Bernard Rosecrans Hubbard (November 24, 1888 – May 28, 1962) was an American geologist and explorer who popularized the Alaskan wilderness in American media during the middle of the 20th century. Known as "the Glacier Priest", he was a Jesuit priest, head of the Department of Geology at the University of Santa Clara, California, and for a time was the highest-paid lecturer in the world, leading 31 expeditions into Alaska and the Arctic.
Early life
Hubbard was born in San Francisco, California, on November 24, 1888, the son of George M. Hubbard (d. 1914) and Catherine Wilder Hubbard (d. 1910). His siblings were John, who became a mining engineer, and sister Mary Hubbard Stanley. Hubbard spent his childhood in Santa Cruz, California, living for a while in a house that his brother built in the mountains above Santa Cruz near Ben Lomond. The mountain house is now owned by the Lockheed Corporation and is marked with a commemorative plaque. Hubbard attended Santa Clara College from 1906 to 1908. On September 7, 1908, he entered the Society of Jesus, first studying at the Jesuit novitiate in Los Gatos 1908–1910, then at Los Angeles College 1913–1918. He then studied at the Mount Saint Michaels' Jesuit seminary in Spokane, Washington, where he received a Master of Arts degree in philosophy through Gonzaga University in 1921. Hubbard then studied theology in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was ordained a priest in 1923. During his time in Austria, he became enamored of the mountains and became known as "Der Gletscher Pfarrer" ("the Glacier Priest"). In 1925 and 1926 Hubbard completed his tertianship at St. Andrew-on-Hudson in Hyde Park, New York.
Explorer and lecturer
In 1926, Hubbard returned to Santa Clara College as a lecturer in German, geology and theology, teaching there until 1930. Colleagues noted that "his heart wasn't completely in academics." From 1927 to 1962, Hubbard undertook regular expeditions to Alaska during the summer, touring in the winter as a lecturer. He was described as the highest-paid lecturer in the world by the Literary Digest in 1937, receiving up to $2000 per lecture. Hubbard, with the approval of his Jesuit superiors, donated the proceeds of his lectures to the Jesuit mission in Alaska. Hubbard's first trip to Alaska was a study of the Juneau Icefield. In 1929 he visited the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, sparking his interest in volcanology. In 1930 he undertook the first significant expedition to the largely unknown volcanic crater at Mount Aniakchak, returning in 1931 after the Yukon trip and again in 1932. By a fortunate coincidence, there had been a moderate eruption of the Aniakchak volcano weeks before Hubbard and his party arrived on the second expedition in May 1931. On subsequent trips Hubbard explored the upper reaches of Taku Glacier and made a crossing of the Bering Strait by canoe. Another expedition in 1936 took Hubbard back to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, farther east on the Alaska Peninsula.
Hubbard's 1931 expedition took him down the Yukon River, visiting missions on the way. He started in the winter from Nenana with a 13-dog sled, ending at Nulato. From there he want to Unalakleet, then to the Holy Cross mission on the Yukon by April 1931. From Holy Cross, he started out for the Alaska Peninsula in a floatplane, the first airplane ride of his life and the first flight along the Bering Sea coast. Hubbard and his flight crew flew directly across the peninsula at Aniakchak, viewing the aftermath of the May 1931 eruption from the air, and nearly crashing in the process. He joined three college students who had brought the expedition's gear to Kujulik Bay on June 12. They climbed to the entrance to the crater, encountering (and killing) bears as they went. They explored the still active crater for 33 days. On the 1932 expedition, Hubbard and pilot Frank Dorbandt made the first successful landing on a lake in a volcano, landing on Surprise Lake in the Aniakchak crater.