Rising from the Plains: John McPhee's Geology and the West

Introduction to Rising from the Plains

John McPhee, a writer of creative nonfiction, began writing about the earth in 1985. He described the structure and movement of the earth's crust and mantle through the lens of geology, focusing on the theory of plate tectonics, which describes the earth's crust as several plates that collide and grind against each other while gliding over the mantle. That theory was not widely accepted until the latter part of the 1960s — decades after it was first proposed — based upon accumulated geologic evidence (Quammen, 1998).

Rising from the Plains is a strong book in its own right but can also be read as a sequel to McPhee's two earlier works, In Suspect Terrain and Basin and Range. The book revolves around the geology of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent terrain in Wyoming, both near Interstate 80. McPhee beautifully narrates the life story of David Love, a Rocky Mountain geologist, and his family, weaving it together with an account of the changing earth in the region. He carefully describes how the family explored the land to meet their basic needs, the environmental consequences of those explorations, and the natural geological changes that took place over time — a book recommended especially for public libraries (Hannibal, n.d.). More broadly, the book traces different geomorphological processes across the United States along the 40th parallel.

This book is about the study of the earth, but with a deeply human touch. The establishment of new homestead boundaries and the fortunes of the Love family mirror the unending cycle of geological processes. Depending on the quality of the land, different areas proved suitable for raising grazing animals, mining minerals, or building railroads. Through McPhee's account, readers can discern the productive and the difficult years on the ranch. During prosperous times, the homestead, bunkhouse, and pen were built; during lean years, mudslides, drought, and powerful winds destroyed crops and killed animals. As York (1987) observed, McPhee regards his characters with deep respect while always probing further — he wants to understand geological processes and their effects on the people who live within them.

A telling excerpt from David Love illustrates the complexity of applying plate tectonic theory to every region:

"We're about a thousand miles from the nearest plate boundary. We should not tie the landscape here to events that have taken place along the coast. This doesn't neutralize or dispose of the theory of plate tectonics, but applied here it's incongruous — it's kind of like a rabbit screwing a horse. There is no evidence of plates grinding against each other here." — David Love, quoted in McPhee (1986).

Increasing Interest in Geo-Tourism

In the 1980s, people became increasingly curious about touring national parks and other geographically significant sites. However, most of these areas are located far from where the majority of people live, requiring visitors to leave the city behind in order to experience the appeal of such landscapes. According to Newsome (2005), McPhee's work significantly boosted geo-tourism in the region.

McPhee began studying geology at seventeen and had been intrigued and captivated by it ever since. He once struggled with geological terminology, but he was drawn to geology because it is a descriptive science, and he relished every description of a place. There is a harmonious connection between him and the discipline, owing to his gift for description and his ability to move beyond the merely technical. He writes with the passion of someone deeply enthusiastic about the subject — not from the perspective of an expert, but as an eager-to-learn outsider standing in for the equally curious reader. According to Quammen (1998), it was precisely the geologists' highly technical approach — their use of terms initially incomprehensible to the uninitiated — that first captivated McPhee.

The Rise of the Great Plains

The first page of the book announces its subject directly:

"This is about high-country geology and a Rocky Mountain regional geologist. I raise that semaphore here at the start so no one will feel misled by an opening passage in which a slim young woman who is not in any sense a geologist steps down from a train in Rawlins, Wyoming, in order to go north by stagecoach into country that was still very much the Old West." (McPhee, 1986, p. 1)

The Great Plains are not as flat as they appear; there is far more to them than meets the eye. The so-called emptiness of the Plains makes it difficult to see or think clearly about geological complexity. Without close attention to subtle differences, a strong grasp of the multimillion-year timeframe over which the earth has existed, and a creative imagination, it is hard to appreciate such a landscape. While traveling toward Lincoln, Nebraska, McPhee noted the contrast between the apparently gentle, stable rises and falls of the countryside along I-80 and the violent processes that actually formed the Trans-Mississippi West. The rocks beneath the surface hold evidence of all the geological processes that have ever occurred there. A significant rift — comparable in scale to today's African Rift Valley — cut walls three thousand feet deep. The far side of this rift reached Lincoln, and more than a billion years have since passed.

Over billions of years, these plains have experienced extreme topographical and climatic changes. According to Candace Savage, the central North American grasslands, the Rockies, and the Grand Canyon were formed over the past three to four billion years as continents repeatedly collided and then drifted apart. The Plains have risen and fallen, endured extreme temperatures, accumulated erosion from the Rockies, and been uplifted by volcanic activity centered on Yellowstone (Maher, 2014).

Conclusion

John McPhee is an exquisite writer, but his own voice is very seldom heard. His book is overflowing with ideas, but most of them belong to somebody else. He seems to move through the world with watchful eyes while keeping his own movements and thoughts deliberately restrained. There are two schools of opinion regarding this approach. One school reveres him for being the antithesis of the self-promoting modern journalist — a view articulated by William L. Howarth. On the contrary, some readers would prefer to encounter McPhee more fully as a whole person within his own work. The reviewer once belonged to the first group, but as McPhee began incorporating geology into his writing, a gradual shift toward the second began. Over time, his unwavering consistency and reserve became less appealing rather than more. As Quammen (1998) concluded, John McPhee is truly an impeccable writer whose only flaw is an excess of caution.

References

Hannibal, J. (n.d.). Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Retrieved from Library Journals LLC: https://www.buffalolib.org/vufind/Record/428564/Reviews

Long-Term Landscape Evolution of the Colorado Front Range and its Foreland. (2016). Retrieved from Colorado University Papers: http://cires1.colorado.edu/science/groups/tucker/documents/info_for_prospective_students_nov10.pdf

Maher, S. (2014). Deep Map Country. University of Nebraska Press.

McPhee, J. (1986). Rising from the Plains. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Newsome, D. (2005). Geotourism. New York: Taylor and Francis.

Quammen, D. (1998). Rocks of Age. The New York Times on the Web.

Wobus, C., Tucker, G., & Anderson, R. (2006). Self-formed bedrock channels. Geophysical Research Letters.

York, A. (1987). Book review of Rising from the Plains. Iowa Journal of Literary Studies, 154–155.