I wrote a couple articles about Clark Hubbs that you guys might be interested, since you are discussing him! I also met him and admired his tenacity even at an advanced age. He is a character!
This one was written after his passing: The Fish Wrangler http://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2011/apr/legend/ And this one was written earlier Lives of a River (his part comes about halfway in) http://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2011/apr/legend/ Wendee Wendee Holtcamp, M.S. Ecology ~ Writer * Photographer * Bohemian Web: [wendeeholtcamp.com] Blog: [bohemianadventures.blogspot.com] Twitter: twitter.com/bohemianone Email: [email protected] Online Magazine Writing Classes start Sep 1 & Oct 13, 2012 - Ask me! On 8/30/12 10:20 AM, "Dan Brumbaugh" <[email protected]> wrote: > Great stories- thanks. Clark Hubbs, who died in 2008, was a professor at > UT Austin. There are links and other information at > http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/tnhc/fish/hubbs/HIS/index.html. > > Cheers, > Dan > >> McNeely and all: >> >> Most interesting. That's a great story about the kids. Whatever >> happened to Clark? I wonder if he ever connected with Ed Ricketts? I >> don't remember anything I've read about Ricketts mentioning him. >> >> My wife, Rose Tyson, who was curator of physical anthropology at the >> Museum of Man, had the Hubbs (midden) collection transferred to the >> University of San Diego sometime around the turn of the millennium >> along with an inventory done by her volunteer, Daniel Elerick. This >> collection was from several archaeological sites along the Pacific >> coast, all the way to the tip of Baja California Sur. I wonder if >> anyone has put together any kind of biography of Hubbs? These kinds of >> stories help bring these folks to life for future generations. My wife >> did a physical anthropology paper on a burial from this collection, >> and Charles Merbs did one on the pathologies. Who knows what treasures >> the collection might hold for future generations? >> >> I liked Hubbs right away. He was all business; no pretensions. He took >> you at face value. I just recalled one story he told me--Hubbs was >> hiking northward in the mountains of Japan with a guide. In the midst >> of the wilderness, they came to a sign. He asked for a translation. >> The guide said, "Sign say 'This spot most north where Camellia grow.'" >> He told me other stories about his visits with the Emperor, but I have >> forgotten them. His family has probably written them down or remembers >> them. Hubbs' wife, an M.D. herself, I believe, also helped Hubbs by >> laying out his manuscripts on a large table so he could work on >> several at one time. My wife, too, has been an enormous help to me >> over the last 39 or 40 years; I would not be whatever I am without >> her, though I don't blame her for what I am not. >> >> I hope others will post stories about Hubbs and other highly >> accomplished students of natural history and other sciences. I have an >> audiotape of Margaret Mead and Fred Singer that I made in 1972. I wish >> I could remember more. G. Ledyard Stebbins let me videotape him in a >> darkened motel room in Sacramento many years ago--I should have the >> tape somewhere if it hasn't fallen apart. I also videotaped one of >> this lectures to the local Chapter of the CNPS. There was another one >> out of a very similar rock from which Hubbs was chiseled, and he had >> stories about others, generations before his time. I can't remember >> the names of the characters, but one Stebbins liked to tell was about >> an early lady botanist (and, I believe, M.D.) and a very proper >> Victorian era gentleman scientist who were out on an expedition >> (strictly scientific, mind you) by horse-drawn buggy in California >> when the lady espied an aquatic plant she wanted to press. The >> gentleman removed his shoes and rolled up his pants to retrieve the >> specimen, but found that the water was too deep. He said something >> like, "I fear I shall not be able to collect the specimen, dear lady." >> "Take off your pants," said she. "Oh, I COULDN'T," said he. "Take them >> off," said she, "I've AUTOPSIED better men than you!" I hope someone >> can identify these characters--they were quite well-known. >> >> WT >> >> I realize that I made some errors in my last post. I have added text >> in (parentheses). There may still be others. >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]>; "Wayne Tyson" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 5:46 PM >> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] David Starr Jordan Indiana U Re: [ECOLOG-L] >> Jordan's rule Folkloric Tangent >> >> >> Hubbs kept an "academic geneology" showing the descendents of his >> students. So, when I published my first paper after starting work on >> my Ph.D., I got a note from him, as part of a reprint request. He had >> sketched my "academic geneology" on the card. Probably a majority of >> ichthyologists and fish ecologists in North America are descended >> from David Starr Jordan, mostly through Carl Hubbs or Robert Rush >> Miller or both. Clark Hubbs told me that when the two families went >> into the field together, the kids got paid for new species and extra >> for new genera of fishes they helped to collect. Since they were >> working the American Southwest and northern Mexico in the thirties, >> there were lots to be had. >> >> David McNeely >> >> ---- Wayne Tyson <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> McNeely and all: >>> >>> Thanks for this; it hits close to home, if only a ricochet. Fond (but >>> faded) memories of my main contact with Hubbs. A bunch of locals were >>> asked to evaluate the site of the coming Wild Animal Park of the San >>> Diego zoo (now called the San Diego Zoo "Safari Park.") I had a 1968 >>> Ford Bronco, and somehow it turned out that Hubbs rode with me as we >>> drove all over the property. The date must have been in the early >>> '70's. I was astounded at his breadth of knowledge. He identified a >>> few scraps of bivalve shell a few hundred feet away, so practiced was >>> his eye. My wife used his work on Mytilus sp. in her midden research >>> in Baja California. Hubbs hair was jet black. Only his hairdresser >>> would know for sure, but I doubt he had one. >>> >>> Ian Player had been consulted and had recommended a network of >>> "tunnels" be incorporated into the large acreages where several >>> species were to roam "free." Both Hubbs and I thought it was a >>> helluva good idea, and we (together with several people from the San >>> Diego Natural History Museum (including Helen Witham/Chamlee), based >>> our report on the assumption that Player's idea would be accepted. I >>> incorporated a complimentary idea to create "islands" of vegetation >>> that would be staggered across the slopes to trap silt from the >>> inevitable erosion, enclosed with moveable barriers (elephant- and >>> rhino-resistant) that would have vegetation that could be trampled >>> and eaten and serve as shade and cover for smaller animals, both free >>> and captive. (These were to be rotated at different times.) >>> >>> We prepared an extensive report, but we (or at least I) weren't >>> permitted to present it in person or to answer questions. The Zoo >>> director (Charles Schroder, if I remember correctly) rejected the >>> idea(s) (Player's and our) and opted instead for a monorail, a much >>> more expensive option. Every time there is a fuss about the erosion >>> problem it's all I can do to tell 'em I told 'em so. The rumor was >>> that Schroder was a real dictator. Years later, when I told an >>> astounded if not enraged Chuck Faust the story, he wanted to see a >>> copy of the report, but I hadn't kept one. >>> >>> Hubbs had a great secretary, Betty Shor, who organized all his >>> publications and kept meticulous records, all neatly filed away in >>> banks of wooden pigeonholes. Hubbs died later in the seventies, in >>> his eighties, but when I saw him, even on one or two occasions after >>> our trip. If you requested a reprint, you might be reminded that you >>> had requested the same reprint several years past. >>> Wendee Holtcamp, M.S. Ecology ~ Writer * Photographer * Bohemian Web: [wendeeholtcamp.com] Blog: [bohemianadventures.blogspot.com] Twitter: twitter.com/bohemianone Email: [email protected] Online Magazine Writing Classes start Sep 1 & Oct 13, 2012 - Ask me!
