Water Resources People and Issues
grasped that opportunity and instead of staying a few months I stayed eight
years.
Let me go back for just a half a second here. Was your master's thesis done
under Harlan Barrows, too?
No, it was done under Henry Leppard, who had worked on his thesis under
Barrows and had made a comprehensive study of the Peace River Valley in
Canada as a new settlement area.
Was your thesis basically one of historical geography or a study of the impact
of the estuary on human population?
It was a pedestrian piece of geographic morphology, describing the land use.
Then what made you turn to your thesis topic?
I saw a way of taking advantage of the summer work that I had been able to
complete in `31, using material already in hand, rather than because I wanted
to pursue that topic any further.
I presume that Professor Barrows had no particular problem with your choice
of topic?
Not for the thesis.
Q: Well, for a Ph.D. dissertation?
A: That developed very slowly, after '34. When I went to Washington in '34 I
didn't have a Ph.D. topic. All I had to do was find one. It took me several
years to find one and altogether eight years to complete a dissertation.
Q: So the thesis came easily but the dissertation didn't come so easily. You were
working as a Ph.D. student under Professor Barrows at this time?
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