Walter H. Bainbridge
joins the ranks of the perennial vacationers on September 30th
when he retires after 34 years in the Survey. When interviewed
just prior to his retirement his comment on his Survey career
was, "It was all interesting from beginning to end. I never
had an assignment that I wanted to leave, and each succeeding
one seemed to be better than the last." Discussing his assignments
over the years he recalled particularly his tour in the Hawaiian
Islands, where he said he was colder than he had ever been,
before or since. One of his experiences on this assignment is
told below in his own words.
"I
was on a gravity party with E.J. Brown (now deceased) making
gravity observations on top of Mauna Loa at an elevation of
about 13,400 feet. The tree line was at about 10,000 feet. There
was no wood to burn except the little that had been packed up
for cooking. It couldn't be spared for heating. The temperatures
ranged from the high 80's in daytime to 5 or 6 Fahrenheit at
night. We didn't have enough clothes for that kind of weather.
I slept propped up in a lava crack with a tarpaulin draped around
my neck forming a tent with me as the center pole. The heat
from a miner's candle placed under the bottom edge of the tarp
kept me quite warm, although the rock mattress left dents here
and there."
"From
the starting point at the 4,000 foot level, it was about a 20-mile
trip. The pack train consisted of a rancher, two or three cowboys,
20 mules including the mounts, Brown and me. The first day we
made it to the half-way house, just a shack without doors or
windows. From this point the pack train had to make it to the
top and back. The animals could not be kept on top as they became
unmanageable in the cold night temperatures. The rancher had
tried it once and lost several animals through falls into pits
and crevasses. Mules were used because of their sure-footedness
in the rotten lava area."
"During
the saddling of the mule assigned to me for a mount, I noticed
that he gave me a thorough looking over. Later it was evident
that he placed me as a tenderfoot as far as a mule wrangler
was concerned. Also I am sure that he was cognizant of the fact
that spurs were omitted from my equipment, but he didn't let
on and the lack entirely escaped my notice because the first
few miles went so well. After we had reached the point of no
return for spurs, he began slowing down and soon the pack train
was far ahead. No amount of urging, verbal or physical, had
any effect. The rancher came back and gave me one of his spurs.
That helped matters until the rancher was out of hailing distance.
Then my mount stopped all progress. When I applied the spur,
he would pivot around on a front foot in a circle away from
the sting. Changing the spur to the other foot only reversed
his direction. I addressed him as a saint, as a sinner and everything
else that came to mind, beat him with sticks, twisted his ears
and his tail until the bones began to pop, but then I last my
nerve. I didn't have the heart to detail him. Next I tried biting
his ear from a mounted position, where-upon he cracked my head
with his head making my nose bleed. I decided that perhaps he
was just cold. By building a brush fire under him slightly on
the down hill side, he would move just enough away from the
fire and up hill. In 30 minutes we had made only about 20 feet.
At this point, I decided that it would be easier to walk and
started out. About an hour later, he passed me on the run braying
and kicking stones in my direction. I returned the compliment
with words. Lansing Simmons, now chief mathematician in Geodesy,
was on this same assignment in Hawaii. After these two young
bachelors had been out there awhile they got into what E .J.
Brown termed "double barrelled trouble." They sent back to the
States for the "girls they left behind." After lengthy correspondence
and involved arrangements, the girls arrived with their trunks
full of trousseau and wedding finery. To quote Bain again, "they
say it was a beautiful wedding in the home of the Surveyor General
of the Islands. I wouldn't know, I was too much in the clouds.
Ask Simmons he may know." Lansing's report isn't much better
because he was playing the other leading male role in the double
wedding which took place in this romantic land far from the
homes of the four young people involved--Bain from Texas, his
bride from Tennessee, Simmons from Ohio, and his bride from
California.
After what he calls a "2-year honeymoon" in the islands they
returned to the States. Enroute to an East Coast assignment
they stopped off in Texas for the blessed event which they were
expecting. It was this strategy which resulted in their son,
Walter H., Jr., becoming a native Texan, like his father. Bain
has seen service on most of the Coast Survey vessels. His first
assignment was in San Francisco Bay on the old NATOMA. Subsequent
assignments on the SURVEYOR, the DERRICKSON, the EXPLORER, and
the PIONEER, took him to Alaska. His east coast assignments
were on the old LYDONIA, the GILBERT, and the COWIE. He saw
the scenic Columbia River Territory while commanding the HODGSON.
In February 1938 he was appointed assistant to the chief, Geodesy
Division, where he stayed until April 1945. While on this assignment
his son, having a chance to stay in one place for the first
time in his young life, became interested in ice skating, joined
the old Washington Figure Skating Club and became proficient
as an amateur ice skater. He became so proficient that he has
made a career of this sport and says he gets paid for enjoying
himself. He and his wife and three children live in Lake Placid,
New York.
As Supervisor of the Midwestern District, Portland, Oregon,
and as Supervisor of the Western District in San Francisco,
Captain Bainbridge continued to serve the Bureau well, especially
in the many dealings with the public which such positions require.
His most recent assignment at Norfolk, where he has been District
Supervisor since June 1954, again gave him this same contact
with the public. A phase of this assignment which he found especially
to his liking was meeting and conferring with university and
college personnel and students while on recruiting trips for
the Bureau. He was particularly good for this because his sincere
enthusiasm for the Coast Survey and its work overflowed into
his contacts with the students. So well did the Bainbridges
like this last assignment in Norfolk that they decided to continue
to live in Lynnhave, Virginia, a suburb of Norfolk. As he enters
on retired status Capt. Bainbridge says, "I leave the active
service with treasured memories of people, ships, and events."
The Personnel Panorama, Vol VI, No. 8, 9/1957
