Science level. Faculty and students began working together to unravel geologic problems across Montana and adjacent states. Topics ranged from geothermal geology to structural history to igneous petrology to Archean tectonics to glacial geomorphology, and much more.
From the history of MSU, on the web.
MSC Teacher of the Year 1956-1957
He was asked, "Why do you teach?"
“...My boyhood background is such that both heredity and environment might have led me into college teaching, but if so, there was also a delayed action mechanism. In common with most boys I had a built-in distaste for education - a distaste that didn't start to taper off much before conclusion of my undergraduate work....
However, somewhere in the eleven-year gap between bachelor's degree and graduate work (while he was in New York and then the army) something fundamental changed in me. I wanted to return to school and when I did I found myself enjoying my studies, my colleagues, my teachers, and oddly, the struggling undergraduate students I found in my laboratories.
Certainly some of my desire to teach arises from the abiding pleasure I derive from my science - geology. There is much in this study which I freely admit stirs me a great deal and tempts me to talk more than the proper give and take of normal conversation allows....
...It is a very complex set of threads that draws a person into teaching...We teachers really exist for our students, so the ultimate answer for our being - or obliteration lies with them. In their answer I hope they will be more generous with us than we have sometimes been with them...."
When he accepted the administrative role at Montana State College (as Dean of the Division of Science) Charlie realized he missed doing field work. After friends barely missed being caught in an avalanche while skiing in the Bridger Range near Bozeman Charlie began to study snow dynamics and conditions related to avalanche initiation.
During the period 1965-78, he published a dozen articles on snow and avalanches, many together with John Montagne, a former mountain trooper who had served in Italy. (image-downloads a 392k pdf)
Under Charlie's leadership MSU engineers and scientists gained an international reputation and became world leaders in snow mechanics. The accomplishments of the group (including Montagne, Bob Brown, Ted Lang and, more recently, Ed Adams) are legendary.
Charlie designed the resistometer, an instrument that probed and measured the strength of snow varying with depth.
Climbing the Matterhorn after a 1964 meeting in the Alps.
A 1966 meeting in Japan
on low-temperature research.
THE SCIENTIST-CONSERVATIONIST
While living in Montana his conservation efforts included:
- Opposition to the damming of Colorado's Echo Park Canyon: In 1952 he made a movie in the Yampa River/Ehco Park Canyon area and showed the film in the Bozeman vicinity to gain support for his position. Charlie was part of history: "The success of the battle to save Echo Park was galvanizing - historians mark the Echo Park debate (in the 50's) as the birth of the modern environmental movement in the United States." From the Living Rivers website.
- Opposition to the building of dams in Dinosaur National Monument: In 1954-56 he wrote letters to the New York Times, arguing against the dams.
- Initiating a hydrology course at Montana State University: While studying the Tetons, he explored the alluvial fan of the Gallatin Valley and noticed that water from different parts of the fan contained chemical compositions that correlated with rocks in the fan. He studied various wells on ranches in the county and observed a decline in the level of groundwater. Local Montana ranchers were suspicious of his conservationist activities in the politically conservative era of the 50's.
- Initiating regulations protecting groundwater in Montana: In 1962, he published an article in the journal Science identifying water as an important and finite resource and the need to consider all aspects of water usage.
- He was one of the founders of the Montana Wilderness Association.
Next: The Environmentalist, Writer, and the Leopold Reserve >>
This page was created 07-15-06 by M.D. and most recently modified 08-04-06. For comments or corrections please email.