Traphagen
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
FRANK WEISS, an American chemist; born in Eaton, O., July 20, 1861; was graduated at the School of Mines, Columbia University, in 1882. He then pursued special studies in analytical and applied chemistry. He was Professor of Chemistry in the College of Montana in 1887-1893. In the latter year he accepted the chair of chemistry at the Montana State College and became chemist of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, and in 1917 was appointed professor of metallurgy in Publishers' Photo Service A TRAVELER'S TREE. THE THIRSTY TRAVELER WHO FINDS SUCH A TREE CAN OBTAIN FROM ONE TO TWO QUARTS OF Enc. Vol. 9-p, 468 Ewing Galloway A TOBACCO CROP READY FOR CUTTING, IN THE REGION NEAR LEXINGTON, KY, Publishers' Photo Service Underwood & Underwood A BRITISH VESSEL TORPEDOED AND SET ON FIRE BY A GERMAN SUBMARINE Herald Syndicate THE "LEVIATHAN" BRINGING AMERICAN SOLDIERS BACK FROM EUROPE. THE VESSEL WAS ONCE THE GERMAN "VATERLAND" Keystone View Company THE CITY OF TRENT, CAPITAL OF THE TRENTINO, WON BY ITALY AS A RESULT OF THE WAR Keystone View Company TOBLINO CASTLE IN THE TRENTINO Ewing Galloway TRIESTE ON THE ADRIATIC, WON BY ITALY FROM AUSTRIA IN THE WORLD WAR the South Dakota School of Mines. He was the author of bulletins on "Drinking Water"; "The Alkali Soils of Montana"; "The Sugar Beet in Montana"; etc.; and of "A New Departure in Cyanide Treatment" (1899); "Some Notes on the Estimation of Carbohydrates" (1899); "Notes on Alkali Soil in Montana" (1899); "Food Adulteration in Montana"; "Labor and Industry" (1900); etc.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's caught Traphagen in mid-career in 1921, listing him as a serving professor of metallurgy at the South Dakota School of Mines; he has of course long since died, and his once-current bulletins on alkali soils and sugar beets are now historical documents rather than working science. The institutions in the entry have mostly outlived him under new names: Montana State College became Montana State University in 1965, and the South Dakota School of Mines is now the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, while the College of Montana at Deer Lodge, where he taught from 1887, closed its doors. His subject matter has proved more durable than his employers' names " cyanide leaching, the topic of his 1899 "A New Departure in Cyanide Treatment," remains the dominant method of extracting gold worldwide, and alkali and saline soils are still a central problem in irrigated Western agriculture. The entry's odd jumble of caption text " traveler's trees, torpedoed steamers, Trieste " is an artifact of the original page layout, not part of Traphagen's life.
Written for this edition, 2026.