Chicago Paper - Biographical Notice of Alexander Trippel

Most of US, in this hurrying age, take little pains to preserve such records of our doings as will make the work of' our biographers easy. Now and then there is an exception, and Dr. Trippel was one. Methodical in all his habits, he kept diaries and journals comprising his own personal experiences, the details and results of his numerous scientific investigations, and his impressions concerning men and events; and also copies of all his technical essays, published by various societies or periodicals. It is a striking instance of " the irony of fate," that these carefully-preserved materials, which would now have a real historical, as well as biographical value, were totally destroyed by an accidental fire a few years ago. In addition to my own recollections of an acquaintance covering more than thirty years, I am indebted, for the fads upon which this sketch is based, chiefly to Mr. Engene J. Trippel, a son of the deceased, and now Register of the United States Land Office at Tucson, Arizona. Mr. Trippel, however, frankly confesses that his own knowledge of his father's work is, in the absence of written records, imperfect.