More Info on Point Balk and Robert Balk
This is an excerpt from Christine's chapter research in the new 46er book to be published some time next year...
Robert Balk (1899 - 1955)
Point Balk, a northern shoulder of Little Marcy at about 4350 feet of altitude above Slant Rock, is a tormented rock structure that rarely attracts climbers to its very top.
Robert Balk, Ph. D., assistant geologist, NYS Museum, was appointed in May 1925 to map the geology of Newcomb Quadrangle in the South Central Adirondacks, the greater part being in Essex County. “Primary Structure of the Adirondack Anorthosite”, published March 1929, is one of the many articles Dr. Balk researched and wrote for the Geological Society of America Bulletin.
Born in Estonia, Robert Balk came to the United States in 1924 with a doctorate in Geology from Breslau to assume a position as assistant in the Department of Geology, Columbia University. In 1926, he was hired by the New York State Museum to map a quadrangle in the Central Adirondacks. He taught at Hunter College, 1928-1935, all the while pursuing independent field study on weekends and holidays. While an associate at the New York Geological Survey, he began an intensive study of the Adirondack Shield. Instead of establishing headquarters at some hotel or village as was the custom, he carried his food and lodging in a pack and camped on top of his outcrops and at the foot of his cliffs. Even though dedicated to pure research, he was an expert climber so nothing escaped him. Dr Balk’s main specialty being the structural geology of igneous and metamorphic rocks, he published many articles on the structural geology of the Adirondacks until 1944.
After heading the Geology Department at Holyoke College, 1935-1947, he then worked as a professor at the University of Mexico until 1952. That year his wife, Chistina Lochman Balk (1907-2006), accepted a position to teach and act as Dean of Women at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. By the time of his death, Robert Balk had become principal geologist of the New Mexico State Bureau of Mines. February 15, 1955 a TWA passenger plane crashed into a New Mexico mountainside during a snowstorm, with the loss of all 16 passengers on board, including Dr. Balk. The wreck, scattered in a remote narrow canyon 9000 feet up in the Sandia Mountains, is still “intact” today.
In 1989, Mrs. Balk, who had received her Ph. D. from that institution in 1933, gave most of his papers to The John Hopkins University. She established a memorial fund for her husband, the income from which supports field work by graduate students of geology at Hopkins.
Dr. Balk was remarkable for his eagerness to have his students go into the field and learn geology first hand. He is also distinguished by his strong support to women entering geology. He recognized this was a non-traditional choice for women in the 1940’s and he prepared an outline of job possibilities to encourage women into the field.
Upon Dr. Balk’s sudden death, Arthur E. Newkirk, president of the ADK, immediately embraced the suggestion of the members of the Club to have Orson M. Phelps’ “Colden Ridge” named after Robert Balk. The number of days and nights he spent in the Adirondacks and in the Johns Brook Valley studying the origin of anorthosites make him the perfect match for this particularly interesting and imposing band of cliffs.
It’s believed that Will Glover played a large part in the naming of Point Balk. Glover, like Dr Balk, was an active member of the ADK Keene Valley Chapter. They likely knew each other well for they both spent much time in the woods during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Glover, who in the late 40’s had acted as a fire tower observer, was then working at the U.S.G.S. (survey geology) in some capacity and it’s well known that a commonly accepted name can make it onto a map when an update occurred and no other name has yet been applied the land feature in question. In any case, it was a very discreet and short campaign as the only document requesting the appropriation is the Newkirk letter asking the Keene Valley Chapter for its support on the naming. Its effectiveness can’t be denied as within a few years Point Balk appeared on maps.
The most accessible text about the Adirondacks written by Robert Balk is a forty-three page chapter entitled “The Geologic Story of the Mountains” he authored for the 1942 publication of “The Friendly Mountains, Green, White, and Adirondacks”. From the first few words, and in an immediately captivating way, Dr Balk conveys his deep love and knowledge of the mountains: “The Friendly Mountains are old. They seem wise, like aged folk wrapped in shawls of deep green, who, having experienced aeons of geologic past now contemplate their life through mists of time. These ranges have forgotten more experiences than the young alpine chains of the west have yet known. They have lived through so many millenniums that they can afford to be tolerant of the little humans that swarm over them like ants. These ranges are venerable. (...) It has been said that when men and mountains come together great things take place. Certainly large ideas are born, and great questions posed.”