,digital ,library47 ,illustration3 ,,charles ,h4 ,,sternberg4 ,american ,nature ,series ,group ,,iv4 ,working with ,nature ,,the ,,life ,,of ,a ,,fossil ,,hunter ,,by ,,charles ,h4 ,,sternberg ,,with ,,an ,,introduction ,,by ,,henry ,,fairfield ,,osborn ,,illustrated ,illustration ,,new ,,york ,,henry ,,holt ,,and ,,company #aiji ,copyright1 #aiji1 ,,by ,,henry ,,holt ,,and ,,company ,published1 ,february1 #aiji ,,the ,,quinn ,,boden ,,co4 ,,press ,,rahway1 ,n4 ,j4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,preface ,i wish to call the attention of the reader of my story 8,the ,life of a ,fossil ,hunter0 to the fact that ,i am under obligations especially to ,prof4 ,henry ,fairfield ,osborn1 ,president and ,curator of ,paleontology of the ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history in ,new ,york4 ,he has supplied me with many of the most beautiful of the illustrations that illumine these pages and has assisted the work in many ways4 ,i would also express my gratitude to ,miss ,margaret ,wagenalls of ,new ,york1 who edited the manuscript2 to ,prof4 ,dunlap of the ,kansas ,state ,university1 for his kindly criticisms2 and to ,dr4 ,w4 ,k4 ,gregory1 ,lecturer on ,zoology at ,columbia ,university1 whose untiring efforts have brought the book to its present form4 ,i hope it may awaken a wide interest in the study of ancient life1 and ,i thank my friends everywhere who are contributing to that end4 ,,charles ,h4 ,,sternberg4 ,,lawrence1 ,,kansas1 ,january1 #aiji4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,,introduction ,,by ,,professor ,,henry ,,fairfield ,,osborn xi ,i4 ,,early ,,days ,,and ,,work ,,in ,,the ,,dakota ,,group ,,of ,,the ,,cretaceous #a ,,ii4 ,,first ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,kansas ,,chalk 7#ahgf7 #cb ,,iii4 ,,expedition ,,with ,,professor ,,cope ,,to ,,the ,,bad ,,lands ,,of ,,the ,,upper ,,cretaceous 7#ahgf7 #fa ,,iv4 ,,further ,,work ,,in ,,the ,,kansas ,,chalk 7#ahgg7 #ii ,v4 ,,discovery ,,of ,,the ,,loup ,,fork ,,beds ,,of ,,kansas ,,and ,,subsequent ,,work ,,there 7#ahgg1 #ahhb-ahhd7 #abj ,,vi4 ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,oregon ,,desert ,,in #ahgg #add ,,vii4 ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,john ,,day ,,river ,,in #ahgh #agj ,,viii4 ,,first ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,permian ,,of ,,texas ,,in #ahhb #bje ,,ix4 ,,expeditions ,,in ,,the ,,permian ,,of ,,texas ,,for ,,professor ,,cope 7#ahie-ahig7 #bcj ,x4 ,,in ,,the ,,red ,,beds ,,of ,,texas ,,for ,,the ,,royal ,,museum ,,of ,,munich 7#aija7 #bdd ,,xi4 ,,conclusion #bfe ,,index #bhc ,,illustrations ,,page ,,charles ,h4 ,,sternberg ,frontispiece ,,rocks ,,of ,,laramie ,,beds ,,on ,,south ,,schneider ,,creek1 ,,converse ,,co41 ,,wyoming #af ,,weathered ,,rocks ,,and ,,laramie ,,beds ,,near ,,south ,,schneider ,,creek #af ,,mushroom-,,like ,,concretion ,,known ,,as ,,pulpit ,,rock #ag ,,fossil ,,leaves ,,of ,sassafras dissectum4 7,after ,lesquereux47 #bj ,,fossil ,,leaves4 a1 ,,unopened ,,leaf ,,nodule4 b1 ,,nodule ,,opened ,,to ,,show ,,fossil ,,leaf4 c1 d1 e1 f1 ,,various ,,forms ,,of ,,fossil ,,leaves #ba ,,facsimile ,,of ,,letter ,,from ,,dr4 ,,lesquereux ,,to ,,the ,,author #bd ,,skull ,,and ,,front ,,limb ,,of ,clidastes tortor #dd ,,skeleton ,,of ,clidastes tortor #de ,,skeleton ,,of ,,ram-,,nosed ,,tylosaur1 ,tylosaurus dyspelor #de ,,ram-,,nosed ,,tylosaur1 ,tylosaurus dyspelor4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight #ej ,,skull ,,of ,,the ,,flat-,,wristed ,,mosasaur1 ,platecarpus coryphus #ea ,,restoration ,,of ,,kansas ,,cretaceous ,,animals4 7,from drawing by ,s4 ,prentice1 after ,williston47 a1 ,unitacrinus socialis2 b1 ,clidastes velox2 c1 ,ornithostoma ingens #ef ,,giant ,,cretaceous ,,fish1 ,portheus molossus 7above71 ,,compared ,,with ,a ,,six-,,foot ,,modern ,,tarpon 7below7 #eg ,,lower ,,jaw ,,of ,trachodon marginatus1 ,,showing ,,successive ,,layers ,,of ,,teeth4 ,,top ,,and ,,side ,,views ,,of ,a ,,tooth ,,of ,myledaphus bipartitus4 7,after ,osborn and ,lambe47 #gf ,,skull ,,of ,a ,,duck-,,billed ,,dinosaur1 ,diclonius1 ,,four ,,feet ,,in ,,length #gg ,,professor ,e4 ,d4 ,,cope #gh ,,brontosaurus ,,or ,,thunder ,,lizard4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight #gi ,,fossil ,,shells1 ,haploscapha grandis4 7,after ,cope47 #ajh ,,charles ,,sternberg ,,and ,,son ,,taking ,,up ,a ,,large ,,slab ,,of ,,fossils ,,from ,a ,,chalk ,,bed ,,in ,,gove ,,co41 ,,kansas #aji ,,camp ,,and ,,wagon ,,of ,,the ,,fossil ,,hunters ,,on ,,grasswood ,,creek1 ,,converse ,,co41 ,,wyoming #aji ,,skeleton ,,of ,,the ,,plesiosaur1 ,dolichorhynchus osborni4 7,after ,williston47 #aad ,,fossil ,,limb ,,bones ,,of ,,the ,,giant ,,sea ,,tortoise1 ,protostega gigas #aae ,,fossil ,,shell ,,of ,,giant ,,land ,,turtle1 ,testudo orthopygia #abb ,,the ,,snake-,,necked ,,elasmosaurus1 ,elasmosaurus platyurus4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight #abc ,,three-,,toed ,,horse1 ,hypohippus4 7,after ,gidley47 #acb ,,fossil ,,rhinoceros1 ,teleoceras fossiger4 7,after ,osborn47 #acc ,,skull ,,and ,,tusks ,,of ,,imperial ,,mammoth1 ,elephas imperator #agh ,,fossil-,,bearing ,,cliffs4 7,after ,merriam47 ,,upper ,,john ,,day ,,exposure #agi ,,fossil-,,bearing ,,cliffs4 7,after ,merriam47 ,,middle ,,john ,,day ,,exposure #agi ,,fossil-,,bearing ,,cliffs4 7,after ,merriam47 ,,mascall ,,formation #bjb ,,fossil-,,bearing ,,cliffs4 7,after ,merriam47 ,,clarno ,,formation #bjb ,,skull ,,of ,,great ,,saber-,,toothed ,,tiger1 ,pogonodon platycopis4 7,after ,cope47 #bjc ,,skeleton ,,of ,,fin-,,backed ,,lizard1 ,naosaurus claviger #bcd ,,fin-,,backed ,,lizard1 ,naosaurus claviger4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight #bce ,,facsimile ,,of ,,letter ,,from ,,prof4 ,e4 ,d4 ,,cope ,,to ,,the ,,author #bch ,,fossil ,,skull ,,of ,,giant ,,salamander1 ,diplocaulus magnicornis4 7,after ,broili47 #bdj ,,professor ,,henry ,,fairfield ,,osborn #bda ,,facsimile ,,of ,,letter ,,from ,,dr4 ,,karl ,,von ,,zittel ,,to ,,the ,,author #bdf ,,dr4 ,,karl ,,von ,,zittel #bef ,,shell ,,of ,toxochelys bauri8 #beg ,,niobrara ,,group1 ,,cretaceous ,,chalk ,,with ,,cap ,,rock ,,of ,,loup ,,fork ,,tertiary1 ,,known ,,as ,,castle ,,rock1 ,,gove ,,co41 ,,kansas #bfb ,,chalk ,,of ,,kansas1 ,,known ,,as ,,the ,,coffee ,,mill4 ,hell ,creek #bfb ,,bones ,,of ,platecarpus coryphus #bfc ,,skeleton ,,of ,hesperornis regalis1 ,,the ,,giant-,,toothed ,,bird ,,of ,,the ,,kansas ,,cretaceous #bff ,,slab ,,of ,,fossil ,,crinoids1 ,uintacrinus socialis1 ,,containing #afj ,,calyces1 ,,covering ,,four ,,by ,,seven ,,feet #bfg ,,skull ,,and ,,horns ,,of ,,giant ,,bison ,,from ,,hoxie1 ,,kansas4 ,,spread ,,of ,,horn ,,cores ,,six ,,feet1 ,,one ,,inch2 ,,length ,,along ,,curve1 ,,eight ,,feet #bfh ,,jaw ,,of ,,columbian ,,mammoth1 ,elephas columbi #bfi ,,three-,,horned ,,dinosaur1 ,triceratops sp4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight #bgj ,,duck-,,billed ,,dinosaur1 ,trachodon mirabilis4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight #bga ,,introduction ,by ,,henry ,,fairfield ,,osborn1 ,president and ,curator of ,vertebrate ,paleontology of the ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history1 ,new ,york ,our bookshelves contain the lives or narratives of adventure of many hunters of living game1 but the life of a fossil hunter has never been written before4 ,both are in the closest touch with nature and1 therefore1 full of interest4 ,the one is as full of adventure1 excitement and depression1 hope and failure1 as the other1 yet there is ever the great difference that the hunter of live game1 thorough sportsman though he may be1 is always bringing live animals nearer to death and extinction1 whereas the fossil hunter is always seeking to bring extinct animals back to life4 ,this revivification of the past1 of the forms which once graced the forests and plains1 and rivers and seas1 is attended with as great fascination as the quest of live game1 and to my mind is a still more honorable and noble pursuit4 ,the richness of the great ,american fossil fields1 which extend over the vast arid and semi-arid area of the ,west1 scattered over both the great plains region and the great mountain region1 has resulted in the creation of a distinctively ,american profession3 that of fossil hunting4 ,the fossil hunter must first of all be a scientific enthusiast4 ,he must be willing to endure all kinds of hardships1 to suffer cold in the early spring and the late autumn and early winter months1 to suffer intense heat and the glare of the sun in summer months1 and he must be prepared to drink alkali water1 and in some regions to fight off the attack of the mosquito and other pests4 ,he must be something of an engineer in order to be able to handle large masses of stone and transport them over roadless wastes of desert to the nearest shipping point2 he must have a delicate and skilful touch to preserve the least fragments of bone when fractured2 he must be content with very plain living1 because the profession is seldom1 if ever1 remunerative1 and he is almost invariably underpaid2 he must find his chief reward and stimulus in the sense of discovery and in the despatching of specimens to museums which he has never seen for the benefit of a public which has little knowledge or appreciation of the self-sacrifices which the fossil hunter has made4 ,the fossil fields of ,america have fortunately attracted a number of such devoted explorers1 and one of the pioneers on the honorable list is the author of this work1 who by his untiring energy has contributed some of the finest specimens which now adorn the shelves and cases of many of the great museums of ,america and ,europe4 ,although special explorations have been described1 sometimes in considerable detail1 this is the first time that the 8life of a fossil hunter0 has been written1 and it is fitting that it comes from the pen of the oldest living representative of this distinctively ,american profession4 ,the name of ,charles ,h4 ,sternberg is attached to discoveries in many parts of the ,west2 discoveries which have formed distinct contributions to science1 to the advance of paleontology1 to our knowledge of the wonderful ancient life of ,north ,america4 ,his is a career full of adventure1 of self-sacrifice1 worthy of lasting record and recognition by all lovers of nature4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,the ,,life ,,of ,a ,,fossil ,,hunter ,,chapter ,i ,,early ,,days ,,and ,,work ,,in ,,the ,,dakota ,,group ,,of ,,the ,,cretaceous ,i do not remember when ,i first began collecting fossils1 but ,i have always loved nature4 ,fifteen years of my early life were spent in ,otsego ,county1 ,new ,york1 at dear old ,hartwick ,seminary1 where my father1 the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,levi ,sternberg1 was principal for fourteen years1 and my grandfather1 ,dr4 ,george ,b4 ,miller1 a much-loved1 devout man1 professor of theology for thirty-five4 ,the lovely valley of the ,susquehanna1 in which it stands1 lies five miles below ,cooperstown1 the birthplace of the ,walter ,scott of ,america1 ,james ,fenimore ,cooper1 and my boyhood was spent among scenes which he has made famous4 ,often my companions and ,i have gone picnicking on ,otsego ,lake1 shouting to call up the echo1 and spreading our tablecloth on shore beneath the very tree from which the catamount was once about to spring upon terrified ,elizabeth ,temple4 ,my greatest pleasure in those early days and best1 was to live with a darling cousin in the woods4 ,there among the majestic trees1--maples1 hickories1 pines1 and hemlocks1--we used to build sylvan retreats1 weaving willow twigs in and out among the poles which ,i cut for supports2 and there1 to those great trees1 ,i delivered my boy orations4 ,we delighted also to visit and explore ,moss ,pond1 a body of water on top of the hills across the river1 surrounded entirely by sponge moss4 ,we could 8teeter0 across the moss to a log that gave us support1 and catch blind bullheads1 or eat our lunch in the cool1 dense hemlock woods that surrounded the water1 where the heavy branches1 intertwined like mighty arms1 shut away the light1 so that even at midday the sun could barely pierce their shadows4 ,how ,i loved flowers6 ,i carried to my mother the first crocus bloom that showed its head above the melting snow1 the trailing arbutus1 and the tender foliage of the wintergreen4 ,later in the season ,i gathered for her the yellow cowslip and fragrant water-lily2 and when autumn frosts had tinged the leaves with crimson and gold ,i filled her arms with a glorious wealth of color4 ,even in those early days ,i used to cut out shells from the limestone strata of the region with whatever tools were at hand1 but they were admired chiefly as examples of the wonderful power of running water to carve rocks into the semblance of shells4 ,or if one of the more observant remarked that these shells looked very much as if they had been alive once1 the only theory that would account for their presence and yet sustain the belief that the world was only six thousand years old1 was that the ,almighty1 who created the rocks1 could easily1 at the same time1 have created the ancient plants and animals as fossils1 just as they were found4 ,i remember a rich find ,i made in the garret of an uncle in ,ames1 ,new ,york1--a cradle filled with fossil shells and crystals of quartz4 ,they had been collected by my uncle's brother1 who1 fortunately1 as my uncle said1 had died early1 before bringing disgrace upon the family by wasting his time wandering over the hills and gathering stones4 ,all the large specimens he had collected had been thrown away1 and the smaller ones in the old cradle had long been forgotten4 ,i was welcome to all my uncle's buggy could carry when he took me home1 and ,i can never forget the joy of going over that material again and again1 selecting the specimens that appealed most to my sense of the beautiful and the wonderful4 ,i labeled them all 8,from ,uncle ,james10 and it greatly astonished a dear aunt of mine1 to whom ,i gave them some years later when we moved ,west1 to find in the collection a lot of baculites1 labeled 8,worms from ,uncle ,james40 ,when ,i was ten years old1 ,i met with an accident from which ,i have never completely recovered4 ,i remember the wild chase ,i was making after an older boy1 over the hay-mows and piles of shocked grain in my father's barn4 ,on the floor below1 an old-fashioned thresher1 one of the first of its kind1 was making an ear-splitting noise1 while outside the two horses1 hitched to an inclined plane1 climbed incessantly1 but never reached the top4 ,the boy climbed a shock of oats on the scaffold in the peak of the barn1 and 8,charley-boy10 as my mother called me1 following him1 slipped through a hole in the top of the ladder which had been covered by the settling oats1 and fell twenty feet to the floor below4 ,the older boy climbed swiftly down and carried me home insensible to my mother4 ,our family physician thought that only a sprain was the result1 and bandaged the injured limb2 but1 as a matter of fact1 the fibula of the left leg had been dislocated1 so that there was much suffering and a little crippled boy going about among the hills on crutches4 ,the leg never grew quite strong again1 and some years later gave me a good deal of trouble4 ,in #ahgb ,i was in charge of a ranch in ,kansas1 and during ,november of that year a great sleet storm covered the whole central part of the state4 ,in order to water my cattle1 which were scattered over a range of several thousand acres on ,elm ,creek1 ,i was obliged to follow around small bands of them to their accustomed watering-places and cut the ice for them4 ,the water that splashed over my clothing froze solid1 and the result was that inflammatory rheumatism settled in the lame leg4 ,i sat in a leathern chair all winter close to a boxwood stove1 tended by my dear mother1 who never left me day or night4 ,when the inflammation subsided1 the knee joint had become ankylosed1 and in order to avoid going on crutches all my life1 ,i lay in the hospital at ,fort ,riley for three months1 all alone in a great ward1 and had the limb straightened by a special machine4 ,so skilfully did the army surgeon do this work that ,i threw away crutches and cane1 and1 although the leg has always been stiff1 ,i have since walked thousands of miles among the fossiliferous beds in the desolate fields of the ,west4 ,in #ahfe1 when ,i was fifteen years old1 my father accepted the principalship of the ,iowa ,lutheran ,college at ,albion1 ,marshall ,county1 and the broken hill country of my boyhood days was replaced by the plains and water courses of the ,middle ,west4 ,two years later my twin brother and ,i emigrated to an older brother's ranch in ,ellsworth ,county1 ,kansas1 two and a half miles south of ,fort ,harker1 now known as ,kanopolis4 ,this post was at that time the terminus of the ,kansas ,division of the ,union ,pacific1 and almost daily train-load after train-load of prairie schooners1 drawn by oxen1 burros1 or mules1 pulled out from it over the old ,butterfield and ,santa ,f trails1 the one leading up the ,smoky ,hill1 the other through the valley of the ,arkansas to ,denver and the ,southwest4 ,in spring great herds of buffalo followed the tender grass northward1 returning to the ,south in the fall2 and one bright day my brother and ,i started out on our first buffalo hunt4 ,driving a team of ,indian ponies hitched to a light spring wagon1 we soon left the few settlements behind1 and reached the level prairie to the southwest1 near old ,fort ,zaro1 a deserted one-company post on the ,santa ,f ,trail4 ,at this time it had been appropriated by a cattleman who had a small herd grazing in the vicinity4 ,when within a few miles of this post1 we saw a large herd of buffalo lying down a mile away4 ,it was no easy matter to crawl toward them over the plain1 pushing myself along without raising my body above the short grass1 but after strenuous efforts ,i got within shooting distance without disturbing them1 and was resting for a shot1 when the rancher rode through the herd and sent them all off at a lope4 ,much angered and almost tempted to turn my gun on the man1 ,i returned to the wagon1 and we drove on across country that had been cropped as if by a great herd of sheep by the thousands of buffalo that had passed that way on their journey south4 ,anxious to find picketing-ground and water1 we reached the ,arkansas ,river1 where in a swale covered with grass and willows were paths cut by the buffalo4 ,i lay down in one of these1 and bringing my gun to my shoulder1 was just drawing bead1 when a large animal rushed across my line of vision at right angles to the trail4 ,i pulled the trigger1 and down went the brown mass in a heap on the ground4 ,swinging my gun above my head1 ,i rushed forward shouting1 8,i've killed a buffalo60--to find that ,i had shot a ,texas cow4 ,terrified at the thought of its owner's anger1 we rushed back to the wagon1 and1 whipping up the ponies1 sped away as if the furies were after us4 ,but cooler second thoughts led us to the conclusion that the cow had come north with the buffalo1 and was as much our prey as the buffalo themselves4 ,just before sunset we reached a part of the country through which the buffalo had not passed1 where a rich carpet of grass1 covering all the plain1 offered plenty of food for our tired ponies4 ,here we were delighted to find1 standing in a ravine1 an old bull buffalo1 which had been driven out of the herd to die4 ,concealing ourselves behind the carcass of a cow1 we opened fire upon him from our ,spencer carbines1 and continued to riddle his poor old body with leaden slugs until his struggles ceased4 ,even then1 when he had lain down to rise no more1 we crawled up behind him and threw stones at him1 to make sure that he was dead4 ,we found his flesh too tough for food2 but it was an exciting event to us two boys to kill this massive beast1 in earlier days perhaps the leader of the herd4 ,in this connection ,i might tell of a chase ,i had several years later1 while living on a ranch in eastern ,ellsworth ,county4 ,i saw a huge buffalo bull come loping along from the hills1 headed for a section of land that was inclosed by a wire fence4 ,on the other side of this section there was a piece of timber-land1 and fearing that if he got into the dense timber ,i should lose him1 ,i rode after him at the top of my speed4 ,when his lowered head struck the wire fence it flew up like a spring gate and immediately closed down behind him4 ,in order to follow1 ,i had either to cut the wire or go out of my way to a gate half a mile to the south4 ,i decided on the latter course1 and applied quirt and spur to my horse1 but upon reaching the gate1 discovered my escaping quarry already halfway across the section4 ,i got just near enough to put a bullet into his rump as he passed through the fence on the other side1 and disappeared in the dense woods beyond4 ,in my excitement ,i shouted to my pony1 and1 dismounting and standing on the wire to hold it down1 yelled at him to come across4 ,but a sudden fit of obstinacy had seized him1 and he would not come4 ,i had to let the fence up while ,i thrashed him1 and then as soon as ,i got it under my feet again1 he pulled back as before4 ,we repeated this performance until ,i was exhausted and gave up the struggle4 ,but upon casting a look of despair in the direction of the vanished buffalo1 ,i was both astonished and ashamed to see him standing under an elm tree not ten feet away1 covered up all except his eyes by a great wild grapevine1 and gazing in mute astonishment at the struggle between ,nimrod and his pony4 ,i have always regretted that ,i took advantage of the confidence he placed in me1 for as soon as ,i could control my jumping nerves1 ,i shot the noble beast behind the shoulder1 and he fell4 ,i saw my last herd of buffalo in ,scott ,county1 ,kansas1 in #ahgg4 ,antelope1 however1 continued to be abundant as late as #ahhd1 and only two years ago ,i saw a couple of them among some cattle near ,monument ,rocks1 in ,gove ,county4 ,in camp1 during those early days1 we were rarely out of antelope meat1 and even now my mouth waters at the thought of the delicious tenderloin1 soaked first in salt water to season it and remove the blood1 then covered with cracker dust1 and fried in a skillet of boiling lard4 ,in those days a hind quarter could be hung up under the wagon in the hottest part of summer1 and not spoil4 ,the wind hermetically sealed it1 and there were no blow-flies then4 ,the early settlers of a new country bring with them1 and protect1 their enemies1 and destroy their friends1 the skunks1 badgers1 wildcats1 and coyotes1 as well as hawks1 eagles1 and snakes1 because they kill a chicken or two as a change from their usual diet of prairie dogs and rabbits4 ,in those pioneer days the ,kiowas1 ,cheyennes1 ,arapahoes1 and other ,indian tribes made constant inroads upon the venturesome settler who1 following the advice of ,horace ,greeley1 had come ,west to grow up with the country4 ,i remember when old ,santante1 a chief of the ,kiowas1 came to the post in a government ambulance1 which he had captured on one of his raids4 ,in time of peace1 the ,indians belong to the ,interior ,department of the government1 so that all the officer in command at the fort could do was to extend the old chief the courtesy of the army and care of himself and team4 ,once1 at the old stone sutler's store1 ,i heard him remark1 after he had filled himself well with whisky1 8,all the property on the ,smoky ,hill is mine4 ,i want it1 and then ,i want hair40 ,he got both the following year4 ,in ,july1 #ahfg1 owing to the fear of an ,indian outrage1 ,general ,a4 ,j4 ,smith gave us at the ranch a guard of ten colored soldiers under a colored sergeant1 and all the settlers gathered in the stockade1 a structure about twenty feet long and fourteen wide1 built by setting a row of cottonwood logs in a trench and roofing them over with split logs1 brush1 and earth4 ,during the height of the excitement1 the women and children slept on one side of the building in a long bed on the floor1 and the men on the other side4 ,the night of the third of ,july was so sultry that ,i concluded to sleep outside on a hay-covered shed4 ,at the first streak of dawn ,i was awakened by the report of a ,winchester1 and1 springing up1 heard the sergeant call to his men1 who were scattered in rifle pits around the building1 to fall in line4 ,as soon as he had them lined up1 he ordered them to fire across the river in the direction of some cottonwoods1 to which a band of ,indians had retreated4 ,the whites came forward with guns in their hands and offered to join in the fight1 but the sergeant commanded3 8,let the citizens keep in the rear40 ,this1 indeed1 they were very willing to do when the order was given1 8,fire at will60 and the soldiers began sending leaden balls whizzing through the air in every conceivable arc1 but never in a straight line1 toward the enemy1 who were supposed to be lying on the ground4 ,as soon as it was light my brother and ,i explored the river and found a place where seven braves1 in their moccasined feet1 had run across a wet sandbar in the direction of the cottonwoods1 as the sergeant had said4 ,their pony trails could be easily seen in the high1 wet grass4 ,the party in the stockade were not reassured to hear the tramp of a large body of horsemen1 especially as the soldiers had fired away all their ammunition2 but the welcome clank of sabers and jingle of spurs laid their fears to rest1 and soon a couple of troops of cavalry1 with an officer in command1 rode up through the gloom4 ,after the sergeant had been severely reprimanded for wasting his ammunition1 the scout ,wild ,bill was ordered to explore the country for ,indian signs4 ,but1 although the tracks could not have been plainer1 his report was so reassuring that the whole command returned to the ,fort4 ,some hours later ,i spied this famous scout at the sutler's store1 his chair tilted back against the stone wall1 his two ivory-mounted revolvers dangling at his belt1 the target of all eyes among the garrison loafers4 ,as ,i came up this gallant called out1 8,well1 ,sternberg1 your boys were pretty well frightened this morning by some buffalo that came down to water40 8,buffalo60 ,i said2 8that trail was made by our old cows two weeks ago40 ,later the general in command told me that they had prepared for a big hop at the ,fort on the night of the fourth1 and that ,bill did not report the ,indian tracks because he did not want to be sent off on a long scout just then4 ,in the unsettled state of the country at this time there were other dangers to be guarded against beside that of ,indians1 as ,i learned to my cost4 ,as a boy of seventeen1 it was my duty on the ranch to haul milk1 butter1 eggs1 and vegetables to ,fort ,harker for sale4 ,i cared for my pony myself1 and in order to get the milk and other food to the ,fort in time for the soldiers' five-o'clock breakfast1 ,i had to go without my own4 ,one day ,i had a number of bills to collect from the officers1 but as ,i was unusually tired1 and the officers were not out of bed when ,i called1 ,i put the bills in my inside pocket and started home4 ,as was my custom1 after leaving the garrison ,i lay down on the wagon-seat and went to sleep1 letting my faithful horse carry me home of his own accord4 ,i have no recollection of what happened afterwards1 but when ,i reached the ranch my brothers found me sitting up in the wagon moaning and swinging my arms1 with the blood flowing from a slung-shot wound in my forehead4 ,i had been struck down in my sleep and robbed of all the money ,i had on my person1 as it happened only about five dollars4 ,providentially our nearest neighbor1 ,d4 ,b4 ,long1 was a retired hospital steward1 and the post surgeon1 ,dr4 ,b4 ,f4 ,fryer1 who was sent for immediately1 was just ready to drive to town with his team of fleet little black ponies4 ,he reached the ranch in an incredibly short time1 and1 although respiration had ceased1 those two faithful men kept up artificial respiration for hours4 ,my oldest brother1 ,dr4 ,sternberg1 for years ,surgeon-,general of the ,army1 was also sent for1 and ,i found him lying on a mattress by my side when ,i regained consciousness two weeks later4 ,i might tell also of the ruffians who at one time held ,ellsworth ,city in a grip of iron1 and how1 until they killed each other off or moved further west with the railroad1 the dead-cart used to pass down the street every morning to pick up the bodies of those who had been killed in the saloons the night before1 and thrown out on the pavement to be hauled away4 ,but1 although ,i should like to recall more of the incidents connected with the opening up of a new country1 time presses1 and ,i must pass on to an account of my work as a fossil hunter4 ,i had not been long in this part of the country before ,i found that the neighboring hills1 topped with red sandstone1 contained1 in isolated places1 from a few feet to a mile in diameter and scattered through a wide expanse of country1 the impressions of leaves like those of our existing forests4 ,the rocks consisted of red1 white1 and brown sandstone1 with interlaid beds of variously-colored clays2 while here and there1 scattered through the formation1 were vast concretions of very hard flint-like sandstone1 often standing on softer rocks that had been weathered away into columns1 the whole giving the effect of giant mushrooms1 as seen in the cuts 7,figs4 #a-c74 ,this formation1 resting unconformably on the upper carboniferous rocks1 belongs to the ,dakota ,group of the ,cretaceous ,period4 ,the sedimentary rocks were laid down during the ,cretaceous ,period1 the closing period of the 8,age of ,reptiles10 in a great ocean1 whose shore line enters ,kansas at the mouth of ,cow ,creek on the ,arkansas ,river1 and extending in a northwesterly direction in the vicinity of ,beatrice1 ,nebraska1 touches ,iowa1 and passes on to ,greenland4 ,i was carried away at this time by the thoughts that had been surging through the hearts of men since ,darwin bade them turn to nature for the answers to their problems concerning the plants and animals of this earth4 ,how often in imagination ,i have rolled back the years and pictured central ,kansas1 now raised two thousand feet above sea level1 as a group of islands scattered about in a semi-tropical sea6 ,there are no frosts and few insect pests to mar the foliage of the great forests that grow along its shores1 and the ripe leaves fall gently into the sand1 to be covered up by the incoming tide and to form impressions and counterparts of themselves as perfect as if a ,divine hand had stamped them in yielding wax4 ,go back with me1 dear reader1 and see the treeless plains of to-day covered with forests4 ,here rises the stately column of a redwood2 there a magnolia opens its fragrant blossoms2 and yonder stands a fig tree4 ,there is no human hand to gather its luscious fruit1 but we can imagine that the ,creator walked among the trees in the cool of the evening1 inhaling the incense wafted to ,him as a thank-offering for their being4 ,all ,his works magnify ,him4 ,the cinnamon sends forth its perfume beside the sassafras2 linden and birch1 sweet gum and persimmon1 wild cherry and poplar mingle with each other4 ,the five-lobed sarsaparilla vine encircles the tree-trunks1 and in the shade grows a pretty fern4 ,many other beautiful plant forms grace the landscape1 but the glorious picture is only for him who gathers the remains of these forests1 and by the power of his imagination puts life into them2 for it is some five million years1 according to the great ,dana of my childhood days1 since the trees of this ,kansas forest lifted their mighty trunks to the sun4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #a4--,,rocks ,,of ,,laramie ,,beds ,,on ,,south ,,schneider ,,creek1 ,,converse ,,county1 ,,wyoming4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #b4--,,weathered ,,rocks ,,and ,,laramie ,,beds ,,near ,,south ,,schneider ,,creek4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #c4--,,mushroom-,,like ,,concretion ,,known ,,as ,,pulpit ,,rock4 ,elm ,creek1 ,kansas1 near ,sternberg's ranch4 7,from ,trans4 ,kan4 ,acad4 ,sci47 ,at the age of seventeen1 therefore1 ,i made up my mind what part ,i should play in life1 and determined that whatever it might cost me in privation1 danger1 and solitude1 ,i would make it my business to collect facts from the crust of the earth2 that thus men might learn more of 8the introduction and succession of life on our earth40 ,my father was unable to see the practical side of the work4 ,he told me that if ,i had been a rich man's son1 it would doubtless be an enjoyable way of passing my time1 but as ,i should have to earn a living1 ,i ought to turn to some other business4 ,i say here1 however1 lest ,i forget it1 that1 although my struggle for a livelihood has been hard1 often1 indeed1 bitter1 ,i have always been financially better off as a collector than when ,i have wasted1 speaking from the point of view of science1 some of the most precious days of my life attempting to make money by farming or in some other business1 so that ,i might live at home and avoid the hardships and exposures of camp life4 ,with collecting-bag over my shoulder and pick in hand1 ,i wandered over the hills of ,ellsworth ,county4 ,if ,i chanced upon a locality rich in fossil leaves1 thrilled with a joy that knows no comparison1 ,i walked on air as ,i carried my trophies home2 while if night overtook me with an empty bag1 ,i could scarcely drag my weary limbs along4 ,among the rich localities that ,i discovered was one which ,i called 8,sassafras ,hollow10 because of the countless sassafras leaves ,i quarried there4 ,it is situated about a mile southeast of the schoolhouse on ,thompson ,creek1 in the ,hudson brothers' neighborhood1 and lies at the head of a narrow ravine in a ledge of sandstone1 with a spring beneath4 ,here too1 the noted paleobotanist1 ,dr4 ,leo ,lesquereux1 collected fossils in #ahgb1 securing among other specimens a large1 beautiful leaf which he named in my honor 8,protophyllum sternbergii40 ,i have a vivid recollection of the discovery of another locality4 ,one night ,i dreamed that ,i was on the river1 where the ,smoky ,hill cuts into its northern bank1 three miles southeast of ,fort ,harker4 ,a perpendicular face in the colored clay impinges on the stream1 and just below this cliff is the mouth of a shallow ravine that heads in the prairie half a mile above4 ,in my dream1 ,i walked up this ravine and was at once attracted by a large cone-shaped hill1 separated from a knoll to the south by a lateral ravine4 ,on either slope were many chunks of rock1 which the frost had loosened from the ledges above4 ,the spaces left vacant in these rocks by the decayed leaves had accumulated moisture1 and this moisture1 when it froze1 had had enough expansive power to split the rock apart and display the impressions of the leaves4 ,other masses of rock had broken in such a way that the spaces once filled by the midribs and stems of the leaves admitted grass roots2 and their rootlets1 seeking the tiny channels left by the ribs and veins of the leaves1 had1 with the power of growing plants1 opened the doors of these prisoners1 shut up in the heart of the rock for millions of years4 ,i went to the place and found everything just as it had been in my dream4 ,two of the largest leaves known to the ,dakota ,group were taken from this place4 ,one1 a great three-lobed leaf1 the stem passing through an ear-like projection at its base1 ,dr4 ,lesquereux called ,aspidophyllum trilobatum2 the other1 equally large1--over a foot in diameter1--and three-lobed too1 but indented with large teeth1 he called ,sassafras dissectum 7,fig4 #d74 ,i believe ,i am the only fossil hunter who has collected from this locality4 ,probably my eyes saw the specimens while ,i was chasing an antelope or stray cow and too much occupied with the work in hand to take note of them consciously1 until they were revealed to me by the dream1 the only one in my experience that ever came true4 ,i tell this story to show how deeply ,i was interested in these fossils4 ,my first collection1 or rather the cream of it1 was sent to ,professor ,spencer ,f4 ,baird1 of the ,smithsonian ,institution4 ,the following is the letter which ,i received from him3 ,,smithsonian ,,institution1 ,washington1 ,june #h1 #ahgj4 ,dear ,sir3--,we are duly in receipt of your letter of ,may #bhth1 announcing the transmission of the fossil plants collected by your brother and yourself1 and shall look forward with much interest to their arrival4 ,as soon as possible after they reach us1 we shall submit them to competent scientific investigation1 and report to you the result4 ,very respectfully yours1 etc41 ,,spencer ,f4 ,,baird1 ,assistant ,secretary in ,charge4 ,there was no money in fossils at that early day1 but ,i prized more highly than money the promise in the letter that my specimens would be studied by competent authority1 and that ,i should receive credit for my discoveries4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #d4--;,,fossil ,,leaves ,,of ,sassafras dissectum4 7,after ,lesquereux47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #e4--;a1 ,,unopened ,,leaf ,,nodule2 b1 ,,nodule ,,opened ,,to ,,show ,,fossil ,,leaf2 c1 d1 e1 f1 ,,various ,,forms ,,of ,,fossil ,,leaves4 ,the specimens were sent to ,dr4 ,john ,strong ,newberry1 professor in ,columbia ,university and ,state ,geologist of ,ohio4 ,he did not find opportunity at that time to publish the results1 but long years afterwards1 in #ahih1 ,i received from ,dr4 ,arthur ,hollick a copy of 8,later ,flora of ,north ,america10 a posthumous work of ,dr4 ,newberry's4 ,turning instantly to the magnificent plates1 ,i recognized some of my early specimens1 the first ,i ever collected that were of value to science4 ,although1 owing to the long delay in publication1 ,i lost credit for them1 and the duplicates which ,i had given to a friend had been used by ,lesquereux to illustrate some new species accredited to that friend instead of to their rightful discoverer1 ,dr4 ,newberry kindly acknowledged my work on p4 #acc of his book1 where he says3 8,the leaf figured on ,plate ,x and that represented on ,plate ,,xi were included in a collection made by ,charles ,h4 ,sternberg1 and ,lesquereux has done only justice to him by attaching his name to the finest species contained in the large collection of fossil plants he made there10 that is1 at ,sassafras ,hollow4 ,in #ahgb1 just before ,lesquereux's great work1 8,the ,cretaceous ,flora10 appeared1 ,i learned that the famous botanist was a guest of ,lieutenant ,benteen1 the commander of ,fort ,harker4 ,fortunately1 ,i had retained rough sketches of the first specimens ,i had sent to the ,smithsonian ,institution4 ,so with these ,i started for the ,post1 where ,i found a reception in progress in honor of the noted guest4 ,i was introduced to the venerable botanist by his own son1 who spoke to him in ,french1 as he was almost deaf4 ,when ,i displayed my sketches1 he took me to one side1 and in a corner of the room ,i told him the story of my discoveries4 ,his eyes shone when he examined the drawings4 8,this is a new species10 he said1 8and this1 and this4 ,here is one described and illustrated from poorer material40 ,i do not remember how long we talked4 ,i only know that the golden moments sped by all too rapidly2 and from that hour until his death in #ahhi we were in constant correspondence4 ,after this all my collections were sent to him for description4 ,over four hundred species of plants like those of our existing forests along the ,mexican ,gulf1 some beautiful vines1 a few ferns1 and even the fruit of a fig1 and a magnolia flower petal1 the only petal so far found in the coarse sandstone of the ,dakota ,group1 have rewarded my earnest efforts4 ,the fragrance of this lovely flower seems wafted down to us through the myriads of ages since it bloomed4 ,dr4 ,arthur ,hollick1 in his paper1 8,a ,fossil ,petal and a ,fruit from the ,cretaceous 7,dakota ,group7 of ,kansas10 in ,contributions from the ,new ,york ,botanical ,garden1 ,no4 #ca1 says1 on page #ajb3 8,included in a collection of fossil-plant remains from the ,cretaceous 7,dakota ,group7 of ,kansas1 recently obtained by the ,new ,york ,botanical ,garden from ,charles ,h4 ,sternberg of ,lawrence1 ,kansas1 are two exceedingly interesting specimens1--one representing a large petal1 the other a fleshy fruit4 ,petals are exceedingly rare1 and ,i am not acquainted with any published figure of anything of the kind which can compare with ours in regard to either size or satisfactory condition of preservation40 ,of the fig1 the ,doctor remarks3 8,the fruit is plainly that of a fig1 and1 although some twenty-three species of ,ficus have been described from the ,dakota ,group1 they were based upon leaf impressions4 ,this fossil has every appearance of many dried herbarium specimens1 and it is evident that it must have possessed considerable consistency in order to retain its original shape1 as it has done to a certain extent1 under the pressure to which it must have been subjected40 ,in #ahhh ,i sent over three thousand leaf impressions from the ,dakota sandstone to ,dr4 ,lesquereux1 and he selected from them over three hundred and fifty typical specimens1 many of them new1 for the ,national ,museum4 ,hundreds of others1 identified by him1 were afterwards purchased by ,r4 ,d4 ,lacoe1 of ,pittston1 ,pa41 and presented to the ,museum4 ,so feeble had the great botanist become in these last years of his life1 that friends passed before his failing eyes the trays containing these great collections4 ,in my estimation1 ,america can show no life more unselfishly devoted to science than that of ,lesquereux1 probably the most scholarly and conscientious botanist of his day4 ,he once wrote me that he received a salary of five dollars a day from the ,u4 ,s4 ,geological ,survey1 and out of this he had to pay his artist4 ,he labored with unfailing enthusiasm to complete his monumental work1 8,the ,flora of the ,dakota ,group10 but by the irony of fate1 he never saw his beloved book in print4 ,it was published by the ,government five years after his death1 under the able editorship of ,dr4 ,f4 ,h4 ,knowlton4 ,he passed away at the age of eighty-three4 8,born in the heart of ,switzerland's mountain grandeur10 he once said1 8my associations have been almost all of a scientific nature4 ,i have lived with nature1--the rocks1 the trees1 the flowers4 ,they know me1 ,i know them4 ,everything else is dead to me40 ,illustration ,columbus ,o #adth ,april #ge ,mr ,ch4 ,sternberg ,fort ,harker ,my dearest ,i much approve of your purpose of studying medicine4 ,your taste for natural history will help you much and encourage you4 ,but allow me still to say to you as a friend would do that you can not expect to become useful to others and to yourself in science except by hard work1 pursued with patience and a final purpose4 ,science is a high mountain4 ,to go up to its top or at least high enough to gain free atmosphere and wide horizon necessitates hard climbing1 through brushes1 thickets1 rocks1 etc4 ,then when from the beginning look around for commodious and soft paths merely enter the gloom of the woods at the base4 ,they are seen from nobody and see nothing but undistinct forms and because there horizon is thus liberated to darkness they think there is nothing else and nothing more to learn from high above toward the top of the mountain4 ,moreover there is not a true hard step as ,science or in life which does not give its reward in one way or another4 ,while we have not a single moment of lazziness of unmerited comfortable rest1 which does not bring us some kind of disappointment and has sent of be fraid by a little more trouble and word4 ,yours very truly ,l4 ,lesquereux ,it was my good fortune to be in constant correspondence with ,lesquereux1 and his letters1 which ,i need not say ,i prize highly1 have done more1 perhaps1 than any other thing to fix my determination that1 come what might1 ,i would be a fossil hunter and add my quota to human knowledge4 ,the letter here reproduced has been as a lodestar to lead me on past all discouragements in the path which as a boy of seventeen ,i set out to follow4 ,may it shed light upon the life of some other straggler6 ,in #ahig1 not having the means to go into the vertebrate fields of western ,kansas1 ,i spent three months in the ,dakota ,group1 although ,i knew that ,i had already supplied most of the museums of the world with examples of its flora1 and that there was little interest in or demand for the leaves4 ,i secured over three thousand leaves1 however1 and paid first-class freight on them to my home at ,lawrence4 ,then ,i hauled them out to my little twenty-acre farm1 four miles southeast of town1 and pitched my #i #i wall-tent for a workshop1 flooring it and putting up a stove4 ,there ,i worked from ,november to ,may1 standing on my feet on an average of fourteen hours a day1 with my face to the opening of the tent for light1 and my back to the stove4 ,at night ,i worked over a coal-oil lamp4 ,with a chisel-edged hammer weighing two ounces1 ,i trimmed off the rough stone from the margin of the nodules1 as illustrated in the woodcuts by ,christian ,weber of ,new ,york 7,fig4 #e1 c1 d1 e1 and f71 a labor of love on his part1 for which ,i am deeply grateful4 ,i smoothed down the rock with emery-stone also1 and with a ,no4 #a needle pried away the stone from the petioles1 leaving the impression as if it were the leaf itself standing up in bold relief1 thus bringing out all its beauty4 ,one of my neighbors1 after examining the prepared specimens1 remarked1 8,you must have taken a long time to carve those things4 ,why1 they look just like leaves60 ,when no more loving labor could be bestowed on them without risk of injuring the specimens1 ,i laid them away in trays1 to be numbered and identified4 ,i knew that some authorities demanded the specimens in payment for the labor of identification1 and as ,i had to make a living out of my work1 this would never do for me4 ,so after ,lesquereux's death ,i undertook the work of identification myself1 although ,i confess it hurt my conscience1 as ,i had never had the training of a botanical authority4 ,i was greatly relieved1 therefore1 when1 after selling two hundred and fifty specimens to the ,new ,york ,botanical ,gardens1 ,i asked ,dr4 ,arthur ,hollick whether my identifications were correct1 to receive the answer that upon a casual examination he could find no reason to make any changes in my names4 ,i was certainly much encouraged by such words from this eminent authority in fossil botany4 ,to return to my great collection from the ,dakota ,group1 ,i spent nine months of incessant labor upon it1 and my readers may be surprised to learn that ,i was delighted when ,professor ,macbride1 of the ,university of ,iowa1 purchased it for the munificent sum of three hundred and fifty dollars1 the price ,i put upon it4 ,my delight was even greater when ,i received the following letter1 which is now and was then more highly prized than the check which it enclosed4 ,,state ,,university ,,of ,,iowa4 ,,botany4 ,iowa ,city1 ,iowa1 ,may #a1 #ahih4 ,,dear ,,mr4 ,,sternberg3 ,the boxes are all safely here4 ,we have at present no place for the display of the specimens1 but have opened the first three cases and are delighted with the beauty of the material4 ,i hope next year to have a case for fossil plants1 when ,i shall certainly make a display of these beautiful leaves1 and quote you as collector4 ,i should think the ,national ,museum would give you employment all the time4 ,i trust you may have a pleasant and profitable summer1 and if in future ,i can in any way serve you1 kindly advise me4 ,very truly yours1 ,,thomas ,k4 ,,macbride4 ,this small sum enabled me to go with my son ,george into the chalk of ,kansas1 where we discovered the splendid specimen of a mosasaur1 now in the museum of ,iowa ,university4 ,but for the timely assistance given me when ,i most needed help1 it is doubtful whether ,iowa would have secured this treasure4 ,my months of patient labor on the leaves had convinced the authorities that my work on the mosasaur would be faithfully done4 ,before closing this account of my work in the ,dakota ,group1 ,i should like to say a few words about the manner in which the nodules are formed around leaf impressions1 a subject of which ,i have made a careful study during years of exploration4 ,the illustrations 7,fig4 #e1 a and b7 show the nodules before they are opened1 and the open specimens before they have been trimmed1 as in the other cuts4 ,the mother rock1 or matrix1 as it is called1 from which these concretions come1 is quite soft and easily disintegrates into yellowish sand under the influences of the weather4 ,through this yellowish sandstone are scattered countless leaf impressions and their counterparts1 but on account of the softness of the matrix it is impossible to work out any leaves from the inside of the rock masses1 and we should lose them altogether were it not for the following natural process3 ,falling from the trees that grew along the shore of the ,cretaceous ,ocean1 these leaves were covered with sand by the incoming tide4 ,some1 falling stem first1 were turned over into a ,u-shape2 others are found lying flat1 and others again at various angles4 ,the sand1 accumulating through the years1 finally became consolidated1 and1 being in course of time exposed to the air1 began to 8weather40 ,in the meantime the iron coloring matter of the vegetation had been dissolved out by the water and distributed through the rock mass4 ,as the rock weathers away1 the leaf impressions are hardened by the iron that has been dissolved out of the sandy mass by water holding acids in solution4 ,as the soft rock about them continues to wear away1 the nodules begin to appear above the surface1 at first only as bumps slightly elevated above the surrounding rock1 but in time as complete concretions1 with the form of the leaves imprisoned within1 which are left standing on pedestals no thicker than a lead pencil4 ,then the first storm of rain or hail breaks them from their moorings2 they become independent1 are reduced in size1 and constantly hardened1 so that often a nodule is almost pure iron ore a fraction of an inch in thickness4 ,so the process goes on and will continue until all the leaves within the parent rock have been protected by an iron envelope2 and it is this natural process alone which can save these beautiful impressions from falling to pieces when the sand is freed from the rock by disintegration4 ,the locality from which ,i collected these specimens ,i have named the ,betulites locality1 on account of the abundance of birch leaves of many varieties which have been found there4 ,it was discovered by the late ,judge ,e4 ,p4 ,west1 collector for the ,university of ,kansas1 and ,professor ,lesquereux honored him by calling one species ,betulites westii4 ,he made a wonderful collection of ,dakota leaves for the ,university1 many of them new to science4 ,the locality is about a mile in length and tops the highest hills in ,ellsworth ,county4 ,i have no record of the thousands of fossil leaves ,i have collected from the sandstone of central ,kansas4 ,i have never kept a single specimen for myself1 although ,i love them dearly1 and it has often been hard to give them up4 ,but the object of my life has been to advance human knowledge1 and that could not be accomplished if ,i kept my best specimens to gratify myself4 ,they had to go1 and they went1 often for less than they cost me in labor and expense1 into the hands of those who could give authoritative knowledge of them to the world1 and preserve them in great museums for the benefit of all4 ,one thing ,i have demanded as my right1 in my opinion an inalienable right1 although ,i am sorry to say that there are those who have denied it to me1--,i demand that my name appear as collector on all the material which ,i have gathered from the rocks of the earth4 ,i might have sold to showmen or dealers2 in fact ,i have the assurance of one of the largest dealers in ,america that ,i made a great mistake in selling directly to museums instead of through him4 ,if ,i had done as he advised1 the thousands of fossils ,i have collected would have cost the museums fifty per cent4 more than they have1 and my work would have been measured by the money these dealers would have been pleased to allow me1 and ,i should never have been known as one of those who have devoted their lives to the advancement of paleontology4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,my ,,first ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,kansas ,,chalk1 #ahgf ,i spent the winter of #ahge and '#gf as a student at the ,kansas ,state ,agricultural ,college4 ,here a party was gathered to explore western ,kansas for fossils1 under the leadership of ,professor ,b4 ,f4 ,mudge1 the enthusiastic state geologist and a popular professor of the college4 ,the expedition was to be made under the auspices of ,professor ,o4 ,c4 ,marsh1 of ,yale ,college1 whose efforts have secured for that institution the largest collection perhaps in the world of ,american fossil vertebrates4 ,i made every effort in my power to secure a place in the party1 but failed1 as it was full when ,i applied4 ,it has always been hard1 however1 for me to give up what ,i have determined to accomplish2 so1 although almost with despair1 ,i turned for help to ,professor ,e4 ,d4 ,cope1 of ,philadelphia1 who was becoming so well known that a report of his fame had reached me at ,manhattan4 ,i put my soul into the letter ,i wrote him1 for this was my last chance4 ,i told him of my love for science1 and of my earnest longing to enter the chalk of western ,kansas and make a collection of its wonderful fossils1 no matter what it might cost me in discomfort and danger4 ,i said1 however1 that ,i was too poor to go at my own expense1 and asked him to send me three hundred dollars to buy a team of ponies1 a wagon1 and a camp outfit1 and to hire a cook and driver4 ,i sent no recommendations from well-known men as to my honesty or executive ability1 mentioning only my work in the ,dakota ,group4 ,i was in a terrible state of suspense when ,i had despatched the letter1 but1 fortunately1 the ,professor responded promptly1 and when ,i opened the envelope1 a draft for three hundred dollars fell at my feet4 ,the note which accompanied it said3 8,i like the style of your letter4 ,enclose draft4 ,go to work10 or words to the same effect4 ,that letter bound me to ,cope for four long years1 and enabled me to endure immeasurable hardships and privations in the barren fossil fields of the ,west2 and it has always been one of the joys of my life to have known intimately in field and shop the greatest naturalist ,america has produced4 ,as soon as the frost was out of the ground1 having secured a team of ponies and a boy to drive them1 ,i left ,manhattan and drove out to ,buffalo ,park1 where one of my brothers was the agent4 ,the only house1 beside the small station building1 was that occupied by the section men4 ,great piles of buffalo bones along the railroad at every station testified to the countless numbers of the animals slain by the white man in his craze for pleasure and money4 ,a buffalo hide was worth at that time about a dollar and a quarter4 ,here at ,buffalo ,i had my headquarters for many years4 ,a great windmill and a well of pure water1 a hundred and twenty feet deep1 made it a ,mecca for us fossil hunters after two weeks of strong alkali water4 ,at this well ,professor ,mudge's party and my own used to meet in peace after our fierce rivalry in the field as collectors for our respective paleontologists1 ,marsh and ,cope4 ,what vivid memories ,i have of that first expedition6--memories of countless hardships and splendid results4 ,i explored all the exposures of chalk from the mouth of ,hackberry ,creek1 in the eastern part of ,gove ,county1 to ,fort ,wallace1 on the south fork of the ,smoky ,hill1 a distance of a hundred miles1 as well as the region along the north and south forks of the ,soloman ,river4 ,when we left ,buffalo ,station1 we left civilization behind us4 ,we made our own wagon trails1 two of which especially were afterwards used by the settlers until the section lines were constructed4 ,one of them ran directly south1 crossing ,hackberry ,creek about fifteen miles from the railroad1 at a point where there was a spring of pure water--a rare and valuable find in that region4 ,we camped here many times1 and made such a good trail that it was used for years4 ,our second trail extended across the country1 striking ,hackberry ,creek where ,gove ,city now stands1 and led over ,plum ,creek ,divide1 whose high ledges of yellow chalk served us as a landmark for twenty miles4 ,from this point we could see ,monument ,rocks1 and near them the remains of an old one-company post on the ,santa ,f ,trail4 ,our trail then led up the ,smoky ,hill to the mouth of ,beaver ,creek1 on the eastern edge of ,logan ,county1 and followed the old road as far west as ,wallace4 ,prairie-dog villages extended west along all the water courses1 and open prairies to the state line1 and we were rarely out of sight of herds of antelope and wild horses4 ,near the present site of ,gove ,city1 on the south side of ,hackberry ,creek1 there is a long ravine with perpendicular banks ten feet or more in height4 ,this ravine was at that time used as a natural corral by some men who made a business of capturing these wild ponies by following them night and day1 keeping them away from their watering places1 and giving them no chance to graze1 until they were exhausted4 ,they were then easily driven into the ravine and roped2 after which they were picketed on the prairie and soon became tame4 ,these wild horses were swift travelers1 and the most graceful of all the wild animals of the ,west1 being distinguished for the beauty of their flowing manes and tails4 ,there was constant danger from ,indians1 and in order that we might escape as much as possible the eagle eye of some scout who might be passing through the country1 our tent and wagon-sheet were of brown duck4 ,this blended with the dry1 brown buffalo grass1 as we traveled from canyon to canyon1 and could not be distinguished very far even by the trained eye of an ,indian4 ,i never carried my rifle with me4 ,i left it in camp or in the wagon1 for ,i soon decided that ,i could not hunt ,indians and fossils at the same time1 and ,i was there for fossils4 ,i had no unpleasant experiences with ,indians1 however1 although ,i came very near it once4 ,it was one day late in ,june1 when we were about three miles north of ,monument ,rocks4 ,a gentle rain early in the morning had taken the glare from the chalk cliffs1 and as this is a circumstance favorable to the discovery of fossils1 ,i shouldered my pick and started down the canyon1 eagerly scanning the rocks on either side4 ,about a mile below camp ,i was startled to come upon a pony trail1 so deeply cut into the soft chalk that ,i knew each horse must be carrying a burden4 ,it had been made within the hour1 and as ,i was anxious to find out what it meant1 ,i took the back trail to the river4 ,there ,i found that a large band of warriors had sought shelter from the rain in a willow thicket1 tying bunches of the twigs together and throwing deer or antelope skins over them to shed the water4 ,they had squatted within these shelters until the storm had passed1 and then cooked their breakfasts1 as the live coals in many of the ash heaps testified4 ,there were no squaws or children along2 it makes no difference whether women are white or red1 they always lose some of their belongings wherever they go1 and there was none of such property at this camp4 ,the ponies had been tied to the bushes and not allowed to graze1 showing that the party had not expected to camp here1 but had simply taken shelter from the rain to avoid the discomfort of traveling with wet buckskin moccasins and leggings4 ,i learned later that it was a large band of ,kiowas1 ,cheyennes1 and ,arapahoes1 under their famous chief1 ,crazy ,horse1 going north to join commands with ,sitting ,bull1 in ,montana4 ,the chalk beds which were the field of my labors once composed the floor of the old ,cretaceous ocean1 and consist almost entirely of the remains of microscopic organisms1 which must have fairly swarmed in the water4 ,they were discovered by the late ,dr4 ,bunn1 of ,lawrence1 while a student in the laboratories of the ,kansas ,state ,university1 after ,dana and others had said there was no chalk in ,america4 ,when the animals that inhabited this ocean died or were killed1 their carcasses1 buoyed up by the gases that formed after death1 floated about on the surface of the water1 losing a limb here1 a head there1 a trunk or tail somewhere else4 ,these detached fragments1 sinking to the bottom1 were covered by the soft ooze of the ocean floor1 and remained there as fossils1 while the sedimentary rock was being lifted three thousand feet above sea level4 ,my explorations began on ,hackberry ,creek1 where ,i went over every inch of the exposed chalk1 from the creek's mouth to its head1 in ,logan ,county4 ,then ,i searched the river and the ravines that cut into its drainage area along the flanks of the divides4 99 99 99 99 99 ,perhaps a description of a typical day's experience in one of the long ravines that gash the southern slope of the country may be of interest to my readers4 ,human beings1 in order to accomplish any result of moment1 must be reasonably comfortable1 that is1 they must not be over-hungry or thirsty or sleepy4 ,if they are1 their minds will dwell upon their discomforts1 and they will accomplish little1 as the hungry boy1 who keeps turning his head in the direction of the sun and wondering whether it is not almost dinner-time1 is not likely to hoe much corn4 ,my first step1 therefore1 must be to find water and pitch a camp4 ,but often ,i have no idea where water is to be found1 and must give as much care to the search as if ,i were looking for fossils4 ,so while the driver follows me with the wagon1 ,i hunt for water and fossils at the same time4 ,both sides of my ravine are bordered with cream-colored1 or yellow1 chalk1 with blue below4 ,sometimes for hundreds of feet the rock is entirely denuded and cut into lateral ravines1 ridges1 and mounds1 or beautifully sculptured into tower and obelisk4 ,sometimes it takes on the semblance of a ruined city1 with walls of tottering masonry1 and only a near approach can convince the eye that this is only another example of that mimicry in which nature so frequently indulges4 ,the chalk beds are entirely bare of vegetation1 with the exception of a desert shrub that 8finds a foothold in the rifted rock0 and sends its roots down every crevice4 ,this shrub is one of the fossil hunter's worst enemies4 ,sending its roots down the clefts in the rock1 it searches out the fossil bones that have been preserved there1 and feasts upon them until they have been entirely consumed1 thus thriving at the expense of ,god's buried dead4 ,more fine fossil vertebrates have been destroyed by this plant than by the denudation of the rock1 or the vandal hand of man1 although both of the latter have been powerful factors in the destruction of fossils4 ,in those days1 however1 there were no curiosity hunters to dig up the precious relics1 so that they were more abundant than they are now4 ,all this time ,i am wandering along the canyon in search of water4 ,sometimes ,i come upon gorges only two feet wide and fifty feet deep2 sometimes for five miles or more the sides of the ravine will be only a few feet high4 ,i know that there is water at the river1 but it is so far away from my work that ,i go on and on in the hope of finding some nearer at hand4 ,dinnertime comes1 and the day is so hot that perspiration flows from every pore4 ,a howling south wind rises and fills our eyes with clouds of pure lime dust1 inflaming them almost beyond human endurance4 ,still no water4 ,the driver1 with horses famishing for it1 makes frantic gestures to me to hurry4 ,to ease my parched lips and swelling tongue1 ,i roll a pebble around in my mouth1 or1 if the season is propitious1 allay my thirst with the acid juice of a red berry that grows in the ravines4 ,after hours of search1 ,i find in moist ground the borings of crawfishes2 with line and sinker ,i measure the depth to water a couple of feet below in these miniature wells4 ,the welcome signal is given to ,will1 the driver1 and he digs a well1 so that both man and beast may be supplied4 ,if ,i could sum up all the sufferings ,i endured in the chalk fossil fields1 ,i should say that ,i suffered more from the lack of good drinking water than from all the other ills combined4 ,except when we were in the vicinity of one of the half-dozen springs that are scattered about over an expanse of country a hundred miles long and forty wide1 the only water that we had to drink was alkali water1 which has the same effect upon the body as a solution of ,epsom salts1 constantly weakening the system4 ,yet whole neighborhoods of settlers to this day have no other water for themselves or their beasts1 and they show the deteriorating effects in their faces and their walk4 ,if ,i have found1 scattered along a wash1 the bones of some fossil fish or reptile1 as soon as we have pitched camp and eaten our meal of antelope meat1 hot biscuits1 and coffee1 we both return with pick and shovel1 and1 carefully saving each weathered fragment1 trace the remains to where the rest of the bones lie in situ1 as the scientists say1--that is1 in their original position in their rocky sepulcher4 ,then comes the work in the hot sun1 whose rays are reflected with added fervor from the glaring surface of the chalk4 ,every blow of the pick loosens a cloud of chalk dust1 which is carried by the wind into our eyes4 ,but we labor on with unfailing enthusiasm until we have laid bare a floor space upon which ,i can stretch myself out at full length4 ,lying there on the blistering chalk in the burning sun1 and working carefully and patiently with brush and awl1 ,i uncover enough of the bones so that ,i can tell what ,i have found1 and so that when ,i cut out the rock which holds them ,i shall not cut into the bones themselves4 ,after they have been traced1 if they lie in good1 hard rock1 a ditch is cut around them1 and by repeated blows of the pick1 the slab which contains them is loosened4 ,this is then securely wrapped and strengthened with plaster or with burlap bandages that have been dipped in plaster of the consistency of cream4 ,in the case of large specimens1 boards are put lengthwise to assist in strengthening the material1 so that it will bear transportation4 ,later ,i hope to tell of a method1 originated by me1 by which the most delicate fossil1 even if preserved in very loose1 friable rock1 may be detached and transported safely4 ,so1 as a hunter will follow the deer1 through thickets and over rocks1 forgetting hunger and cold and thirst in his anxiety to get a glimpse of his game1 that he may add its antlers to his list of trophies1 we fossil hunters1 ,professor ,mudge's party and my own1 sought our prey over miles and miles of barren chalk beds1 cheerfully enduring countless discomforts4 ,urged on by enthusiasm and the desire to secure finer and finer material1 ,i went over every inch of the acres of exposed chalk along these ravines and creeks1 hoping each moment to find stretched before my delighted eyes a complete skeleton of one of those old sea serpents described by ,cope1 or a specimen of that wonderful ,pteranodon1 or toothless flying reptile1 whose wing expanse was twenty feet or more4 ,all day1 from the first streak of light until the last level ray forced me to leave the work1 ,i toiled on1 forgetting the heat and the miserable thirst and the alkali water1 forgetting everything but the one great object of my life--to secure from the crumbling strata of this old ocean bed the fossil remains of the fauna of ,cretaceous ,times4 ,the incessant labor1 however1 had a weakening effect upon my system so that ,i fell a victim to malaria1 and when a violent attack of shaking ague came on1 ,i felt as if fate were indeed against me4 ,i remember how1 one day1 when ,i was in the midst of a shaking fit1 ,i found a beautiful specimen of a ,kansas mosasaur4 ,clidastes tortor ,cope named it1 because an additional set of articulations in the backbone enabled it to coil4 ,its head lay in the center1 with the column around it1 and the four paddles stretched out on either side4 ,it was covered by only a few inches of disintegrated chalk4 ,forgetting my sickness1 ,i shouted to the surrounding wilderness1 8,thank ,god6 ,thank ,god60 ,and ,i did well to thank the ,creator1 as ,i slowly brushed away the powdered chalk and revealed the beauties of this reptile of the ,age of ,reptiles4 ,its snake-like tail and flexible movements caused it to appear to ,cope a veritable serpent1 so that he put it in his new sub-order ,pythonomorpha4 ,i well remember the terrible journey over the rough sod to the station with this specimen4 ,i was seized with another attack of ague1 and as ,i jolted about in the bottom of the wagon1 ,i thought that my head would surely burst4 ,little ,i cared1 though1 so that ,i got my beloved fossil to the ,professor4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #f4--,,skull ,,and ,,front ,,limb ,,of ,clidastes tortor4 ,as collected and preserved by ,charles ,sternberg4 7,now mounted in the ,carnegie ,museum47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #g4--,,skeleton ,,of ,clidastes tortor4 7,in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #h4--,,skeleton ,,of ,,ram-,,nosed ,,tylosaur1 ,tylosaurus dyspelor4 7,in the ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,and ,i felt amply repaid for my sufferings when the next winter ,i laid out the skeleton on the platform of ,st4 ,george's ,hall1 in ,philadelphia1 where the ,professor spoke for an hour to a spellbound audience1 unfolding to them the wonders of the creatures that lived when this old world was young4 ,at the close1 which came suddenly1 as was usually the case in ,cope's speeches1 before the people had had time to come back from the misty past1 he turned to where ,i was sitting on a step1 and beckoned me to him4 ,when ,i got within reach1 he turned me around to the audience and said3 8,ladies and gentlemen1 allow me to introduce to you ,mr4 ,sternberg1 the man who found this beautiful example of the fauna of the ,cretaceous40 ,he was much pleased with the hearty applause that greeted me4 ,this incident illustrates one of the characteristics of ,cope which endeared him to all his collectors4 ,he did not think that the money he paid them paid for the dangers and privations they endured1 far from their friends and the comforts of civilization4 ,on the contrary1 he gave them credit in all his publications for their discoveries of species new to science4 ,and this is the one essential thing to the collector--at least the true collector who values his labor as something that cannot be measured by money4 ,all work done for science has a value above that of money4 ,lesquereux might have made money if he had remained a watchmaker1 and ,cope would have won a fortune as a ship-owner if he had entered his father's office1 but both men realized that there is work which offers higher rewards than riches2 they gave their lives to science1 and they will never be forgotten4 ,but we are far afield2 let us return to the plains and canyons of the ,kansas chalk beds4 ,i recall many trying experiences during that memorable first season4 ,often we got into barren ground and walked over miles and miles of blistering chalk with nothing to show for our trouble4 ,in one locality the remains might be very abundant1 while in another1 perhaps just as promising in appearance1 thousands of acres would be entirely barren4 ,but we had to go over it all before we could be sure that there was nothing to repay our toil4 ,once after two weeks of fruitless effort1 we drove into a deep canyon1 cut into the upper or reddish chalks near ,monument ,rocks1 which are so much richer in fossils than the yellow or whitish beds farther east4 ,i had barely pitched the tent and got among the beds when ,i discovered not only that ,i was the first collector to visit the canyon but that it was rich in fossil remains4 ,i found two specimens of ,platecarpus1 a species of ,kansas mosasaur1 in a low knoll1 separated by but three feet of chalk4 ,at the same time one of those uncomfortable cold rains set in1 and ,i was not much encouraged when ,will told me that we had no food left4 ,there was plenty of corn for the ponies1 but no coffee1 flour1 bacon1 or canned goods1 not even an antelope2 and we were forty miles from our base of supplies4 ,i would not leave1 however1 without my load of fossils1 as ,i feared that during my absence my rivals would come upon this ,eldorado and clean it out4 ,so the cook was told to parch a kettleful of corn1 and we made our meals on that4 ,in fact1 we filled our pockets with it and lived on it for three days1 eating most of the time to keep ourselves sufficiently nourished4 ,we had always depended for fuel upon the buffalo chips which even then were strewn about everywhere1 but fortunately we found here an old dead cottonwood tree1 a rare thing in that region1 where even the willows on the river banks are short and stunted4 ,but for this wood we should have suffered4 ,we remained there until we had loaded our wagon with eight hundred pounds of fossil vertebrates4 ,during the summer my constant use of a large butcher knife in cutting away the chalk from specimens caused a felon to form in the palm of my hand4 ,a fistula resulted1 and for ten days ,i slept but little1 and could not work in the field4 ,finally1 worn out by hard labor and constant attacks of ague1 ,i felt that my strength was failing1 and called on ,professor ,cope for an assistant4 ,he sent me ,j4 ,c4 ,isaac1 from ,illges ,ranch1 ,wyoming2 but matters were not much improved1 for ,mr4 ,isaac had but a short time before seen five of his companions shot down and scalped by a band of marauding ,indians1 and only the swiftness of his horse had saved him from the same fate4 ,consequently1 he saw an ,indian behind every bush2 and1 although ,i had never been afraid before even when ,i learned that a large party on the warpath had passed close to my camp1 now1 worn and tired as ,i was1 ,i became infected with his fears4 ,when ,i found that ,i could do nothing to get myself out of this mental condition and be of further use to the ,professor1 ,i wrote to him1 and was ordered home for rest1 to meet him later in ,omaha1 in company with ,mr4 ,isaac4 ,but before we return to civilization1 will my readers go with me on another expedition to these ,kansas chalk beds8 8,how fleet is a glance of the mind60 ,instead of an arid1 treeless plain1 covered with short grass1 a great semi-tropical ocean lies at our feet4 ,everywhere along the shores and estuaries are great forests of magnolia1 birch1 sassafras1 and fig1 while a vast expanse of blue water stretches southward4 8,but10 you ask1 8what is that animal at full length upon the water in that sheltered cove80 ,watch it a moment6 ,it raises a long conical head1 four feet in length and set firmly upon a neck of seven strongly spined vertebr4 ,this powerful head terminates in a long1 bony rostrum1 also conical in shape4 ,back of the neck are twenty-three large dorsal vertebr1 followed by six pygals1 as ,dr4 ,williston calls them1 to which the hind arches and paddles are attached4 ,the body terminates in an eel-like tail of over eighty elements1 each strengthened by a dorsal spine above and a ,v-shaped bone1 called a chevron1 below2 so that a vertical section of the lizard would have a diamond shape4 ,but see6 an enemy in the distance is attracting our reptile's attention4 ,it sets its four powerful paddles in motion1 and unrolling its forked tongue from beneath its windpipe1 throws it forward with a threatening hiss1 the only note of defiance it can raise4 ,the flexible body and long eel-like tail set up their serpentine motion1 and the vast mass of animal life1 over thirty feet in length1 rushes forward with ever-increasing speed through water that foams away on either side and gurgles in a long wake behind4 ,the great creature strikes its opponent with the impact of a racing yacht and piercing heart and lungs with its powerful ram1 leaves a bleeding wreck upon the water4 ,then raising its head and fore paddles into the air1 it bids defiance to the whole brute creation1 of which it is monarch4 ,a noble specimen of this great ram-nosed ,tylosaur is now mounted as a panel on the wall of the ,american ,museum1 in ,new ,york1 at the head of the stairs on the right 7,fig4 #h72 and a little further on1 is a splendid skull of the same species1 which ,i discovered on ,butte ,creek1 in ,logan ,county4 ,fig4 #i shows a restoration of this species4 ,doubtless many of the ankylosed bones which we fossil hunters often find in the chalk of the ,niobrara ,group of the ,cretaceous were broken by blows from these ram-nosed lizards4 ,we have in ,kansas three genera of these mosasaurs as the celebrated ,frenchman1 ,cuvier1 named them in #ahjh4 ,the word literally means a reptile of the ,meuse1 and it was given them because the first specimen ever found was taken from the quarries under the city of ,maestricht1 on the ,river ,meuse4 ,for this information1 and for much more as to the anatomy of the ,kansas mosasaurs1 ,i am indebted to ,dr4 ,williston's splendid work in ,volume ,,iv of the ,university ,geological ,survey of ,kansas3 ,paleontology1 ,part ,i2 although1 of course1 ,i obtained most of my knowledge from the hundreds of specimens which ,i collected myself4 ,among these are four especially fine specimens1 nearly complete1 of the flat-wristed ,platecarpus coryphus ,cope4 ,one of them ,i sent to the ,iowa ,state ,university1 with head1 column1 and limbs nearly in position1 and still bedded in their native chalk4 ,this fellow1 who was over eighteen feet long1 must have sunk so deep in the slimy mud of the ocean-bed that even the gases formed in his stomach could not lift his body to the surface4 ,a second specimen was sent to the ,british ,museum of ,natural ,history1 in ,london2 a third to ,munich1 ,bavaria1 and a fourth to the ,roemer ,museum1 in ,hildesheim1 ,germany4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #i4--,,ram-,,nosed ,,tylosaur1 ,tylosaurus dyspelor4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight4 7,from painting in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aj4--,,skull ,,of ,,the ,,flat-,,wristed ,,mosasaur1 ,platecarpus coryphus4 7,in the ,kansas ,state ,university47 ,this last specimen is the best ,i ever took from the ,kansas chalk until #aijg4 ,it is twenty-five feet long4 ,unfortunately1 the head was all washed away1 with the exception of the mandibles and a few bones of the skull4 ,the most remarkable feature of this specimen was the presence1 for the first time in my experience1 of the complete cartilaginous breastbone with the cartilaginous ribs1 which are very rare4 ,they were described for the first time from the noble ,bourne specimen1 by ,dr4 ,h4 ,f4 ,osborn1 of the ,american ,museum4 ,this mosasaur1 ,platecarpus1 is the most common species known1 and is almost as large as the big ,tylosaurus4 ,it differs from the latter1 however1 in the shape of the short1 strong paddles and the blunt rostrum4 ,the skull in the illustration 7,fig4 #aj7 is that of a very fine specimen1 one of my discoveries1 which was mounted by ,mr4 ,bunker1 of the natural history department in the ,kansas ,state ,university4 ,i have never seen a more complete skull1 or one that shows the height so well1 in any specimen1 unless it is the little ,clidastes velox1 in the ,kansas ,university collection4 ,you will notice the triangular shape of the head1 with the strong bones arching back to support the lower jaw by the pulley-like quadrate bone4 ,notice also that the suspensorium1 instead of curving down so that its groove fits over the rounded edge of the quadrate1 is straightened out4 ,this is caused by its having been flattened and distorted1 as nearly all fossils are1 by the immense pressure to which it has been subjected4 ,observe the conical shape of the head in front of the eye-rim1 terminating in the hard1 blunt rostrum4 ,it is believed by the authorities that a blow from this ram1 delivered at full speed1 would put an adversary out of commission4 ,but how did this creature feed itself1 when all its teeth are for grasping1 none for masticating8 ,and how did it hold its prey1 when it has no claw-armed fingers1 only weak paddles for swimming8 ,in answering these questions1 we shall describe two characteristics of the mosasaurs which differentiate them from all other reptiles4 ,if you will look closely at the photograph1 you will notice1 within the head1 and below the eye-socket1 a row of recurved teeth4 ,these are the teeth on the pterygoid bones1 which are located on either side of the roof of the mouth1 near the gullet1 and are provided with twelve teeth1 more or less4 ,the lower jaw with its powerful sweep on its fulcrum1 pressed the living prey firmly upon these teeth so that it could not come forward and escape4 ,then notice the ball-and-socket joint just back of the tooth-bearing bone or dentary1 of the lower jaw4 ,after the wriggling1 struggling prey had been fastened on the teeth in the roof of the mouth1 the mandibles were shortened by a spreading of this central joint1 and the victim was forcibly pushed down the throat4 ,the species ,clidastes velox of these ,kansas mosasaurs1 was1 as its name indicates1 very agile1 with beautiful bones of so firm a texture that they have suffered less than any of the other fossil vertebrates from the vast pressure to which they have been subjected1 not only from the enormous amount of material that has been heaped above them1 but from the still more powerful upward push which has raised their burial-place three thousand feet above sea level4 ,i sent one very beautiful specimen of ,clidastes to ,vassar ,college2 so complete1 in fact1 that it can be made into a panel mount4 ,i think no artist has more fully appreciated what these great reptiles must have been when alive than ,mr4 ,sidney ,prentice1 now of the ,carnegie ,museum1 whose beautiful restoration1 made to illustrate ,dr4 ,williston's work on ,kansas ,mosasaurs1 is here reproduced 7,fig4 #aa;b74 ,i am under obligations to him for the labor of his pencil4 ,he has certainly put life into this denizen of the old ,cretaceous ocean1 and ,i do not believe that anyone1 after a careful study of the skeleton1 could find any fault with the restoration1 from a scientific standpoint4 ,in this connection1 ,i should like also to call attention to the beautifully preserved skull ,i sent to the ,carnegie ,museum4 ,this specimen shows a complete side view of the head1 with mandibles and maxilla1 the teeth interlacing as perfectly as in life4 ,the sclerotic plates that protect the eyeball are also in natural position4 ,the luxuriant life of the ,cretaceous ocean was certainly remarkable4 ,fish swarmed everywhere1 and often1 as the specimens are uncovered1 the scales are picked up by the wind1 crumbled into dust1 and scattered in every direction4 ,among the most common of the fossil bones in those early days were those of a huge fish1 whose vertebr1 with fragments of heads and jaws1 were found in great abundance1 although no perfect specimen has been discovered4 ,professor ,cope1 who described this fish1 called it ,portheus molossus4 ,i secured a fine specimen on ,robinson's ranch1 in ,logan ,county4 ,it lay in a small exposure of chalk along a grassy hill slope1 within a stone's throw of the ranch buildings4 ,my son ,george was my assistant then1 and we got out this specimen in the month of ,november4 ,our boarding place was five miles away1 and every night the ground froze hard4 ,nothing daunted1 we went to work with a will4 ,the head and trunk region had already been uncovered1 and many of the ribs and spines had been swept away and lost4 ,we took up the head and front fins in a great slab of plaster1 as the chalk in which they lay had disintegrated under the influence of the frost4 ,a violent windstorm was raging at the time1 and to complete the slab1 ,george had to bring water from a tank a hundred yards away4 ,i can still see that boy running up with his pail of water1 trying to carry it so that it would not be emptied by the raging1 howling wind that was almost tearing his coat from his back1 while ,i stood and shouted1 8,hurry up6 ,the plaster's hardening60 ,the rest of the column1 to the tail1 we took up separately1 and as the great tail-fins and many of the caudal vertebr were present with their spines1 embedded in solid chalk1 we removed five feet of superincumbent rock1 cut a trench around the slab containing the bones1 and took it up by digging under it4 ,this made another huge mass to be handled4 ,the section containing the head weighed over six hundred pounds1 and this tail section almost as much4 ,the latter froze solid before we could get it up to the tent1 where we kept a fire burning to dry out the water from the bones and thus prevent the injurious effects of freezing4 ,i should like just here to express my gratitude to those ranchmen who gave their time and strength to assist me in handling these huge sections4 ,when they had been packed with excelsior in strong boxes1 a wagon was backed up against the level platform which we had made in throwing out the rock and soil that lay over the specimen4 ,the boxes were then set on edge1 and1 with the help of boards and rollers1 loaded into the wagon for shipment to the railroad thirty miles away4 ,but my troubles with this specimen were not over2 on the contrary1 they had just begun4 ,when the section containing the head was being raised on to a table in my shop it fell and its weight was so great that the head was badly shattered1 as was the plaster that secured the bones in place below4 ,then all through the winter1 while ,i was trying to dry out the specimen1 so that it could be cleaned and prepared for shipment1 the rats1 which inhabited the walls of the laboratory in great numbers1 kept pulling out the bran and excelsior that had been put around the delicate bones to protect them2 thus causing the broken plaster1 with the bones of the head1 to sink lower and lower1 as the packing was carried away from underneath4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aa4--,,restoration ,,of ,,kansas ,,cretaceous ,,animals4 7,from drawing by ,s4 ,prentice1 after ,williston47 a1 ,uintacrinus socialis2 b1 ,clidastes velox2 c1 ,ornithostoma ingens4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ab4--;,,giant ,,cretaceous ,,fish1 ,portheus molossus 7above71 compared with a six-foot modern ,tarpon 7below74 ,by courtesy of ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history4 ,driven to think out some plan of saving the specimen from destruction1 ,i conceived the idea of shoving a number of wooden pegs of various lengths under the broken fragments1 so as to push them up into their places and hold them firmly there4 ,all the excelsior was then taken away from beneath them1 a frame of lumber made around the section1 and the whole space filled with plaster which held all the broken bones in place4 ,in this specimen ,i found for the first time a complete column of eighty-five vertebr1 a very important find1 as these vertebr are of so nearly the same size that in restoring an incomplete specimen there was no way of estimating how many of them there ought to be1 and for anything to the contrary1 one might go on adding them indefinitely1 as a certain man in ,europe added an enormous number to his mounted specimen of a ,zeuglodon4 ,this now famous specimen is mounted above the ,bourne ,tylosaur1 in the corridor of the ,halls of ,paleontology1 at the ,american ,museum4 ,dr4 ,henry ,fairfield ,osborn1 in his report describing it1 says3 8,the noble specimen of which a preliminary description is here given1 adds another to the many services which ,mr4 ,charles ,h4 ,sternberg has rendered to vertebrate paleontology4 ,it was secured by him in the year #aijj1 near ,elkader1 ,logan ,county1 ,kansas4 ,originally the specimen had been probably complete1 but portions of the skeleton1 especially the ribs and spines1 were injured and partly removed by previous explorers4 ,the fish was purchased by the ,museum in #aija1 and mounted and partly restored1 under the direction of the writer1 by ,adam ,hermann1 with the able assistance of ,mr4 ,a4 ,e4 ,anderson4 ,total length1 from tip of tail to a point directly above premaxillaries1 #ae feet1 #h inches4 ,length of skull1 #b feet1 #b inches4 ,spread of tail1 #c feet1 #i inches40 7,fig4 #ab47 ,at the time it was mounted1 this great predaceous fish of the ,cretaceous was said to be the most striking example of a fossil fish in any museum of the world4 ,since that day1 however1 a still finer one has been sent to the ,carnegie ,museum4 ,this specimen is much superior to that at the ,american ,museum1 as the ribs1 spines1 pelvic fins1 arches1 and anal fin are in position4 ,i should certainly be guilty of a great injustice to my friend and the friend of paleontology1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,o4 ,bourne1 of ,scott ,city1 whose name has already appeared in these pages in connection with the great ,tylosaur in the ,american ,museum1 if ,i did not give him due credit for his share in the securing of this specimen4 ,he discovered the splendid fish and tumbled a small mountain over on top of it to hide it4 ,then he kindly gave it to me1 and after much digging1 my son was able to get trace of it4 ,mr4 ,bourne showed his wisdom in thus covering it up1 not only from the elements1 but also from man1 who1 out of curiosity1 has destroyed some splendid examples of creative power4 ,i shall mention one or two as object lessons before ,i complete this history4 ,but let us put life into this fish1 whose bones now lie in the ,carnegie ,museum4 ,we are back again where the two mosasaurs did battle royal for our enjoyment4 ,watch that ripple6 ,it is caused by a shoal of mackerel scurrying in toward shallow water1 in a mighty column five feet deep4 ,they are flying for their lives1 for they have seen behind them their most terrible enemy1 a monster fish with a muzzle like a bulldog's1 and huge fangs three inches long projecting from its mouth4 ,two rows of horrid teeth1 one above and one below1 complete its armature4 ,the great jaws1 fourteen inches long and four deep1 move on a fulcrum1 and when they have dropped to seize a multitude of these little fish1 they close with a vise-like power4 ,the crushed and mangled remains pass down a cavernous throat to appease a voracious appetite4 ,the powerful front fins are armed with an outer ray that moves on a joint in the pectoral arch1 a long recurved piece of solid bone1 enameled on the outer side and more powerful as a weapon than a cavalryman's sword4 ,this single-edged sword is three feet long1 and commands the respect of its owner's enemies1 the great saurians1 or ,kansas mosasaurs4 ,our fish has only to swim up close to the abdomen of a sleeping reptile1 and lay it open for several feet with one sudden stroke4 ,if that is not sufficient1 a slap of the powerful tail1 with a span of nearly four feet1 finishes the work4 ,but see6 nearer and nearer the great fish comes1 mouthful after mouthful of the fishes falling into its horrid jaws4 ,it must be starving2 so eager is it for its prey that it seems unconscious of the fact that the tide has turned and is moving outward4 ,now it discovers its danger and turns1 but too late4 ,the water has gone back to the deep1 leaving it struggling for breath in a shallow pool4 ,it thrashes wildly about with its tail1 whose sticky secretions help to envelop it more and more thickly with mud and slime1 until at last its struggles cease4 ,and then the scene changes4 ,the old ocean disappears1 and we stand1 ,george and ,i1 three thousand feet above sea level1 on ,hay ,creek1 in ,logan ,county1 among crumbling ruins of denuded and eroded chalk2 and working with pick and shovel in the burning sun1 we bring the mighty carcass once more to the light of day4 ,but ,i hope to take my readers into this field again1 and will pass on now to my expedition in the ,bad ,lands with ,professor ,cope4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,expedition ,,with ,,professor ,,cope ,,to ,,the ,,bad ,,lands ,,of ,,the ,,upper ,,cretaceous1 #ahgf ,about the first of ,august1 #ahgf1 ,mr4 ,isaac and ,i were in ,omaha1 awaiting the arrival of ,professor ,cope from ,philadelphia4 ,we met him at the depot1 and ,i remember his watching me with astonishment as ,i limped along the street on my crippled leg4 ,at last1 turning to ,isaac1 whom he knew to be a horseman1 he asked1 8,can ,mr4 ,sternberg ride a horse80 ,isaac answered3 8,i've seen him mount a pony bareback and cut out one of his mares from a herd of wild horses40 ,that satisfied the ,professor1 and when we got to ,montana1 he gave me the worst-tempered pony in the bunch4 ,we were soon hurrying along over the treeless plains of ,nebraska1 gaining in altitude every hour1 until we reached the highlands of the ,great ,divide1 and plunged down into ,weber and ,echo canyons1 whose forests are dwarfed into miniatures by the majesty of the mountains about them4 ,it was the first time that ,i had ever been among these stupendous cliffs and ranges1 and ,i held my breath for very wonder as they unfolded before my astonished vision4 ,they soon became familiar sights enough1 but never1 even when ,i gazed every day upon the three ,tetons1 with the snow glistening in their gorges in midsummer1 or upon the mighty ranges of the ,rockies1 did ,i lose my feeling of awe at the power here displayed by the almighty ,architect who carved these wonderful canyons and set these towering peaks as solemn sentinels over the works of ,his hands4 ,we had the pleasure of ,mrs4 ,cope's company as far as ,ogden4 ,then we three men1 taking the narrow-gauge railway1 went on to ,franklin1 ,idaho4 ,here the most uncomfortable journey ,i have ever experienced awaited us1--six hundred miles in a ,concord coach1 through the dry1 barren plains of ,idaho4 ,our six horses raised clouds of fine dust1 which penetrated our clothing and filled our eyes and ears1 and1 sticking to the perspiration that oozed from every pore1 soon gave us the appearance of having the jaundice4 ,i cannot begin to describe the discomforts of that terrible ride4 ,we traveled ten miles an hour1 day and night1 stopping only for meals1 which cost us a dollar each1 and consisted of hot soda biscuit1 black coffee1 bacon1 and mustard1 without butter1 milk1 or eggs4 ,if1 worn out from continued loss of sleep1 we dozed off for a moment1 a sudden lurch of the coach into a chuck-hole would break our heads against a post or a neighbor's head4 ,i remember that once when the ,professor was almost exhausted from lack of sleep ,i took his head in my arms and held it there1 so that he might get a few hours' rest4 ,i should like here to express my gratitude to the fellow passengers who so often gave me a seat by the driver1 where1 buttoned in by the leathern apron1 ,i got more than my share of sleep4 ,when we reached the mountains1 the beauty of the scenery and the absence of dust made the journey more endurable1 but we had to walk up all the steep ascents4 ,at ,helena we laid off for a few days4 ,there the news was fresh from the battle-field1 of ,custer and the brave men who had followed him to death4 ,a letter of his1 written just before he entered the valley of death1 was read to us by the proprietor of the hotel4 ,i remember one sentence of it3 8,we have found the ,indians1 and are going in after them4 ,we may not come out alive40 ,all was excitement1 and the ,professor was strongly advised against the folly of going into the neutral ground between the ,sioux and their hereditary enemies1 the ,crows4 ,a member of either tribe might kill us1 and lay our death to the other tribe4 ,cope1 however1 reasoned that now was our time to go into this region1 since every able-bodied ,sioux would be with the braves under ,sitting ,bull1 while the squaws and children would be hidden away in some fastness of the mountains4 ,there would be no danger for us1 he argued1 until the ,sioux were driven north by the soldiers who were gathering under ,terry and ,crook for the final struggle4 ,judging from past experience1 he concluded that we should have nearly three months in which to make our collections in peace4 ,we would leave the field1 he said1 when we learned that the great chief was being so closely pressed as to be forced to seek safety in flight to the soil of ,great ,britain1 across the ,sweet ,grass ,mountains into ,assiniboia4 ,his judgment proved good4 ,it was not until ,november1 when a heavy snowstorm had covered both the fossil fields and grass for the ponies1 that ,sitting ,bull gave up the unequal struggle against cold and the ,boys in ,blue1 and retreated to a more friendly soil4 ,at ,fort ,benton we found a typical frontier town of that day1--streets paved with playing-cards1 and whisky for sale in open saloons and groceries4 ,our presence had been heralded abroad during our stay in ,helena1 and the ,professor had difficulty in securing an outfit without paying an exorbitant price for it ,they knew him to be a stranger1 and they 8took him in40 ,finally1 however1 he secured four horses for the wagon4 ,the wheelers were worn-out mustangs1 which we were obliged to punish constantly to keep at work1 while one of the leaders1 a fine four-year-old colt1 had to be knocked down half a dozen times before he could be taught not to balk and strike out with his fore feet at everyone who came within reach4 ,the other leader1 old ,major1 was as true as steel1 and often saved the day1 doing his duty nobly in spite of the miserable company in which he was forced to work4 ,the first night ,mr4 ,isaac and ,i slept outside the town1 with the four wagon horses and the three saddle ponies1 which were all picketed with new rope4 ,in the middle of the night1 we heard an animal groaning1 and rushed out1 to find our four-year-old cut fearfully beneath the fetlocks by the ropes4 ,we had to cut him loose1 help him up1 and bind his wounds4 ,he was able to travel the next day1 however1 and his accident was not altogether a misfortune1 as he was too sore for some time afterwards to show his natural disposition4 ,we drove down to the mouth of the ,judith ,river1 opposite ,claggett1 where an ,indian trader had a store inclosed in a stockade4 ,here we went into camp4 ,across the river were the lodges of two thousand ,crow ,indians1 who were preparing for their annual buffalo hunt in this neutral ground1 where ,sioux and ,crow alike buried the hatchet while they hunted the game that was their principal sustenance4 ,mr4 ,isaac1 with the dread of the ,redman still in his heart1 insisted that we must protect the camp by standing guard over it turn and turn about1 and to pacify him1 the guard was mounted4 ,i took the first turn1 and ,mr4 ,isaac the second4 ,the ,professor did me the honor of sharing his tent with me1 and we were just dozing off when we heard ,mr4 ,isaac shout 8,halt60 ,looking out1 we saw an ,indian approaching1 with his squaw behind him1 the moonlight bringing out their forms in bold relief4 8,halt6 ,halt60 called ,isaac1 leveling his ,winchester1 but the ,indian1 followed by his faithful squaw1 continued to advance up to the very muzzle of the gun1 repeating1 8,me good ,indian6 ,me good ,indian60 ,cope dressed and went out1 and found that the ,indian had mistaken us for illicit whisky dealers1 and come over to get a supply4 ,the ,professor told the man to go to sleep under the wagon1 and at daylight to recross and invite half a dozen of the principal chiefs to breakfast with us4 ,the two ,indians lay down and went to sleep as directed1 but they had just begun to snore peacefully when ,isaac's turn at guard duty was over1 and he came to the wagon to wake the cook1 a slow1 heavy man1 whose fat cheeks had induced the ,professor to believe that he could cook digestible food4 ,the scout ,cope had hired was not on hand1 although he1 as well as the cook1 had demanded his pay in advance before he would accompany us4 ,after much growling1 the cook got up1 and remembering that he had left his shoes under the wagon1 went to get them and came upon the sleeping beauties4 ,without more ado1 he seized their dirty blanket in both hands and coolly hauled them out on to the open prairie4 ,after which he proceeded to get his shoes4 ,at four o'clock in the morning it was ,cope's turn to go on guard4 ,he was awakened1 but as his ,spencer carbine was at the bottom of his trunk1 and perhaps1 too1 because he was a ,friend1 and did not believe in war1 he refused to get up2 and we slept in safety the rest of the night without a guard4 ,just before breakfast the ,professor1 as was his custom1 was washing his set of false teeth in a basin of water1 when a party of six stalwart chieftains strode up in single file1 in answer to his invitation through the brave we had entertained4 ,quickly slipping the teeth into his mouth1 ,cope advanced with a smiling face to greet his guests1 who shouted as one man1 8,do it again6 ,do it again60 ,he repeated the performance for them again and again1 much to their mystification4 ,after they had tried to pull out their own and each other's teeth1 and had failed1 they settled down to breakfast4 ,the cook poured out their coffee for them1 and when they had had enough they shouted1 8,when60 ,we never knew whether this hospitality was of any benefit to us1 as the whole tribe went on their buffalo hunt1 and we saw no more of them1 but very likely their chiefs forbade petty stealing from our camp1 for we lost nothing4 ,we crossed the ,missouri1 here a clear1 sparkling stream1 and the ,judith ,river1 and went into camp in the narrow valley of ,dog ,creek1 in the midst of the fossil fields which we had come so far and at such risks to explore4 ,all about us stretched the interminable labyrinths of the ,bad ,lands4 ,above us lay twelve hundred feet of denuded rock1 which ,cope at that time believed to belong to several formations4 ,the rock consists of great beds of black shale1 which disintegrates on the surface into a fine1 black dust4 ,the lower levels contain many beds of lignite1 which makes a good soft coal1 and burns readily4 ,we found beds four feet thick along the canyons4 ,all one had to do was to drive up to the face of the cliff and load a wagon in a few minutes4 ,as soon as the first streak of daylight appeared1 we breakfasted and were off1 our picks tied to our saddles1 our collecting-bags dangling from the pommels1 and a lunch of cold bacon and hardtack in our saddle-bags4 ,i usually rode beside the ,professor1 my mount a treacherous black mustang1 who was ever on the watch to regain his liberty4 ,a curb bit that almost tore his mouth to pieces was my only means of restraining him4 ,my right ear being totally deaf1 ,i usually rode at the ,professor's right1 when the trail would admit of our traveling abreast4 ,he was not always in a talkative mood1 but when he began to speak of the wonderful animals of this earth1 those of long ago and those of to-day1 so absorbed did he become in his subject that he talked on as if to himself1 looking straight ahead and rarely turning toward me1 while ,i listened entranced4 ,not so that wicked black mustang of mine4 ,suddenly his front feet would leave the ground1 and he would stand up at full length on his hind legs4 ,then feeling the gouging of the ,spanish bit1 he would drop and run ahead to the ,professor's left side4 ,when the ,professor1 happening to look up1 found the place where ,i had been vacant1 he would exclaim in surprise1 8,why1 ,i thought you were on my right1 and here you are on my left60 ,the pony repeated this trick whenever ,i became so deeply interested in the ,professor's talk as to loosen my hold on the reins4 ,on the very top of the ,bad ,lands were the ,judith ,river beds1 now known1 through the researches of the late ,professor ,j4 ,b4 ,hatcher1 to belong to the ,fort ,pierre ,group of the ,upper ,cretaceous4 ,here tablelands and level prairies offered plenty of grass for our ponies2 so we climbed to these heights1 picketed our horses1 and went into the gorges in search of fossils4 ,it was necessary to give the loose shale the most careful examination1 as only a streak of dust a little different in color from the uniform black around it1 indicated where the bones were buried4 ,as a result of the loose composition of this friable black shale and the overlying rocks of sandstone1 the ,missouri has lowered its bed twelve hundred feet below the level of the prairies1 and the whole country is cut up by a perfect labyrinth of canyons and lateral ravines into a dreary landscape of utter barrenness4 ,at night the view from above of these intricate passages was appalling4 ,the black material of which the rocks are composed did not permit a single ray of light to penetrate the depths below1 and the ebony-like darkness seemed dense enough to cut4 ,long ridges1 terminating in perpendicular cliffs1 whose bases impinge upon the river a thousand feet below1 extend back into the country for miles4 ,often they are cut by lateral ravines into peaks and pinnacles1 obelisks and towers1 and other fantastic forms4 ,these ridges are so narrow that we could hardly walk along them1 and their sides drop at an angle of forty-five degrees4 ,it was only the disintegrated shale on the surface1 into which our feet sank at every step1 that gave us a foothold and kept us from shooting with frightful velocity into the gorges below4 ,one day the ,professor asked me to climb to a point near the summit of a lofty ridge1 crowned by two massive ledges of sandstone1 four feet thick1 which projected over the steep slope like the window sills of some ,titanic building4 ,these ledges1 one above the other and separated by sixty feet of shale1 had been swept clean for about three feet1 so that ,i found an easy pathway for my feet1 when after laborious climbing ,i reached the lower ledge4 ,from my lofty perch ,i had a bird's-eye view of mile upon mile of the wonderful ,bad ,lands1 a scene of desolation such as no pen can picture4 ,it was my duty to search every square inch of the dust-covered slope between the ledges for fossil bones4 ,after much unsuccessful effort1 ,i came to a place at the head of a gorge1 where a perpendicular escarpment dropped downward for a thousand feet4 ,the upper ledge of sandstone had broken loose for a space of thirty feet1 and this huge mass of rock1 four feet thick1 carrying with it the loose dirt and polishing the underlying surface as it thundered down the slope1 had struck the lower ledge with such force that it too had broken loose and plunged downward into the abyss4 ,a grove of pine trees at the base of the cliff had been crushed to the earth by this avalanche4 ,to my view the remaining trees1 which ,i knew to be about fifty feet high1 appeared like seedlings1 and the vast mass of rock like a cobblestone4 ,i concluded that ,i should have no difficulty in crawling across the smooth space1 for ,i reasoned that if ,i began to slip1 ,i could drive the sharp end of my pick into the soft rock and thus stop myself4 ,so1 climbing up the slope through the loose earth to the base of the upper ledge1 ,i started to cross4 ,when ,i was halfway over ,i began to slip1 and confidently raising my pick1 struck the rock with all my might4 ,god grant that ,i may never again feel such horror as ,i felt then1 when the pick1 upon which ,i had depended for safety1 rebounded as if it had been polished steel1 as useless in my hands as a bit of straw4 ,i struck frantically again and yet again1 but all the time ,i was sliding down with ever-increasing rapidity toward the edge of the abyss1 safety on either side and certain and awful death below4 ,i remember that ,i gave up all hope of escape1 and that after the first shock ,i felt no fear of death2 but the few moments of my slide seemed hours1 measured by the rapidity with which my mind worked4 ,everything1 it seemed to me1 that ,i had ever done or thought spread itself out before my mind's eye as vividly as the wonderful panorama of the cliffs and canyons upon which ,i had been gazing a few moments before4 ,all the scenes of my life1 from childhood up1 were re-enacted here with the same emotions of pleasure or pain4 ,i saw distinctly the people ,i had known1 many of them long forgotten4 ,my mother seemed to stand out more prominently than anyone else1 and ,i wondered what she would think when she heard that ,i had been dashed to pieces4 ,i even planned how1 when ,i did not return to camp1 ,cope would set out to find me1 following my footsteps into the loose dirt until he reached the slide1 and ,i wondered how he would ever get down into the canyon1 and how much of my body would be left for burial4 ,to this day ,i do not know how ,i escaped4 ,i suddenly found myself lying on the ledge1 on the side ,i had left a moment before4 ,probably some part of my clothing1 covered with dust as it was1 had acted as a brake upon the polished surface4 ,i lay for an hour with trembling knees1 too weak to make my way back to camp4 ,this experience of mine is another instance of the fact that the human brain forgets nothing1 and will yield up everything when the right kind of stimulus is applied4 ,the excitement of our work and the danger with it seemed to make us reckless of life1 ,professor ,cope even more so than the rest of us1 although he was at that time ,united ,states ,paleontologist1 and worth a million dollars4 ,i remember one night he was following a buffalo trail to the river1 when suddenly his horse stopped and refused to go further4 ,without dismounting to find out the cause1 he plunged his spurs into the animal1 and it sprang into the air4 ,mr4 ,isaac1 who was behind1 followed4 ,the next day they were surprised to find that they had crossed a gorge ten feet wide1 and that but for the keen sight and the strength of their horses1 they would have been dashed to pieces a hundred feet below4 ,cope's indefatigability1 too1 was a constant source of wonder to us4 ,we were in excellent training1 after our strenuous outdoor life in the ,kansas chalk beds1 while he had just been working fourteen hours a day in his study and the lithographer's shop1 completing a large ,government monograph1 writing his own manuscript1 and reading his own proof4 ,when we first met him at ,omaha1 he was so weak that he reeled from side to side as he walked2 yet here he climbed the highest cliffs and walked along the most dangerous ledges1 working without intermission from daylight until dark4 ,every night when we returned to camp1 we found that the cook had spent the whole day in cooking4 ,exhausted and thirsty1--we had no water to drink during the day 7all the water in the ,bad ,lands being like a dense solution of ,epsom salts71--we sat down to a supper of cakes and pies and other palatable1 but indigestible food4 ,then1 when we went to bed1 the ,professor would soon have a severe attack of nightmare4 ,every animal of which we had found traces during the day played with him at night1 tossing him into the air1 kicking him1 trampling upon him4 ,when ,i waked him1 he would thank me cordially and lie down to another attack4 ,sometimes he would lose half the night in this exhausting slumber4 ,but the next morning he would lead the party1 and be the last to give up at night4 ,i have never known a more wonderful example of the will's power over the body4 ,his memory and his imagination1 too1 were extraordinary4 ,he used to talk to me by the hour1 arranging the living and dead animals of the earth in systematic order1 giving countless scientific names and their definitions4 ,i forgot the names as soon as ,i heard them1 but the loving tribute which he paid to the wonders of creation has had a lasting and helpful effect upon me4 ,if ,i ever had any feelings of disgust or fear toward any of ,god's creatures1 ,i lost them upon a knowledge of the animals as revealed to me by this master naturalist1 who saw beauty even in lizards and snakes4 ,he believed1 and taught me to believe1 that it is a crime to destroy life wantonly1 any life4 ,of course the first law of nature is self-preservation2 we must1 in order to live1 kill our enemies and protect our friends2 but this superstitious fear which men and1 even more1 women have of snakes1 lizards1 and bugs1 how cruel it is6 ,why should they rejoice when some poor little garter-snake1 which has gone as a friend into the cellar walk to destroy rats and mice1 is dragged out and cut to pieces8 ,my heart bleeds when ,i think of the brutal way in which people take life1 something they can never give back1 and with the great ,cope1 ,i cry out against this crime1 which is exterminating some of our most beautiful and useful friends4 ,no man can say he loves us1 when he wantonly destroys our work2 no man loves ,god who wantonly destroys ,his creatures4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ac4--;a1 ,,lower ,,jaw ,,of ,trachodon marginatus1 ,,showing ,,successive ,,layers ,,of ,,teeth4 b1 ,,top ,,and ,,side ,,views ,,of ,a ,,tooth ,,of ,myledaphus bipartitus4 7,after ,osborn and ,lambe47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ad4--,,skull ,,of ,a ,,duck-,,billed ,,dinosaur1 ,diclonius1 ,,four ,,feet ,,in ,,length4 7,in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,photo1 by ,matthew4 ,we found no complete specimens of any fossil animals during our stay on ,dog ,creek1 but near the summit of the ,bad ,lands1 under beds of yellowish sandstone1 we came upon localities literally filled with the scattered bones and teeth of dinosaurs1 those terrible lizards whose tread once shook the earth4 ,they are represented now by the little horned toad of central ,kansas4 ,among the fragments were pieces of the finely-sculptured shells of the sea turtles1 ,trionyx and ,adocus1 and remains of that strange dinosaur ,trachodon 7,fig4 #ac;a71 whose teeth were arranged as in a magazine1 one below another1 so that when the old teeth wore out1 others were ever ready to take their place4 ,the specimen in the illustration is from ,drs4 ,osborn and ,lambe's ,contribution to ,canadian ,paleontology1 on the ,vertebrata of the ,mid-,cretaceous of the ,northwest ,territory 7#aijb74 ,the splendid ,cretaceous dinosaur here illustrated is from ,wyoming 7,fig4 #ad74 ,this last form was restored by the late ,professor ,marsh1 and is now mounted in the museum of ,yale ,university4 ,what a strange picture it presents1 this great plant-eater1 as1 standing on its hind limbs1 its powerful tail acting as the third leg of a tripod1 it grasps the branches of a tree with its weak hands and arms1 while its teeth scrape off the tender leaves6 ,in one of these localities we found teeth belonging to some extinct ray-like fish that were arranged in the roof and floor of the mouth like bricks in a pavement1 forming a sort of mill which ground up the shells upon which the creature subsisted4 ,a strange thing about these teeth was that one side of the enamel was white and the other black4 ,cope called the species ,myledaphus bipartitus 7,fig4 #ac;b74 ,the diamond-shaped enameled scales of the ,lepidotus1 an ancient relative of the gar-pike1 were very common1 as were also the teeth of several species of dinosaurs besides those already mentioned4 ,to-day the great museums of the country have complete or nearly complete skeletons of these creatures1 the largest land animals that ever inhabited the earth4 ,the splendid specimen of ,brontosaurus 7,fig4 #af7 in the ,american ,museum at ,new ,york is over sixty feet long4 ,nothing so fires the imagination as a visit to the halls where these ancient lizards now stand4 ,i am delighted that recent authorities1 ,drs4 ,osborn and ,lambe1 have given ,professor ,cope credit for these discoveries of his in #ahgf1 discoveries which are made the more memorable by the fact that he was the first scientist who had the foresight and the courage to explore these fossil beds after ,dr4 ,hayden1 their original discoverer1 was driven out of the region by ,blackfeet ,indians4 ,indeed1 the chief purpose of this chapter is to put forward the claim that ,professor ,cope1 ,mr4 ,isaac1 and myself made the first real collection of these wonderful saurians4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ae4--,,professor ,e4 ,d4 ,,cope4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #af4--;,,brontosaurus ,,or ,,thunder ,,lizard4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight4 7,from painting in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,after satisfying himself that there were no skeletons more or less complete on ,dog ,creek1 ,cope took the guide and went off down the river to ,cow ,island1 forty miles below4 ,this point was the head of navigation on the ,missouri in ,october1 the water then being so low that the steamboat could not get up to ,fort ,benton4 ,the last boat came up on the fifteenth of ,october1 to carry a load of ore and passengers down to the railroad at ,omaha1 and as the ,professor had decided to take this boat1 it was necessary for him to be on hand when it arrived4 ,a few days later he sent word to us on ,dog ,creek to break camp and proceed1 according to the scout's directions1 to ,cow ,island with all the outfit4 ,this was no easy task2 in fact1 at first sight it appeared impossible4 ,no wagon had ever before rolled down those steep hillsides4 ,mr4 ,isaac1 however1 took command1 and1 after removing everything from the wagon except the ,professor's trunk1 which could neither be packed on a horse nor carried by hand1 we began our journey up the long twelve hundred feet to the prairies above4 ,working with axes1 picks1 and shovels1 we cut trees1 bridged chasms1 and made roads1 climbing upward step by step1 until in the afternoon we reached what for the moment threatened to be the end of our journey4 ,before us rose the sloping side of a ridge1 covered entirely with loose shale1 and so steep that it was impossible to climb it even on horseback without making a long diagonal across its flank4 ,at the summit the ridge was narrow enough to be straddled by a wagon1 and it sloped down at the same angle on the other side4 ,the teamster refused to go any further1 and this angered ,isaac1 who said that he would drive himself4 ,so he unhitched the lead horses1 and climbing the wagon1 urged on the stupid mustangs4 ,one walked in a trail that we had made1 the other in the loose dirt below4 ,i was a good deal concerned as to the fate of both man and team1 but experience had taught me the folly of arguing with an angry man2 so ,i sat on my horse and waited for the outcome4 ,isaac had driven about thirty feet above the level floor1 when the inevitable happened4 ,i saw the wagon slowly begin to tip1 pulling the ponies over sideways1 and then the whole outfit1 wagon and horses1 began to roll down the slope4 ,whenever the wheels stuck up in the air1 the ponies drew in their feet to their bellies1 and at the next turn1 stretched out their legs for another roll4 ,my heart was in my mouth for fear that ,isaac would be killed in one of the turns1 or that wagon and all would roll over a thousand-foot precipice below1 but after three complete turns1 they landed1 the horses on their feet1 the wagon on its wheels1 on a level ledge of sandstone1 and stood there as if nothing had happened4 ,when ,i saw that ,isaac was safe1 ,i could not help laughing1 and in consequence was told that if ,i was so smart ,i could get up the slope myself4 ,i quickly gave orders that the picket ropes be tied together and fastened to the hind axle of the wagon1 and that the horses be led singly up the trail4 ,the rope was then carried to the top of the ridge1 and the horses were hitched to it1 and driven down the steep slope on the opposite side1 thus drawing up the wagon4 ,we then righted it so that it straddled the ridge and could be safely hauled out to the level prairie4 ,after this we had to go back on horses and bring the camp outfit1 which we had left at ,dog ,creek1 to the wagon4 ,about three o'clock that afternoon our scout1 who had not showed up during the heavy labor of getting the outfit up to the prairie1 was seen coming from the south through a break in the foothills1 while at the same time another horseman approached at full speed from the east4 ,at a sign from the scout1 our driver stopped his horses1 and ,isaac and ,i rested in our saddles4 ,the second horseman soon proved to be ,professor ,cope1 who galloped up to the guide and stopped him1 the gestures of the two men and the sound of their raised voices indicating that an animated argument was going on between them4 ,finally the scout1 his face heated and scowling1 came up to the wagon1 and without a word1 got out his roll of blankets and extra clothing1 and started off in the direction of ,fort ,benton4 ,the cook shouted after him1 and then1 springing from the wagon1 followed him4 ,when they were out of earshot1 the scout stopped1 and the two began an excited conversation4 ,then it was the cook's turn to show of what poor stuff he was made1 for1 coming back to the wagon1 he loaded his blankets and grip on his broad shoulders1 and struck out on foot for a wood-camp a few miles to the north1 on the river4 ,when ,cope came up he told us that these two men1 whom he had paid in full for three months' work1 had deserted him here on the open prairie1 a hundred and twenty miles from his base of supplies4 ,it seems that the scout had come across ,sitting ,bull's war camp1 where thousands of warriors1 drunk with the blood of ,custer and the brave men of the ,seventh ,u4 ,s4 ,cavalry1 were defying the ,government in the inaccessible canyons around the ,dry ,fork of the ,missouri4 ,the camp was only a day's journey from us1 and the scout and our valiant cook had concluded that their precious scalps were too valuable to risk4 ,the ,professor asked us whether we could carry on the double work which their dishonorable conduct had made necessary1 and we willingly undertook to do so1 even if it were to mean working our fingers to the bone4 ,isaac took the seat1 and we prepared to start on1 but misfortunes never come singly4 ,our four-year-old colt1 who had had a chance to rest during the delay1 suddenly decided that he too would try to put a stop to the expedition4 ,he balked1 and when the ,professor went up to him to lead him along1 he struck out viciously with his fore feet4 ,now ,i imagine that the ,professor had put up with about all that he was willing to bear4 ,the cowardly desertion of our men1 combined with the discomforts of our situation1--we had had nothing to eat or drink since we left ,dog ,creek1 and the only spring on the route at which we could get good water was miles away1--left little mercy in his heart for this miserable1 obstinate horse4 ,he told ,isaac to unhitch the animal and tie him to a hind wheel1 while ,i got on top of the wagon1 armed with a club to prevent his trying to climb in4 ,with the whip in one hand1 butt end down1 ,cope approached the horse with the other outstretched1 speaking gently to conciliate him4 ,the horse1 however1 struck out with all his might4 ,narrowly escaping the blow1 the ,professor stepped back1 raised the whip1 and with the butt end1 hit the horse behind the ear4 ,the animal fell like a flash1 and lay for some time stunned2 but when he struggled to his feet1 and the ,professor approached him again with outstretched hand and soft words1 the brute struck again4 ,again ,cope knocked him down1 and1 although when he rose to his feet1 he made another feeble attempt to strike1 a third knock-down blow was enough for him4 ,after that he welcomed the ,professor's advances1 accepting with every symptom of pleasure the caresses bestowed upon him1 and when untied1 he almost dragged ,cope after him in his anxiety to get to his traces4 ,we had no more trouble with him until a long rest and plenty of food caused him to forget his punishment1 and made a repetition of it necessary4 ,it was not until late that night1 after fourteen hours of strenuous labor1 that we were able to eat our supper of bacon and hardtack1 and lie down for a few hours' rest4 ,we slung our food from a tree to get it out of the reach of any grizzlies which might come straying around in search of bread crumbs or bacon rinds4 ,we expected any moment to be rolled out of bed by some prowling paw4 ,the next day we traveled along through the great level stretches that skirt the ,bad ,lands4 ,the prairie was covered with thick bunches of grass1 and often had been rooted up for acres by grizzlies in search of wild artichokes1 a sweet morsel they love4 ,we often saw herds of deer and elk and antelope4 ,part of the time our route lay among the foothills of the ,judith ,river ,mountains to the south of us2 and when we emerged again on to the open plain1 we found ourselves in a great amphitheater1 a hundred miles across4 ,to the west the towering ranges of the ,rockies rose in silent grandeur1 their sides scarred deeply with canyons1 in whose recesses the white snow gleamed and sparkled in the morning light ,to the south1 east1 and north1 the ,judith ,river ,mountains1 the ,little ,rockies1 ,medicine ,bow1 ,bearpaw1 and the ,sweet ,grass ,mountains on the border line of ,assiniboia made up the circle4 ,a glorious scene6 ,and there was exhilaration too in the thought that ours was the first wagon to roll through these rich solitudes1 given up for ages to the red hunter and his game4 ,these hills were soon to re-echo with the shriek of the locomotive1 and this rich soil to nourish a thousand souls1 but in the days ,i am recalling1 we did not meet a single human being in all the forty miles of our journey4 ,that night1 after another hard day1 we halted at the head of a short and very steep ravine ending in an open valley between two ridges1 whose lofty precipices abutted on the ,missouri twelve hundred feet below4 ,this valley1 ,cope told us1 was to be our camping ground for some time to come1 as a steamboat snubbing-post was situated here4 ,when ,i learned this1 ,i threw out my roll of blankets and started it on its way to camp4 ,it bounded down the ravine1 leaping high in the air from boulder to boulder1 and never stopped until it was caught in a bunch of the cactus that covered the level plain below4 ,everything but the ,professor's trunk was unloaded1 and the wagon pulled to the head of the gulch1 where ,isaac took charge of the tongue1 and the ,professor and ,i1 each tying a picket rope to the hind axle and making a half-hitch to a convenient sapling1 let the wagon slowly down the hill4 ,when the rope was paid out1 ,isaac blocked the wheels with stones1 and we advanced for another hitch1 continuing in this way until we reached the bottom4 ,the baggage was then packed down1 and1 after a space had been cleared of cactus1 our tent was pitched4 ,it was not until long after midnight that we sat down to cook our meal1 and when we rolled into our blankets we slept the sleep of utter exhaustion4 ,not only during this trip1 but all through our stay in the ,bad ,lands1 we were tormented by myriads of black gnats1 which got under our hat rims and shirt sleeves1 and produced sores that gave rise to pus and thick scabs4 ,they got under the saddles and girths too1 irritating the horses almost beyond endurance4 ,we were forced1 for lack of something better1 to cover our faces and arms with bacon grease and to rub the skins of the horses under the collars and saddles with the same disagreeable substance4 ,fossil bones always partake of the characteristics of the rock in which they are entombed1 and here they were quite hard when we got in to where the rock was compact4 ,the ,professor found here the first specimen ever discovered in ,america of the wonderful horned dinosaurs2 ,monoclonius he called the first species4 ,i assisted him in digging out his specimen of ,m4 crassus1 a species distinguished by a small horn over each orbit1 and a large one on the nasal bones2 and ,i myself discovered two species new to science4 ,one of these1 an ,m4 sphenocerus1 was six or seven feet high at the hips1 and1 according to ,cope1 must have been twenty-five feet long1 including the tail4 ,it has a long compressed nasal horn1 and two small horns over the eyes4 ,professor ,marsh later discovered a similar form in these same fossil beds1 and named it ,ceratops montanus4 ,the species ,i discovered were collected on the north side of the river1 three miles below ,cow ,island1 after the ,professor had taken the last boat down the river4 ,when we uncovered these bones we found them very brittle1 as they had been shattered by the uplift of the strata in which they were buried2 and we were obliged to devise some means of holding them in place4 ,the only thing we had in camp that could be made into a paste was rice1 which we had brought along for food4 ,we boiled quantities of it until it became thick1 then1 dipping into it flour bags and pieces of cotton cloth and burlap1 we used them to strengthen the bones and hold them together4 ,this was the beginning of a long line of experiments1 which culminated in the recently adopted method of taking up large fossils by bandaging them with strips of cloth dipped in plaster of ,paris1 like the bandages in which a modern surgeon encases a broken limb4 ,i feel it a great privilege to have been one of the original discoverers of these great horned dinosaurs1 whose skeletons are now among the chief glories of our museums4 99 99 99 99 99 ,one day1 about the fifteenth of ,october1 ,professor ,cope1 who had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the last steamboat1 concluded to ride out on the open prairie to some bad lands which we had seen on our journey down from ,dog ,creek4 ,i accompanied him4 ,on the way he fell into one of his frequent absent-minded moods1 picturing the land as it must have been at the time of the dinosaurs1 when the shale of these black-sided canyons was mud on an ocean floor4 ,so fascinated were we both by his descriptions that the time flew by unheeded1 and it was afternoon before we reached the prairie south of ,cow ,island4 ,upon arriving at the bit of bad lands1 we separated1 agreeing to meet at four o'clock at the place where we left the horses4 ,i kept the appointment1 but the ,professor was nowhere to be seen1 and as hour after hour passed with no sign of him1 ,i began to grow anxious4 ,i knew the foolishness of trying to find him in that network of gorges and ridges1 and could only wait1 eagerly watching the outlets of the labyrinth4 ,just as the sun was sinking behind the ,rockies he came out of a narrow ravine with the head of a large mountain sheep on his back4 ,he gave it to me to carry behind my saddle1 and with few words we mounted and set off at full speed for home1 remembering the three men whom we had met on the prairie at noon1 who had been lost for three days in the intricate passages of the ,bad ,lands4 ,i did not like to think of trying to find the way there after night4 ,the ,professor dashed over the prairie without once drawing rein1 clearing bunches of cactus ten feet1 sometimes1 in diameter1 at a single bound2 and ,i followed suit4 ,so1 by a series of leaps1 we crossed the ten-mile stretch and drew up at the head of a gorge1 from which we could see ,cow ,island4 ,cope eagerly scanned the lights of the little station1 and finally decided that a new set had been added to those of the soldiers' tents4 ,he was sure that the long-expected steamer lay at her snubbing-post1 and declared emphatically that we must reach ,cow ,island that night4 ,i knew the uselessness of trying to combat his iron will1 but ,i pleaded with him against the folly of attempting to thread in the darkness those black and treacherous defiles1 where a single misstep meant certain death4 ,i begged him to wait until daylight4 ,we were1 to be sure1 hungry and thirsty1 and food1 water1 and shelter were to be had only at the river1 but sleeping in our saddle blankets without supper was1 ,i urged1 preferable to running the risk of being dashed to pieces4 ,he paid no attention to what ,i said1 but dismounting1 led his horse into the canyon4 ,he had to cut a stick to shove in front of him1 as his eyes could not penetrate the darkness a single inch ahead4 ,i cut another to punch along his horse1 which did not want to follow him4 ,sometimes when we had climbed down several hundred feet1 the end of the ,professor's stick would encounter only air1 and a handful of stones thrown ahead would be heard to strike the earth far below4 ,then we had to turn and climb back through the deep dust to the top1 and circling a canyon1 plunge down on the other side4 ,once we got down to the river four miles from the prairie1 and thought that our journey was over1 as we could see the lights of the station just across the river4 ,but when we had watered our thirsty horses and started down for the landing1 we found our way blocked by a huge ridge with a towering precipice impinging on the river2 and we had to drag ourselves back over those four long1 hard miles to the prairie1 and start again4 ,i freely confess that ,i should have been willing to lie down in the dust just where ,i was1 and let the horses look out for themselves1 but ,cope's indomitable will could not be conquered4 ,back we climbed to the top1 and down we went into the next ravine4 ,i have never known another man who would have attempted this journey4 ,it was both foolhardy and useless1 but we could say that we accomplished what no one else ever had in reaching ,cow ,island through the ,bad ,lands after dark4 ,for we did reach it4 ,just before daylight we got down to the landing across from the station1 and sure enough1 the steamboat was at her post4 ,but another disappointment was in store for us4 ,the ,professor shouted to the sergeant to come and take us over1 but his voice was not recognized1 and as the sergeant was afraid that the call might come from some ,indian who had prepared an ambush1 he refused to respond4 ,we were soaked with perspiration1 and rapidly becoming chilled by a cold fog that was rising along the shore1 and we were obliged to walk back and forth to keep warm until the ,professor had recovered his natural voice4 ,then1 in his haste to correct his error1 the sergeant sent a boat across in the wrong place1 and it was turned over in the rapids4 ,he had to rescue the half-drowned men1 capture the boat1 and try again4 ,at last1 however1 we were warming ourselves in a tent1 where a pot of beans was simmering for the soldiers' breakfast4 ,not a bean was left when we got through with them1 and three pounds of raspberry jam1 spread upon1 ,i was going to say a box of1 hardtack1 followed the beans4 ,then the sergeant took us both out into the open air and turned back the big black tarpaulin covering the gold ore that was to be shipped to the smelter at ,omaha4 ,he made us a warm nest of new blankets1 and when we had crawled into it1 pulled the tarpaulin back into place4 ,did we sleep8 ,ask the deckhands who let the sunlight in upon us about nine o'clock the next morning1 when they pulled away the tarpaulin to load the ore4 ,cope at once sought the captain of the boat and said1 8,i am ,professor ,cope1 of ,philadelphia4 ,i have a four-horse wagon at a steamboat snubbing-post three miles below4 ,i would like you to stop there on your way down1 and carry my outfit across to this side4 ,my baggage and freight are also there1 and ,i want to take passage for ,omaha40 8,well1 sir10 the man answered1 8,i am the captain of this boat4 ,if you want to go down the river1 you must have your baggage1 freight1 and self at this landing before ten o'clock to-morrow morning1 when ,i leave for down-river points40 ,the ,professor did not argue the question further4 ,he tried to get the loan of an old sand-scow1 but the man who owned it had heard this conversation with the captain1 and refused to lend it4 ,the ,professor was obliged to purchase it for an enormous price1 and the next day left it where he got it4 ,we boarded this scow1 and leaving our ponies picketed across the river1 paddled down to camp1 where1 to our disgust1 we found that ,mr4 ,isaac had gone out into the ,bad ,lands to look for us4 ,there was no time to lose2 so1 although stiff and sore from our night's exertions1 we plunged into the work of lowering the tent1 packing our stores and fossils into the wagon1 and dragging everything aboard the scow4 ,we were ready to start when ,mr4 ,isaac appeared4 ,we crossed the river1 swimming our horses2 and then came the time for old ,major to go it alone and show his worth4 ,we converted the ,missouri into a canal1 and its northern bank into a towpath4 ,old ,major we hitched to a line attached to the scow2 and while a couple of mountain men whom we had in camp kept the boat away from the shore with long poles1 ,i rode the big horse1 often right into the river1 until he began to sink in a mud bank1 and ,i had to turn hastily back to shore4 ,the ,professor and ,mr4 ,isaac had the worst places1 for they had to keep the rope from being caught by a snag or rock2 and when it did catch1 if they did not instantly loose their hold upon it1 the tension threw them far over into the river1 and they had to get out as best they could4 ,this occurred a number of times4 ,when about sundown we hove-to under the big steamer1 the deck was crowded with passengers watching our approach4 ,cope was covered with mud from head to foot1 and his clothing1 with hardly a seam whole1 hung from him in wet1 dirty rags4 ,he had forgotten to bring along any winter wearing apparel1 so1 although the nights were quite cold1 and the women were clad in fur coats and the men in ulsters1 he emerged from the sergeant's tent1 whither he had carried his grip1 in a summer suit and linen duster4 ,he told me about a funny experience that he had on the boat on the way down the river4 ,it goes without saying that in that long trip he taught the passengers more natural science than they had ever learned in all their lives before4 ,at a certain wood-camp1 he and some others went ashore and found the skull of a ,crow ,indian4 ,the ,crow method of burial was to wrap the body in a blanket1 lay it on the ground1 and build around it an open frame of logs1 to keep away wild animals4 ,it was an easy matter to pick up a skull4 ,the ,professor carried his find aboard in his hands before everyone1 and was beginning to tell his enlightened listeners the special cranial characteristics of this tribe1 when a body of deckhands1 headed by their appointed speaker1 came forward and told the captain that they would not allow ,professor ,cope to 8emulate the dead40 ,he must take the skull back to its grave or they would not remain aboard and take the boat down to ,omaha4 8,why10 said the speaker earnestly1 8we will be caught on every mud bank in the river1 and there is no telling what calamities will happen1 if he is allowed to emulate the dead40 ,there was no getting them to back down from their position1 and the ,crow's skull was restored to its grave4 ,but the ,professor said afterwards1 8,we had about a dozen skulls packed in with the fossils1 and in spite of them1 reached ,omaha without having to walk on stilts1 as had been prophesied40 ,shortly after the ,professor left us1 ,i discovered a fine specimen1 one of those mentioned earlier in this chapter1 three miles below ,cow ,island1 near the base of a high tableland1 where ,i kept my pony picketed while ,i worked4 ,one day1 when ,i prepared to mount him1 ,i noticed that he was unusually quiet4 ,his custom was to start on a run as soon as my foot touched the stirrup1 leaving me to get into the saddle as best ,i could4 ,this time he stood still1 and when ,i reached my seat and lifted the lines1 ,i found that they were perfectly useless1 as the curb was broken4 ,before ,i could dismount1 the brute started at a rapid pace across the tableland toward a sheer precipice1 hundreds of feet high4 ,i settled myself firmly in the saddle and hung on with both hands to the hand-holds behind1 fearing that he might try to hurl me over2 and that was just what he did4 ,when he got within a few inches of the brink1 he planted his feet and stopped suddenly4 ,but ,providence and long practice in riding all kinds of horses enabled me to keep my seat1 and fortunately1 the saddle girths held4 ,i was just about to dismount1 when suddenly the determined animal whirled around and started for the precipice on the other side1 where he went through the same performance4 ,and not satisfied even then1 tried the trick a third time4 ,then he allowed me to dismount and mend the curb4 ,in payment for his treachery1 ,i forced him to run at full speed down the steep and rugged trail to camp4 ,this chapter has been largely taken up with adventures and a study of the man ,cope2 but as a matter of fact1 there was little else to tell about1 as we were in such haste that we secured few specimens1 and the most important result of the expedition was our discovery of many new specimens of dinosaurs1 represented chiefly by teeth4 ,on the first of ,november a heavy snowstorm set in1 promising to leave the country covered with snow for the winter2 so we loaded our outfit and started for ,fort ,benton4 ,the sergeant went with us1 very fortunately1 as it proved2 for one night1 as we were camping in the ,bear ,paw ,mountains1 one of our crazy mustang wheelers heard a wolf howl and started on a run for one of the other horses which was picketed farther down the slope4 ,coming suddenly to the end of its rope1 its feet slipped1 and it fell and broke its neck4 ,but for the sergeant's horse we could not have hauled in our load4 ,countless herds of buffalo were being driven to the ,bad ,lands by the storm1 as were also great droves of deer1 elk1 and antelope4 ,it seemed as if it would be impossible to exterminate them4 ,yet ,i learned by the papers the other day that the last herd of buffalo of any size had been sold at three hundred dollars a head to the ,canadian ,government1 ,uncle ,sam being too poor to make the purchase4 ,we reached ,fort ,benton in safety1 learning later that ,sitting ,bull had crossed at ,cow ,island and killed the soldiers who had been left there4 ,i never saw my associate1 ,mr4 ,isaac1 again1 but ,i know that he discovered some fine material the next year4 ,i made the return stage journey of six hundred miles in six days4 ,through the mountains the thermometer averaged twenty below zero1 and ,i ate four hearty meals a day4 ,i recrossed the ,great ,divide on the ,union ,pacific ,railroad1 made a brief visit home1 and went on to spend the winter with ,professor ,cope4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,further ,,work ,,in ,,the ,,kansas ,,chalk1 #ahgg ,i spent the winter of #ahgf-gg with ,professor ,cope1 first at ,haddonfield1 then at his new home on ,pine ,street1 in ,philadelphia4 ,at ,haddonfield the commodious loft of a large1 old-fashioned barn was fitted up as a workshop1 and ,i had also a bed here4 ,i boarded with a ,mr4 ,geismar1 ,professor ,cope's preparator1 but ,i had a standing invitation to eat dinner every ,sunday with the ,professor and his wife and daughter1 a lovely child of twelve summers4 ,i shall never forget those ,sunday dinners4 ,the food was plain1 but daintily cooked1 and the ,professor's conversation was a feast in itself4 ,he had a wonderful power of putting professional matters from his mind when he left his study1 and coming out ready to enter into any kind of merrymaking4 ,he used to sit with sparkling eyes1 telling story after story1 while we laughed at his sallies until we could laugh no more4 ,i never knew his wit to fail him4 ,i remember being present at a meeting of the ,academy of ,science1 in ,philadelphia1 at which he was up for re-election to the office of recording secretary1 and was defeated4 ,among others1 ,professor ,william ,moore ,gabb made some remarks against him4 ,cope's only defense was 8,now1 ,william1 more gab60 ,i attended also the dinners which he gave to his hosts of friends in the city1 and the luncheons at which ,mrs4 ,cope entertained the young men to whom the ,professor gave lectures in his own home4 ,he told his funniest anecdotes on these occasions1 and used to call on me for my story of the old farmer who1 while at work hoeing corn in a stump-field on the side of a hill1 saw a hoop-snake at the top take its tail in its mouth and begin to roll down towards him4 ,springing behind a stump1 he struck at it with his hoe handle1 into which the sting at the end of the snake's tail entered deeply4 ,in less than an hour the handle had swelled up to the size of a man's leg4 ,i believe that this story-telling of which he was so fond was for ,cope a form of relaxation from his heavy work in the study1 and that his ability to give himself up so thoroughly to it in his leisure hours was what enabled him to accomplish in his life an amount of work such as few men have ever accomplished4 ,it would take a volume even to name the titles of all the products of his industrious brain4 ,one of them alone1 the great ,volume ,,iii of the 8,tertiary ,vertebrata10 often called 8,cope's ,bible10 has over a thousand pages of text1 beside many fine plates4 ,it was published by the ,government1 in #ahhd4 ,before starting back to outfit another expedition to the ,kansas ,chalk1 ,i secured the services of ,mr4 ,russell ,t4 ,hill1 an able young man who was working in the ,academy under the ,jesup ,fund2 and upon our arrival at ,manhattan1 ,i hired ,mr4 ,a4 ,w4 ,brouse as teamster and cook4 ,about the last of ,march we started with a team of ponies and a light spring wagon upon our long and extremely tedious journey across the state of ,kansas1 to our headquarters at ,buffalo ,park4 ,at ,chapman ,creek1 a few miles from ,junction ,city1 we were stopped by high water4 ,a raging torrent twenty feet deep filled the bed of the creek2 neither man nor beast could have crossed it alive4 ,we were1 therefore1 horrified to see a farmer1 sitting on a seat on top of two sets of side-boards in a lumber wagon1 come driving down into this fearful flood4 ,i called to him to stop1 and asked him what he was going to do4 8,i must come over10 he shouted4 8,why10 ,i answered1 8the water is twenty feet deep1 and running like a mill race4 ,you'll be swept away40 8,but ,i have not had my mail for a week4 ,i must come over10 he shouted back4 8,well10 said ,i1 8you big fool1 why don't you go down to the railroad bridge1 just below here1 and walk over80 8,by ,chimmeny10 he said1 8,i hadn't thought of that60 ,as we were now in the antelope country1 we were rarely out of antelope meat4 ,one morning we saw a buck antelope standing close to the railroad track1 watching an incoming train4 ,i remarked1 as ,i urged the driver to hurry up his horses1 that perhaps someone would shoot the animal from the train4 ,and sure enough1 as the train passed1 a window flew up1 and a man with a revolver shot the buck through the neck4 ,it began to describe a circle1 its feet planted together1 and springing from the wagon1 ,i cut its throat with a butcher knife1 while the boys held its horns4 ,another time1 as we were traveling along over the prairie1 we suddenly came upon a young antelope hidden securely in the center of a bunch of grass4 ,we should not have seen him at all from the ground1 but being above him on the wagon seat1 we looked right down on him4 ,the boys jumped out1 and approaching the little chap carefully1 were just spreading out their arms so as to be ready to grab him1 when he sprang to his feet so quickly that their hands were thrown into the air1 and darted off4 ,the boys started after him at the top of their speed1 but they might as well have tried to catch a streak of lightning4 ,one day we were camping at the spring on ,hackberry1 south of ,buffalo1 when a couple of men rode up to us4 ,they said that they were cowmen1 and that they had lost their outfit4 ,i invited them into my tent1 and after supper gave them the boys' bed1 the boys themselves climbing into the covered wagon4 ,early in the morning one of the men wakened me and asked for a revolver4 ,there was an antelope in camp1 he said4 ,i handed him a ,smith and ,wesson1 and peeped out1 to see a fine buck standing just at the end of the wagon tongue1 looking over the tent and wagon4 ,the stranger opened fire at three or four paces and emptied the revolver4 ,then throwing it down as of no account1 he asked for a gun4 ,i gave him a ,sharp's rifle and a cartridge belt4 ,in the meanwhile the antelope had walked a few yards away and turned to look at us4 ,the man fired several shots1 and threw down the rifle also1 and as the boys were by this time climbing out of the wagon1 one with a ,winchester1 the other with a little ,ballard1 he borrowed from them first one firearm and then the other1 and blazed away without once drawing blood4 ,finally the buck deliberately moved over the hill and out of sight1 while the man swore that it had a charmed life4 ,we thought otherwise1 however1 and the boys followed it2 soon returning with it swinging from a gun1 which they carried on their shoulders like a pole4 ,i recall another ludicrous incident connected with this expedition4 ,we happened to be at ,buffalo ,station once when ,professor ,snow1 the much-loved ,kansas naturalist1 and at one time the chancellor of the ,state ,university1 was in town with a large party of students1 on his annual insect hunt4 ,the old ,chisholm cattle trail led through ,buffalo1 and one day the owner of a large herd of ,texas cattle1 who was passing through1 noticed ,professor ,snow and his party out on the prairie with their nets in their hands1 running about as if possessed4 ,it happened to be the first time that he had ever seen insect collectors at work1 and his curiosity was aroused4 8,what are those men doing80 he asked ,jim ,thompson1 the storekeeper4 8,catching bugs10 was the laconic reply4 8,i don't believe it10 said the cowman4 8,they are grown men40 8,all right10 said ,jim1 8you can find out for yourself if you want to40 ,the man started off after the ,professor1 and ,i waited1 with a good deal of curiosity1 to hear his report of the conversation4 ,on his return he was in a brown study4 ,the ,professor had taken him into his tent1 and shown him hundreds of mounted insects1 reeling off their names to him until his head whirled4 8,well1 did ,i tell you the truth80 ,jim asked4 8,that man10 said the cowman1 8is the smartest man ,i ever saw4 ,he knows the names and surnames of all the bugs in this country40 ,on the thirtieth of ,april we drove down to the ,smoky1 thirty miles south of ,buffalo1 and got caught in a quicksand1 but managed to save both team and wagon4 ,we camped at the mouth of a large ravine with plenty of grass in it4 ,all that night it blew a perfect gale4 ,did you1 dear reader1 ever try to sleep in a tent when the wind was high and the canvas flapped about you1 waking the fear that at any moment the pegs might pull out or a seam part8 ,do you know what it is to lie1 deafened by thunder and blinded by lightning1 while the rain and sleet dash against the thin covering which is all that separates you from the fury of the storm8 ,it is not a pleasant experience1 and yet in all the years that ,i have gone camping1 although ,i have expected time and again to find my tent torn to shreds over my head1 my fears have never once been realized4 ,even in the most terrible storms my tent has stood securely1 and ,i have escaped without serious inconvenience4 ,on this trip1 however1 we did have a disagreeable experience4 ,a cold rain continued for four days1 and the tent sprang a leak right over my bed4 ,moreover1 the buffalo chips were so wet that we could not build a fire1 and had to eat cold food and sleep in wet blankets4 ,among the difficulties with which we had to contend on this expedition was a defective wagon wheel4 ,one day1 as we were driving along a slope1 our lower wheel dished out1 and dumped us1 load and all1 to the ground4 ,upon examination1 we found that the maker had used a hub whose mortises were too large for the spokes4 ,the latter had been held in place by wedges which had been painted over so that they should not be detected4 ,the man who sold us the wagon had guaranteed it for a year1 but unfortunately1 he lived two hundred miles away4 ,when the necessity arises1 however1 one can solve any problem somehow2 so we took off the tire1 put back the spokes and wedges1 heated the tire in a fire of buffalo chips1 and reset it4 ,we tried to drive carefully after this and avoid sloping places1 but it generally happened that when we least expected it1 we would fall by the wayside4 ,most aggravating of all1 when we did take the defective wheel back to the man who guaranteed it1 he gave us another even more unreliable than the first4 ,it is a mystery to me how manufacturers can play such miserable tricks on their customers4 ,we were much inconvenienced also by the illness of one of our horses4 ,he often gave out on the open prairie1 in one case1 ,i remember1 three miles from water4 ,the only vessel we had in which to bring it to camp was a gallon jug1 and it kept one person busy getting enough for our use4 ,we were finally obliged to get another horse in place of the sick one2 and our bad luck persisting1 hit upon one which had evidently been trained to the wheel of a coach1 for as soon as the last trace had been hitched1 he was off like a shot4 ,fortunately1 his mate could not run as fast1 so that they simply went round in a circle1 and the boys1 watching their chance1 caught hold of the wagon and got aboard4 ,this horse was continually giving us trouble4 ,one day when we were about to cross ,hackberry ,creek ,i went ahead with my pick and struck the dry1 cracked clay of the bed1 to see whether it would hold4 ,as ,i could not break through1 ,i concluded that we could cross safely1 and beckoned to ,will ,brouse to come on4 ,whereupon that miserable mustang1 taking his bit between his teeth1 came down the hill with the load at full speed1 and1 dashing onto the hardened clay1 broke through into the thick mortar below4 ,the boys1 jumping out1 managed to get both horses unhitched before they went down1 and quickly hitched them to the hind axle of the wagon1 to save the load of fossils which we were hauling to the station4 ,then began a performance of that tantalizing trick which horses know so well how to play4 ,rowdy would make a rush forward1 as if he intended to haul out the load in a hurry1 but the moment he felt the collar press his neck1 he would fall back against the wheel1 while his mate went through the same performance4 ,so they see-sawed up and down1 until ,i could stand it no longer1 as the wagon was slowly sinking4 ,i took the lines1 and putting all my will-power into the command 8,get out of this60 ,i forced them to pull together and haul the wagon out to solid ground4 ,then when we unhitched them1 they ran away and scattered singletrees1 nuts1 and bolts all over the prairie4 ,south of the river we found some fine examples of large ,haploscapha shells1 some of them a foot in diameter4 ,the valves of this shell are shaped a little like a woman's bonnet1 and the name ,conrad gave it1 8,haploscapha grandis10 may be freely translated 8,the great hood40 7,fig4 #ag47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ag4--;,,fossil ,,shells1 ,haploscapha grandis4 7,after ,cope47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ah4--;,,charles ,,sternberg ,,and ,,son ,,taking ,,up ,a ,,large ,,slab ,,of ,,fossils ,,from ,a ,,chalk ,,bed ,,in ,,gove ,,co41 ,,kansas4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ai4--;,,camp ,,and ,,wagon ,,of ,,the ,,fossil ,,hunters ,,on ,,grasswood ,,creek1 ,,converse ,,co41 ,,wyoming4 ,we found many fish and saurians or mosasaurs also4 ,very different was our method of collecting them then from what it is now1 for fossil hunting is as capable of improvement as any other form of human endeavor4 ,then we went over1 in a few months1 all the chalk in western ,kansas1 which lines the ravines on either side of the ,smoky ,hill and its branches for a hundred miles2 now it takes us five years to get over the same ground4 ,then we dug up the bones with a butcher knife or pick1 and packed in flour sacks with dry buffalo grass1 which we pulled with our fingers4 ,some strange animals were created by ,cope and ,marsh in those early days1 when they attempted to restore a creature from the few disconnected bones thus carelessly collected4 ,now we take up great slabs of the chalk1 so that we can show the bones in situ1 that is1 in their original matrix1 so that they may be the more easily fitted together in their natural relations with each other4 ,when1 after much careful exploration1 we find1 sticking out of the edge of a canyon or wash1 the bones of some 8ancient mariner0 of the old ,cretaceous ocean1 we first lay bare a floor above the bones by picking away the rock4 ,then ,i1 usually stretched at full length on this floor1 with a crooked awl and a brush1 uncover the bones enough to be able to determine how they lie1 often keeping up the tedious work for hours4 ,when the position of each bone has been ascertained1 my son ,george1 who for years has been my chief assistant1 and ,i cut trenches around the specimen1 and1 hewing down the outside rock two or three inches1 make a frame of #b #d lumber1 cover the bones with oiled paper1 and fill the frame with plaster4 ,as the fossil rarely lies level1 it is necessary to have the cover ready to nail on1 a board at a time1 while the plaster is being poured in4 ,this results in a panel of even thickness1 with every bone in or near its original position1 or at least in the position in which it was buried4 ,after the plaster has hardened comes the difficult labor of digging the rock away from underneath4 ,one has to lie on one's left side and work with a light pick1 using great care1 so as to cut away the rock just enough to allow the frame to come down by its own weight4 ,if force is used very likely the rock1 with its enclosed fossil1 will be torn from the frame1 and the specimen ruined4 ,afterwards the rock is leveled off even with the frame1 and the bottom nailed on4 ,the case is then placed in a larger box with excelsior carefully packed around it4 ,the illustration 7,fig4 #ah7 shows a huge panel in process of being cut out4 ,george and ,i spent two weeks of heavy labor upon another4 ,luckily1 it was preserved in chalk hard enough to allow of its being lifted without breaking4 ,the slab was about four inches thick1 and weighed at least six hundred pounds1 yet he and ,i handled it entirely alone1 getting it boxed and into the wagon ourselves4 ,my old friend1 ,dr4 ,s4 ,w4 ,williston1 who in the seventies was in charge of collecting parties for ,professor ,marsh1 and is now a noted authority in paleontology and professor of that science in the ,university of ,chicago1 describes this specimen in his great work on ,north ,american plesiosaurs1 a ,field ,columbian ,museum publication4 ,he says3 8,the specimen of ,dolichorhynchops osborni1 herewith described and illustrated ,fig4 #bj1 was discovered by ,mr4 ,george ,sternberg1 in the summer of #aijj1 and skilfully collected by his father1 the veteran collector of fossil vertebrates4 ,the specimen was purchased of ,mr4 ,sternberg in the following spring for the ,university of ,kansas1 where it has been mounted and now is4 ,when received at the museum1 the skeleton was almost wholly contained in a large slab of soft1 yellow chalk1 with all its bones disassociated1 and more or less entangled together4 ,the left ischium1 lying by the side of the maxilla1 was protruding from the surface1 and part of it was lost4 ,the bones of the tail and some of the smaller podial bones were removed a distance from the rest of the skeleton1 and were collected separately by ,mr4 ,sternberg4 ,the head was lying partly upon its left side1 and some of the bones of the right side had been macerated away4 ,the maxilla indeed had disappeared4 8,the task of removing and mounting the bones has required the labor of ,mr4 ,h4 ,t4 ,martin the larger part of a year1 and is as finally mounted1 an example of great labor and skill on his part4444 ,the skeleton1 as mounted1 is just ten feet in length4 ,the neck in life must have been thick and heavy at the base4 ,the trunk was broad2 the abdominal region short between the girdles2 the short tail was thick at its base4 ,the species was named in honor of ,professor ,h4 ,f4 ,osborn1 of ,columbia ,university40 ,in his introduction ,dr4 ,williston speaks of the great scientific value of this specimen of the plesiosaurian family1 of which he says3 8,thirty-two species and fifteen genera have been described from the ,united ,states1 and in not a single instance has there been even a considerable part of the skeleton made known40 ,i am glad that the ,university of ,kansas owns this splendid denizen of her ancient ,cretaceous sea4 ,my collection in the ,royal ,museum of ,munich is said by ,dr4 ,h4 ,f4 ,osborn to be the finest prepared collection of ,kansas ,chalk and ,texas ,permian vertebrates in the world4 ,a recent letter from my friend ,dr4 ,broili1 an assistant there1 says that the collection contains over eighty-five distinct species of extinct vertebrates4 ,among these1 there are eighteen species and seven genera new to science4 ,seven papers have been published describing this material1 by ,j4 ,c4 ,merriam1 ,a4 ,r4 ,crook1 ,charles ,r4 ,eastman1 ,f4 ,b4 ,loomis1 ,f4 ,broili1 ,l4 ,neumayer1 and ,l4 ,strickler1 respectively2 and it has been illustrated by forty plates4 ,the lamented ,german paleontologist1 ,dr4 ,carl von ,zittel1 under whom ,i served the ,munich museum for several years1 wrote me that ,i had erected here 8an immemorial monument0 to my name4 ,here rests1 far from its native shores1 the most complete skeleton of the ,cretaceous shark1 ,oxyrhina mantelli ,agassiz1 ever discovered in any formation4 ,it formed the basis for the inaugural address delivered by ,charles ,r4 ,eastman before the ,ludwig-,maximilian ,university of ,munich4 ,i discovered this specimen while conducting an expedition for ,dr4 von ,zittel4 ,i was entirely alone1 and camping on one of the ravines that score the southern slope of the ,smoky ,hill valley1 south of ,buffalo ,park4 ,i had already found a number of flattened disks1 the centra of fish vertebr1 which ,dr4 ,williston had assured me belonged to a species of shark1 as he had found teeth associated with them4 ,i was delighted1 therefore1 to find here a continuous string of them leading into a low knoll4 ,i quickly shoveled away the loose chalk and cleaned up the floor1 to find the whole column1 nearly twenty in length2 while the skull was represented by great plates of cartilaginous bone1 containing some two hundred and fifty teeth from the roof and floor of the mouth4 ,the larger teeth were over an inch long and covered with a shining1 dark-colored enamel4 ,they were as sharp and polished as in life1 and lay in or near their natural positions4 ,this is the first time and1 ,i believe1 the only time that so complete a specimen of this ancient shark has been discovered4 ,the column and other solid parts were composed of cartilaginous matter which usually decays so easily that it is rarely petrified4 ,i suppose my specimen was old at the time of its death1 and bony matter had been deposited in the cartilage4 ,it is not very likely that such a specimen will ever be duplicated4 ,dr4 ,eastman's study of this skeleton enabled him to make synonyms of many species which had been named from teeth alone4 ,among the most valuable of my further discoveries in the ,kansas chalk beds was that of two nearly complete skeletons of that great sea tortoise1 ,protostega gigas ,cope4 ,the type had already been described by ,professor ,cope from a number of disconnected bones which he found near ,fort ,wallace in #ahga4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bj4--,,skeleton ,,of ,,the ,,plesiosaur1 ,dolichorhynchus osborni4 ,discovered by ,george ,f4 ,sternberg and collected by ,charles ,sternberg4 ,after ,williston4 7,now in the ,kansas ,state ,university47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ba4--;,,fossil ,,limb ,,bones ,,of ,,the ,,giant ,,sea ,,tortoise1 ,protostega gigas4 ,collected by ,charles ,sternberg4 ,in #aijc ,i was so fortunate as to find a practically complete skeleton of ,protostega gigas in normal condition1 that is1 with the bones all in or near their original positions4 ,the late ,dr4 ,j4 ,b4 ,hatcher1 whose death in the very noonday of his glorious career as a fossil hunter cast a gloom over the world of paleontology1 purchased this specimen from me for the ,carnegie ,museum4 ,it has been described in the ,memoirs of the ,carnegie ,museum by ,dr4 ,g4 ,r4 ,wieland1 the authority on extinct turtles1 under the title 8,the ,osteology of ,protostega40 ,he says1 on page #bhi3 8,the third of a century which elapsed since ,cope's discovery of ,protostega gigas1 has not sufficed to bring forth a complete restoration of any single individual of these great sea-turtles4 ,how welcome then has been the discovery during the last two years by ,mr4 ,charles ,sternberg in the ,niobrara ,cretaceous of western ,kansas1 of the nearly complete specimens of ,protostega gigas which permit the present description of the organization of the limbs1 the most important of the parts yet undescribed as well as the very least likely to be recovered in complete form40 7,fig4 #ba47 ,this rare fossil was briefly mentioned by ,professor ,osborn also in ,science as a 8complete skeleton of ,protostega which lay on its dorsal surface with fore limbs stretched out at right angles to the median line of the carapace1 measuring six feet between the ungual phalanges40 ,a second specimen1 which ,i discovered and sold directly to ,dr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,holland1 the director of the ,carnegie ,museum1 is thus described by ,dr4 ,wieland on page #bhb of the ,memoirs1 under the heading 8,specimen ,no4 #adba1 ,carnegie ,museum ,catalogue of ,vertebrates03 8,this fine fossil is from the ,niobrara ,cretaceous of ,hackberry ,creek40 7,i should like to correct this mistake4 ,it was found about three miles northwest of ,monument ,rocks in a ravine that empties into the ,smoky1 east of where ,elkader once stood47 8,the ex situ portions of the original skeleton1 which had weathered out and are secured in more or less complete condition1 include the left humerus1 radius1 ulna1 etc4 ,the in situ portion consists of the right anterior part of the skeleton1 and was secured on a single slab of matrix1 in which it still remains intact1 as shown in the accompanying drawing by ,mr4 ,prentice1 including the lower jaw in oblique inferior view1 the skull1 the ,t-shaped nuchal 7plate7 and two marginals4 ,it will be seen what exceedingly satisfactory information is furnished by the present specimen as compared with all other examples of ,protostega hitherto found4 ,specimen #adbj my first specimen is more complete than any other at present discovered4 ,as originally embedded in its matrix of chalk1 nearly every element was present in an exactly or approximately natural position4 ,unfortunately1 the collector of this surprisingly complete fossil1 in an attempt to remove and separate the bones from their original matrix of chalk1 mismarked some of them1 and also made it impossible to either replace more than a few of the marginal elements1 or to determine the outlines of any of the plastral elements4 ,such work is difficult enough in well-equipped laboratories4 ,however1 none of the bones of the limbs are broken1 and ,mr4 ,sternberg redeemed himself by discovering and securing in such excellent condition ,no4 #adba1 as just related40 ,i learn from one of the ,museum's staff that this specimen is to be mounted this summer of #aijh1 and placed on exhibition4 ,as long as the ,carnegie ,museum stands1 this splendid example of the great sea-tortoise will be admired by lovers of nature4 ,in shape it is very like the present-day turtle of the ,mediterranean4 ,its huge front paddles1 with a span of ten feet1 were armed with horrid claws4 ,the hind ones were stretched out parallel with the body and used as sculls by this 8boatman of the ,cretaceous40 ,an account of my work in the ,kansas ,chalk would not be complete without some mention of my discovery1 in several small localities1 of the crinoid ,uintacrinus socialis ,grinell4 ,according to ,mr4 ,frank ,springer1 our noted ,american authority on this subject1 only seven localities were known in #aija2 he did not know of my discoveries4 ,i can bear witness with him1 though1 to the rarity of this species4 ,during the fifteen years in which ,i have gone over the chalk exposures again and again1 ,i can remember only three localities of these fossils1 the ,martin locality1 another three miles to the east of it1 and a third on ,butte ,creek near ,elkader4 ,the first has yielded the finest specimens among those which were described by ,mr4 ,springer in his magnificent treatise on ,uintacrinus1 published by the ,museum of ,comparative ,zoology at ,harvard ,university4 ,last year1 however1 my son ,george found two splendid specimens about fifty feet apart1 further east than they had been discovered before4 ,the locality is south of ,quinter1 in the southern part of ,gove ,county1 thirty-seven miles east of the ,martin locality4 ,these two colonies each contained about forty calices4 ,as usual1 they are flattened out on the under side of a calcareous slab about a quarter of an inch thick and beveled off as thin as paper at the margins4 ,one slab was sent to the ,senckenberg ,museum in ,germany1 while ,mr4 ,springer secured the other4 ,the calyx1 or as we have called it1 8the head10 has ten long arms1 some of them about thirty inches long4#a ,footnote #a3 ,a restoration of the ,uintacrinus is shown in the same illustration 7,fig4 #aa;a7 in which the ,clidastes is represented4 ,these beautiful globular animals were stemless1 and evidently lived in swarms1 as single specimens are never found4 ,according to ,mr4 ,springer1 when death overtook one of these swarms1 it fell to the bottom1 where the first individuals were buried in the soft mud and preserved1 while the others1 not being so protected1 disintegrated4 ,the limy plates of the calices and those of the arms1 which were thus mingled together above the perfect specimens1 became compressed into a hard slab1 in the bottom of which the perfect specimens are firmly impressed4 ,great numbers of these creatures have been discovered in the ,english chalk1 but they consist only of the disintegrated plates4 ,,chapter ,v ,,discovery ,,of ,,the ,,loup ,,fork ,,beds ,,of ,,kansas ,,and ,,subsequent ,,work ,,there1 #ahgg ,,and #ahhb-hd ,about the first of ,july1 #ahgg1 ,i received orders to go north to the ,loup ,fork ,river in ,nebraska to search for vertebrate fossils in beds of the ,upper ,miocene1 called by ,hayden the ,loup ,fork ,group4 ,i happened to meet1 however1 an old line hunter1 ,abernathy by name1 who had brought into ,buffalo his last load of buffalo hides1 and he told me that a little above his cabin1 on the middle branch of ,sappa ,creek in ,decatur ,county1 there was the skull of a mastodon1 sticking out of the solid rock4 ,as a visit to his house would not take me far out of my way1 ,i followed his lead2 and thanks to the observation of this old hunter1 who was scalped in front of his door the next year by a band of hostile ,kiowas1 ,i had the privilege of discovering the rich fossil beds of the ,loup ,fork ,group in northwestern ,kansas1 and found enough to do without crossing into ,nebraska4 ,the whole country north of ,buffalo was without human habitation until we reached the old man's cabin4 ,on our way there1 as we were driving one sultry day down the long slope to the south branch of the ,soloman1 we chanced to look behind us1 and as high as the eye could reach1 the air was as black as midnight with flying dust1 dry grass1 and buffalo chips4 ,experience had taught us what all this meant4 ,will ,brouse laid the whip to the ponies1 but they did not need it4 ,they1 too1 had taken fright1 and tore down the hill at breakneck speed4 ,on reaching the valley1 we came upon a perpendicular bluff1 over twenty feet high1 impinging on the level flat1 and ,will swung the horses under its protecting shelter4 ,we sprang out1 and while one of us unhitched and tied the horses1 the rest caught hold of the wagon and held it down4 ,in an instant all was dark1 while the rush of a mighty wind swept over us with a terrible roar and passed on1 leaving a calm in its wake4 ,as we followed its trail along the river1 we found large trees twisted off at the stump or broken to pieces1 their branches scattered like straws4 ,about sundown one evening1 the old man pointed out1 in a side draw of the middle fork of the ,sappa1 his mastodon4 ,i sprang from the wagon1 shouting1 8,it's a monster turtle60 ,and so it proved to be1 a great land turtle1 over thirty inches long1 twenty-eight inches wide1 and fifteen inches high2 ,testudo orthopygia ,cope called it4 ,the back of the carapace was sticking out of a ledge of grey sandstone4 ,we applied our picks1 and soon had the specimen collected4 7,fig4 #bb47 ,now began an extremely interesting search for this new fauna in ,kansas4 ,the rocks in this part of the state usually consist of gray sand cemented together with washed chalk and soluble silica4 ,the foundation on which these beds were deposited is the ,niobrara ,group of the ,cretaceous4 ,the river beds were cut in this soft lime1 and later on the wash of the land mingled the whiting with the sand and gravel which the streams brought down from the mountains4 ,the tops of the hills are capped with this conglomerate gray sandstone in ledges many feet in thickness1 and as the materials composing it easily disintegrate1 great masses of it lie at the bases of the cliffs1 resembling old mortar4 ,i called them mortar beds1 and the stratigraphers have adopted the name4 ,indeed1 they are mortar beds not only in name1 from a fancied resemblance to mortar1 but in fact1 as all the early settlers can testify4 ,it was no trouble for them to find beds so soft that the material could easily be dug out1 and when mixed with water and spread with trowels over the inside walls of a sod house1 it made a very comfortable home4 ,when it comes to comfort1 the settlers of the short-grass country have gained nothing by building frame instead of sod houses4 ,the early settler's sod house was cool in summer and warm in winter1 and those who live in more modern houses in order to keep up with the times will even now speak with regret of the change4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bb4--;,,fossil ,,shell ,,of ,,giant ,,land ,,turtle1 ,testudo orthopygia4 ,discovered by ,charles ,sternberg in ,phillips ,co41 ,kansas4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bc4--,,the ,,snake-,,necked ,,elasmosaurus1 ,elasmosaurus platyurus4 ,discovered in the ,niobrara ,group of the ,cretaceous4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight4 7,from painting in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,not only did ,i secure a number of specimens of these great turtles1 so abundant at this time1 but also large quantities of the remains of a rhinoceros4 ,cope thought it hornless1 and named it ,aphelops megalodus1 but since then ,hatcher has found that the male bore a loose horn on the end of the nasal bones4 ,i also got specimens of the great inferior tusked mastodon1 ,trilophodon campester ,cope4 ,this remarkably primitive mastodon had a lower jaw that projected beyond the molar teeth for two feet in a straight line1 with a socket on either side1 containing two powerful tusks that terminated in chisel points4 ,one specimen1 which ,i discovered in #ahhb for the ,museum of ,comparative ,zoology in ,cambridge1 had a jaw four feet long1 including the tusks1 which extended eighteen inches beyond the end of the jaw4 ,a set of jaws was brought me by my son last fall4 ,it belongs to a new form of this gigantic pachyderm1 which1 during the ,loup ,fork times1 inhabited northwestern ,kansas and a vast territory west and northwest as far as the ,john ,day basin in eastern ,oregon4 ,a remarkable peculiarity of this specimen is that the symphysis is greatly elongated and curves downward thirteen inches below the level of the alveolus1 which bears the great molar teeth4 ,this individual was an old animal1 as he had shed his first dentition and all the premolars and molars of the second except the very last1 those which we call wisdom teeth4 ,even these are well worn2 so the days of the mastodon's life must have been numbered even if he had escaped his enemy1 the great saber-toothed tiger1 which preyed on him and the other herbivorous animals of the day4 ,the length of these remarkable jaws is four feet and one inch4 ,the height at the condyle1 where they connect with the skull1 is thirteen and a half inches2 length of molar1 nine and a quarter inches2 height of crown1 two and one-half inches2 distance between the two molars1 four inches4 ,the sockets for the great inferior tusks are two feet long and six inches in diameter1 and the huge recurved tusks themselves must have been over four feet long4 ,only a sight of these peculiar jaws1 with tusks above and below1 can give the reader an idea of the formidable appearance of this early mastodon4 ,by the large size and downward curvature of the lower tusks1 this mastodon suggests the great ,dinotherium of the ,lower ,pliocene of ,europe4 ,i regret for ,america's sake1 but ,i am glad for the sake of the world1 that these jaws of the largest mammal ever found in ,kansas will find their last resting-place in the great ,british ,museum1 where many of my finest discoveries have gone4 ,another splendid set of lower jaws ,i found in #aije in the ,sternberg ,quarry1 of which ,i shall speak later1 for the ,royal ,museum of ,munich1 ,bavaria4 ,part of the symphysis was broken off1 as were also the inferior tusks4 ,the length of the jaw as preserved is two feet1 six inches and a half1 and the height of the condyle1 fourteen inches4 ,in the center of the grinding surface1 the height is nine and a half inches4 ,the length of the molar is about seven and a half inches1 and the width three and a half4 ,this is ,professor ,cope's ,trilophodon4 ,we found near this mastodon many chisel-like tusks that had fallen out of their respective jaws and lay scattered with the other bones4 ,by comparing this specimen with the new species1 it will be noticed that there is quite a difference in size1 though evidently they were about the same age1 as in both cases all the teeth have been discarded except the last molars4 ,the teeth of these animals were kept sharp by the sand that adhered to the roots on which they lived4 ,falling into the pits and valleys between the crests of enamel1 it scoured away the dentine and cementum1 and kept the great grinders ever sharp and ready for use4 ,it is a distinguishing characteristic of these early mastodons that their tusks have a strip of enamel along the inside1 while the modern elephants' tusks have only a vestige of enamel at the extreme tip that is quickly worn off4 ,another remarkable inhabitant of ,kansas during the ,loup ,fork ,period was the three-toed horse1 an animal but little larger than the new-born colt of an ordinary farm horse1 which evidently lived in herds1 judging from the great quantity of loose teeth that we have found4 ,its toes were spreading1 which enabled it to walk over bogs and mossy quagmires on the shores of lakes or rivers1 and thus escape the fangs of bloodthirsty tigers by venturing farther out on the soft ground than they dared to follow4 ,in #ahhb1 while employed by the ,agassiz ,museum1 ,i found the famous ,sternberg ,quarry at ,long ,island on ,prairie ,dog ,creek in ,phillips ,county4 ,i had been exploring for weeks the region at the head of the branches of ,deer ,creek1 which spread out in the divide like a fan2 but although once in a while1 especially in the neighborhood of ,bread ,bowl ,mound1 ,i had found fragments of the bones of ,loup ,fork animals in the sod1 ,i had not met with much success1 as the rocks here disintegrate so easily and hold moisture so readily that the whole country is covered with grass4 ,there are thirty-three streams in this county as a result of the immense amount of moisture which accumulates in these sandstone beds and is carried to the surface in springs4 ,one very hot day ,i started to cross the divide to ,prairie ,dog ,creek4 ,i had the wagon sheet stretched over the bows1 the sides lifted to admit the breeze1 and sleepy with the heat1 ,i let the horses go on about as they pleased2 not noticing1 until the level rays of the sun warned me that it was time to camp1 that ,i had gone farther east than ,i had intended4 ,i had my camp outfit with me1 however1 and as ,i saw a bunch of trees in a ravine a mile from the creek ,i knew that there must be water there4 ,so the three requisites1 grass1 wood1 and water1 were at hand4 ,after pitching the tent1 and starting supper1 ,i found to my delight a large exposure of hard siliceous rock1 consisting of sand and chalk held firmly together by soluble sand1 which proved to be the bottom ledge of a deposit of gray sandstone4 ,i soon found above it a mastodon's bones4 ,my joy knew no bounds1 however1 when following the narrow draw up to its head1 ,i found that it cut through a quarry of rhinoceros bones1 which were sticking out of the sand on either side1 while the narrow ditch at the bottom was filled with toe bones1 complete or in fragments1 and broken skulls and teeth without number4 ,i have collected fossil vertebrates and plants since ,i was seventeen years old1 but this is the greatest deposit of fossils that ,i have ever discovered4 ,i shall never forget how1 carried away with enthusiasm1 ,i took possession in the name of ,science of the largest bone bed in ,kansas4 ,i did not stop to ask whether anyone else had any interest in the land1 nor did ,i think it necessary4 ,i had grown so used in my own case to putting aside every other consideration for the sake of the advancement of science that it did not occur to me that anyone else might take a different view4 ,but one day1 as ,i was working in the ravine1 an old man1 plowing corn1 drove up to its eastern edge4 ,when he made the turn1 he chanced to look across and saw me1 pick in hand1 diligently uncovering the skull of a rhinoceros from the sandbank on the other side4 ,he instantly shouted with all the strength of his lungs1 8,what are you doing80 8,digging up antediluvian relics10 ,i shouted back4 ,we both shouted as if we were a hundred yards apart4 8,well10 he called1 8get out of there60 8,all right10 ,i answered in the same loud tones1 and kept on working4 ,the old man1 whose name ,i learned later was ,mr4 ,overton1 disappeared1 and ,i heard no more of him until ,i went into ,long ,island for food1 or grub as they say in the ,west1 and was told that he had come in to a justice of the peace and asked for a warrant to arrest me for collecting these old bones4 ,he never again came directly to me1 either that year or the following1 but people told me that he went around to all the justices in that part of the country1 trying to get his warrant4 ,finally1 however1 they managed to convince him that ,i was not harming him1 and was benefiting science4 ,two years later1 in #ahhd1 ,i was employed by the late ,professor ,marsh to explore this same fossil bed4 ,the bones which ,i was after now were covered by fourteen feet of moulding sand and a four-foot ledge of hard rock1 the heavier bones lying on the sandstone1 the lighter ones mingled with the sand above4 ,this sand and rock had to be removed by pick and scraper1 which meant that there was a large amount of heavy labor before us4 ,therefore1 having more means at my command than ,i had had before1 ,i drove up to ,mr4 ,overton's door and offered him forty dollars a month to work for us with his team during the whole summer1 with the understanding that ,i was to have all the fossils found4 ,this offer he gladly accepted1 and ,i found him a very careful worker4 ,not only did he do the rough work well1 but when we got a floor laid bare above the bones1 he proved to be a most careful collector4 ,my other assistant on this expedition was a ,mr4 ,will ,russ1 who afterwards became a skilful dentist4 ,our method of work was first to cut down and remove the sand and rock for a space twenty feet wide and perhaps a hundred long1 using a plow and scraper4 ,then we cleaned up our floor and uncovered the bones with oyster knives and other tools which we had made to suit our purpose4 ,one1 ,i remember1 was a hoe straightened out at the shank and cut off at the corners to make a diamond-shaped tool4 ,with this we could work under the high bank1 and take out specimens which we could not reach otherwise4 ,trowels and diggers of various patterns were used also4 ,the bones which we were collecting lay scattered along both sides of the ravine for a quarter of a mile1 often in pockets or pot-holes in the gray sandstone4 ,of this there are two layers1 about fourteen feet apart1 the interspace being filled with beds of fine moulding sand1 with some whiting from the underlying chalk1 which constituted the land surface when these fresh-water beds were deposited4 ,there are also beds of sand that have been washed clean by the currents of the flood-plain of some ancient river1 for the exposed section shows all the different deposits of an overflowed valley4 ,above the washed sand is a stratum of sand and clay1 indicating that here was a quiet place where the muddy backwater deposited its load4 ,this layer1 upon exposure1 cracks in all directions1 like the mud at the bottom of a puddle after the water has evaporated4 ,it has always been a problem to account for the number of the animals represented here1 and for the fact that the bones are so scattered4 ,all parts of the skeletons are mingled in the greatest confusion1 with no two bones in a natural position4 ,one is1 of course1 forced1 after an observation of this country1 to agree with ,drs4 ,matthew and ,hatcher that these bones were deposited in the flood-plain of a running stream and not in great lakes1 as was believed by older geologists4 ,but the only supposition upon which ,i can account for the intermingling of all the bones of the skeletons on the bottom sandstone layer is that the fine sand through which the bones were distributed1 becoming saturated with water1 was converted into a quicksand1 in which the bones sank until they reached the impenetrable layer below2 the heavier bones of course being at the bottom4 ,what caused the death of the countless individuals in the ,sternberg ,quarry1 is a question not easily answered4 ,the authorities quoted above believe that during the ,upper ,miocene ,period1 there were many water-courses separated1 by slightly elevated divides and broad flood-plains1 with possibly here and there small lakes1 where the dense vegetation had clogged some sluggish stream4 ,but during a rainy season of unusual duration1 the whole region for many miles must have been converted into a series of lakes2 and all the animals in the vicinity1 after having gathered at the highest points they could find to escape death1 must have been finally overwhelmed by some great flood that covered every inch of ground4 ,then after maceration took place1 the bones might have been scattered by other floods4 ,a theory of my own1 equally plausible1 is that the animals were buried beneath a sandstorm1 which tore loose the fine sand of the flood-plain1 and scattered it in suffocating volumes over the frightened multitudes which had herded together in search of safety or courage4 ,this land1 now three thousand feet above sea level1 was only a few feet above when these rhinoceroses moved over it in countless herds4 ,everywhere were swamps filled with sponge moss1 and tropical streams1 whose wealth of vegetation formed thick jungles along their banks4 ,on firmer ground1 great areas were covered with a dense growth of rushes1 through which the paths of these animals were the only trails2 while higher up still1 the soft damp soil gave a foothold to forests1 through which the great mastodons sounded their trumpet calls1 as they roamed about1 tearing up trees with their powerful trunks and feasting upon the rich1 juicy roots4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bd4--,,three-,,toed ,,horse1 ,hypohippus4 ,from the ,middle ,eocene of ,colorado4 7,after ,gidley47 ,in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #be4--;,,fossil ,,rhinoceros1 ,teleoceras fossiger4 ,from ,sternberg's quarry at ,long ,island1 ,phillips ,co41 ,kansas4 ,collected by ,wortman2 mounted in the ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history4 7,after ,osborn47 ,that year1 #ahhd1 in which ,i explored the quarry at ,long ,island1 was a memorable one1 not only because we secured a large carload of rhinoceros bones1 but also because we had with us ,mr4 ,j4 ,b4 ,hatcher1 who afterwards helped to build up three great museums of vertebrate paleontology1--the museums of ,yale and ,princeton and the ,carnegie ,museum4 ,with the last he was connected at the time of his death in #aijd1 just twenty years after he made his first collection of vertebrate fossils with me4 ,a bright1 earnest student1 he gave promise of a future even then by his perfect understanding of the work in hand and the thoughtful care which he devoted to it4 ,i have always been glad that ,i had the honor of being his first teacher in the practical work of collecting1 although he soon graduated from my department1 and requested me to let him take one side of the ravine while ,i worked the other4 ,he employed ,mr4 ,overton's son with a plow and scraper1 and got out a magnificent collection with no further instructions from me4 ,that same year ,professor ,marsh came to my quarry and leased it from the owner1 and ,i never saw it again until #aije1 when ,i came into my own once more1 and in addition to the splendid mastodon1 mentioned earlier in this chapter1 found the material for two perfect mounts of the rhinoceros4 ,one is to be mounted at ,munich1 the other at ,bonn4 ,with ,professor ,osborn's consent1 ,i give a photograph of the fine specimen 7,fig4 #be7 which ,dr4 ,wortman secured in #ahid from this quarry for the ,american ,museum4 ,a vast collection from the same spot is stored in the ,national ,museum in its original packages1 with which ,i filled a car in #ahhd4 ,i saw there a whole case filled with the skulls of the rhinoceros ,teleoceras fossiger1 which ,i secured in great numbers at ,long ,island4 ,it is strange to think that the foundation on which these beds of fresh-water deposits lie unconformably is the great ,cretaceous sea bottom1 whose tilted and uplifted strata tower two thousand feet above the carboniferous rocks in eastern ,kansas4 ,the ,republican1 ,smoky ,hill1 and ,kansas rivers have carved their way through all these strata1 so that by following down these streams1 one can get cross sections of the country4 ,i have often asked men who were sure that there must be coal beneath the surface1 why1 instead of hiring a man to dig a hole for them1 they did not hitch up their buggies and follow the valley of the ,smoky ,hill1 beginning at the ,colorado line4 ,the first stratum exposed is of course the recent1 with its sandy loam2 in it1 here and there1 a crumbling buffalo skull or an eroded implement4 ,then comes the ,pleistocene deposit1 consisting of clay1 sand1 and fragments of rock mingled together4 ,from this formation ,i secured over two hundred teeth of the great ,columbian ,mammoth4 ,next come beds of black shale with giant septaria1 the ,fort ,pierre ,group of the ,cretaceous1 whose upper beds we explored in ,montana in #ahgf for dinosaurs4 ,in this formation1 in ,kansas1 ,i found a new species of ,clidastes4 ,the specimens are now in the ,kansas ,university collection1 and the species has been named by ,dr4 ,williston ,clidastes westi1 in honor of the ,kansas ,university collector1 the late ,judge ,e4 ,p4 ,west4 ,we have not gone far down the river below the forks1 before this formation1 which at ,mc,allister topped the hills1 passes under the river4 ,then reddish and blue chalks occupy the country for some miles1 and in turn disappear to give place to yellowish and blue chalks1 which finally make way for the blue and almost white chalks that run under the river near the mouth of ,hackberry ,creek in eastern ,gove ,county4 ,at ,white ,rock in ,trego ,county the hard white limestone1 in fortification blocks1 is piled ninety feet high4 ,further down appears the post limestone of the ,fort ,benton ,group1 with its characteristic ,inoceramus shells2 while in central ,kansas1 brown and white sandstone and brilliantly colored clays occupy the whole region for sixty miles1 giving place at last to the hard limestones and the friable shales and sandstones of the ,upper ,carboniferous4 ,no coal1 except very shallow veins in the ,upper ,carboniferous and the ,dakota ,group of the ,cretaceous1 has even been found in this big ditch1 which1 less than a quarter of a mile wide at the head of the ,smoky ,hill branch at ,wallace1 broadens out to a width of several miles at the mouth of the ,kansas ,river4 ,it is impossible to compute the vast amount of mineral matter which has been cut out from these ,kansas plains and carried by the river into the ,mississippi and on to the ,gulf4 ,since the first narrow trench cut its way through the hardened ooze of the ,cretaceous ocean bed1 all the flood-plains of the ,missouri and the ,mississippi below ,kansas ,city have been enriched by the material that once covered these valleys of ,kansas1 and the delta below ,new ,orleans has been partly built up by it4 ,it may interest my readers and give them a glimpse into the daily routine of a fossil hunter's life1 if ,i quote one or two notes from a diary which ,i kept during my work in these ,loup ,fork beds4 8,friday1 ,july #aa4--,this is to record the most successful day since we have been in the field4 ,we have collected three sets of under-jaws1 three skulls4 ,it has been extremely hot4 ,we have put in eight hours of hard work40 8,saturday1 ,july #ab4--,to-day ,i got out and packed our three skulls and three lower jaws4 ,they were within the space of a square yard4 ,we got some very fine bones1 and best of all1 a perfect front foot in position1 a perfect humerus1 a perfect femur1 except proximal articulation1 the premaxilla of a cat with a huge canine 7saber-toothed tiger74 ,we got great quantities of the bones of the feet1 an axis1 and one other vertebr in good state of preservation1 a fine scapula1 etc4 ,this afternoon has been the hottest day of the season1 but this evening the wind changed to the north1 and it is quite cool4 ,i got in addition to the specimens mentioned a maxilla of a saber-toothed tiger4 ,the enormous young canine was two inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide40 ,i might go on and quote indefinitely1 but the story would be about the same4 ,i recall1 however1 one or two incidents connected with my work in this field1 which may be amusing or interesting to my readers4 ,once in #ahhb1 while collecting for the ,museum of ,comparative ,zoology of ,harvard ,university1 ,i met an old gentleman and his dear old wife1 the hair of both showing upon it the snows of many winters1 sitting on a board laid across a dry-goods box to which two wagon wheels had been attached4 ,a team of ponies harnessed with rope instead of leather1 with lines of the same material1 completed the outfit4 ,the old man and his wife sat up very straight and dignified and demanded of me what ,i was doing in that part of the country4 8,oh10 ,i answered1 8,i'm looking for rhinoceros bones in the loose sand of the hills here40 8,well10 the old man said1 8,i am interested in these old bones myself4 ,i don't claim to be a scholar2 in fact1 ,i am quite illiterate1 but ,i think when this earth was in a molten state1 these old hippopotamuses wallowed around in the mud and got congealed in the rocks40 ,the following incident ,i did not find quite so amusing4 ,one day ,i discovered turtle shells sticking out on either side of a narrow gulch which cut through a large deposit of sand4 ,in digging out those already in sight1 ,i found many more2 collecting in all some twenty fine specimens1 but all quite small4 ,following down the gorge1 ,i discovered that it opened out1 on ,beaver ,creek in ,rawlins ,county1 into a great amphitheater several acres in extent and almost denuded of vegetation2 an ideal place for fossil hunting1 as the elements had been digging out and removing the sand for ages4 ,and sure enough1 ,i soon stumbled upon the complete shell and skeleton1 four feet in diameter1 of a specimen of ,cope's ,testudo orthopygia2 but it nearly broke my heart to find that while the specimen had weathered out in a perfect condition1 some vandal--for ,i shall ever maintain that the wanton destruction of life that now is or of the remains of life that once was1 is wicked1--some man had chopped it all to pieces with a mattock4 ,passing on in a not very pleasant frame of mind1 ,i came upon another individual of huge proportions1 which had suffered the same fate1 and then upon another2 all that this rich-looking ground afforded had been utterly ruined4 ,angry at the thought that any man should commit such sacrilege1--for to me these footsteps of the ,creator in the sands of time are sacred1--and bitterly disappointed1 since ,i knew that ,i should very likely never again come upon such huge specimens of the reptilian life of that age1 ,i walked into camp blinded by hot tears1 and failed to notice a stranger who was sitting there on a box4 8,some infernal vandal has been up this ravine10 ,i shouted to ,will1 8and dug up with a mattock three of the finest turtles ,i ever saw40 ,as if he had been shot1 the man jumped from the box and exclaimed in accents of heartfelt contrition1 8,it was me4 ,i was out here digging roots to build a fire with1 and ran across them4 ,i didn't know they had any value1 and ,i wanted to see what was inside of them and dug into them40 ,his surprise and dismay were so comical that the murder vanished from my heart1 and overwrought as ,i was1 ,i broke out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter which used me up for the rest of the day4 ,another time ,i had a rather unusual experience4 ,my assistant1 a ,mr4 ,wright1 and ,i were digging out rhinoceros bones on ,sappa ,creek4 ,we had noticed a house on the other side of the creek1 although dense timber cut off most of its surroundings1 and happening to look toward it once1 we saw a girl of about sixteen years rush out from the timber and begin to climb the steep hill toward us4 ,i never saw anyone run so fast up so steep a hill4 ,her strength failed her1 however1 when she got to us1 and it was some time before she could tell her story4 ,it seems that her mother had gone out to milk1 and as the ground was slippery from a rain of the night before1 she had fallen and dislocated one of the bones in the palm of her hand4 ,all the men were away and had taken all the horses1 and it was seventeen miles to the nearest doctor4 ,the girl1 knowing that we were digging up bones1 had concluded that we could set them1 and had come to us for help4 ,although ,i had never attempted anything of the kind before1 ,i could not resist the poor child's appeal and went to the house4 ,the mother lay moaning on her bed1 and would answer nothing when ,i asked whether ,i should try to set her hand4 ,but as the girl was very desirous that ,i should make the attempt1 ,i decided to do so4 ,so while ,mr4 ,wright held the arm1 ,i put splints and a roller bandage under the hand1 which was laid on a table1 and then forcibly pushed the bone back into its natural position4 ,after which ,i bandaged the hand tightly4 ,i left directions with the girl to hang a can of water with a small hole in it over the hand1 so that the water might drip on it and by evaporation cool it and prevent inflammation4 ,my instructions were carried out by the brave girl1 and her mother's hand was soon as well as ever4 ,in these last chapters ,i have often wandered far afield1 for it would have taken too long to relate all the events of my various expeditions in consecutive order4 ,hoping that my readers will pardon the digressions1 ,i return to the expedition of #ahgg4 ,russell ,hill proved a most efficient assistant1 and it has always grieved me that he should in later years have given up work in the fossil fields for the practice of medicine4 ,will ,brouse1 too1 was an enthusiastic worker2 he was not satisfied to be relegated to the pots and kettles and horses1 and not only did his duty as our teamster and cook1 but soon accomplished almost1 if not quite as much in the field as any one of us4 ,i never had a more congenial party in all the years of my field work4 ,but one day in ,august ,i received a bulky letter from ,professor ,cope4 8,turn over all the outfit to ,mr4 ,hill10 he wrote1 8and go at once to a new field discovered in the desert of eastern ,oregon4 ,go to ,fort ,klamath1 ,oregon1 and from there to ,silver ,lake1 to a man by the name of ,duncan1 the postmaster4 ,he will guide you to the fossil bed in the heart of the sage-brush desert4 ,you will likely find human implements mingled with extinct animals4 ,you are to go secretly2 tell no one where you are going4 ,have your mail sent by a circuitous route1 so you cannot be traced40 ,i received the ,professor's order with excitement and great joy2 but in spite of his injunction to start at once and without communicating my intention to anyone1 ,i could not bring myself to leave for the ,pacific ,coast1 to be gone for an indefinite time1 without bidding good-by to my father and mother1 and ,i concluded that even if someone should find out where ,i was going and try to follow me ,i could easily give him the slip and get to the field first4 ,buffalo1 the nearest railway station1 was seventy-five miles away1 a two days' journey1 with our big load of fossils4 ,so ,i mounted my riding pony and made the long trip the next day1 reaching the station at sunset1 tired and sore4 ,my pony1 however1 endowed with the enduring power characteristic of a good ,indian pony1 was still fresh enough to shy at a rattlesnake in the road1 and as ,i happened to be sitting sideways in the saddle1 throw me to the ground within a few feet of the snake4 ,that night ,i went to my home in ,ellsworth ,county1 bade my dear ones good-by for an indefinite length of time1 and was back at ,buffalo again at midnight of the following day4 ,my boys met me at the station with my roll of blankets1 tools1 and baggage1 and away ,i went to 8fresh fields and pastures new40 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,oregon ,,desert ,,in #ahgg ,at ,monument ,station1 ,i was surprised to see ,mr4 ,s4 ,w4 ,williston get aboard with all his outfit4 ,williston did not know at first that ,i was on the train1 and when he entered my car1 he was greatly astonished1 thinking that ,i was on his trail4 ,he tried to find out my destination1 but failed4 ,we slept together at ,denver4 ,then he took a train south1 while ,i went north toward ,cheyenne and the ,west4 ,onward our train sped toward the land of the setting sun1 through the grand and impressive scenery of the ,rockies and ,sierra ,nevadas4 ,at ,sacramento ,i took the railroad for ,redding1 where1 with seven other passengers1 ,i entered a ,concord coach drawn by a team of eight horses1 and continued my journey by stage4 ,it was a lovely ,august evening4 ,the moon was at its full1 and the night was almost as bright as day4 ,no sound broke the deep silence1 except now and then the whoo of an owl as it called to its mate far away in the depth of the forest1 or the plash of running water falling in cascades over the shelving rocks and dashing against the boulders4 ,higher and higher we climbed1 through primeval forests of spruce and fir1 whose branches clove the sky a hundred feet above our heads4 ,the rarefied air filled our lungs with its life-giving tonic1 exhilarating us like wine4 ,we knew that far above us rose ,mount ,shasta1 the giant of the range1 but for a time the heavy timber shut out the view1 and we could see only the road ahead1 winding up and up through the forests4 ,then suddenly1 without warning1 we moved above the timber-line1 and ,mount ,shasta stood revealed in all its beauty1 a perfect cone1 towering four thousand feet into the air1 its robes of everlasting snow glistening in the moonlight4 ,above1 in the clear blue of the sky1 the stars sparkled like jewels in an immortal canopy4 ,it was the first time that any of us had looked upon that majestic scene1 and whatever may have been the differences of temperament among us1 we were one in the feeling of awe which the glorious picture inspired4 ,it laid a spell upon us2 we were dumb before the invisible presence of the ,power that had reared this stupendous pinnacle1 and involuntarily our thoughts turned to that 8city that hath foundations1 whose builder and maker is ,god40 ,then to break the awful silence1 and give some vent to our emotions1 we broke out into the old song1 8',way down upon the ,suwanee ,river02 and so we journeyed on for many hours1 never out of sight of that majestic form4 ,at ,ashland ,i was obliged to wait for a driver with a buckboard and a team of ponies to take me to ,fort ,klamath1 ,oregon4 ,i was at that time a great lover of the gentle art of fishing1 and early in the morning1 before it was fully light1 ,i was astir among the great live-oaks that grace the town4 ,walking through the sleeping village1 ,i ran across the footprints of a large grizzly bear in the dust of the road1 and followed them through the vacant streets4 ,wherever a gate had been left open1 the bear had entered the yard1 walked around the house1 and come out at the gate again4 ,i hoped to get a glimpse of him1 but was disappointed1 as the tracks led into the gloom of the forest4 ,so ,i went fishing1 and caught some speckled beauties for breakfast4 ,that evening ,i was driven over to ,fort ,klamath1 where ,i was kindly invited to take possession of the commanding officer's quarters and make myself at home2 an invitation which ,i proceeded to accept at once4 ,learning that a sheep-owner a few miles away had killed a grizzly1 ,i went out to his camp to see it4 ,sure enough1 there lay the mighty carcass1 encircled with four inches of grease1 enough for the polls of all the boys in ,oregon4 ,it seemed that as the time for his winter nap was approaching1 ,mr4 ,bruin had been laying in a supply of fuel by devouring the fat wethers of our friend's flock4 ,the latter had built a heavy brush fence around the sheep1 and with the help of a large number of hounds1 had kept his range free from coyotes1 but he had been helpless before the attacks of this big bear4 ,when he watched on top of the brush fence1 he was not molested1 but no sooner did he seek the comfortable cot in his tent1 than his slumbers were broken by the piteous bleat of some sheep1 as it was carried off to the woods by the bear4 ,about ten days before ,i reached ,klamath1 he had been awakened in the middle of the night by a commotion in the flock1 and rushing out in his shirt into the cool night air1 had seen the bear only ten feet away1 across a deep and narrow stream4 ,without thinking of the consequences to himself if he only wounded the creature1 he opened fire with his ,winchester1 and the first shot broke the bear's neck4 ,when ,i arrived1 the skin had been removed1 but the huge carcass1 which must have weighed at least a ton1 had been lying in the hot ,august sun ever since4 ,the sheep-owner 7,i am sorry that ,i have forgotten his name1 as ,i was under heavy obligations to him7 promised me that after breakfast he would help me in the not very enviable task of removing the decaying flesh from the bones4 ,but after one whiff from the windward side1 he asked a pertinent question1 was ,i fond of trout1 and upon my answering yes1 remarked that he knew of a creek where he could get some beauties1 and immediately disappeared4 ,i saw him no more that morning4 ,at the first thrust of my knife into the bear1 the stench was so horrible that ,i grew deathly sick4 ,i filled my pipe and tried to find relief in smoking1 but even then the odor was overpowering1 and ,i smoked and sickened through the livelong day1 until ,i had cleaned the filthy flesh from the bones1 and they had been tied up in gunny-sacks and hung in a tree to dry4 ,then into the creek ,i went and with soap and sand scrubbed and scoured my body2 but the horrid smell still hung about me1 and ,i could eat neither supper nor breakfast the next morning1 although at dinner ,i managed to stow away a good square meal4 ,but even now1 after thirty years1 if you say 8bear0 to me1 ,i can smell that bear4 ,at ,klamath ,i hired for my assistant a man named ,george ,loosely4 ,i also bought two saddle ponies and one to carry the pack2 and with a government tent and other outfit and rations purchased at the commissary1--we had our flour baked into bread by the post baker1--we started for ,silver ,lake1 although no one at the post could give us any directions4 ,i had a department map1 sent to me by ,professor ,cope1 which recorded1 mistakenly as we found later1 that ,sprague ,river rose in ,silver ,lake4 ,the government road to the east crossed the ,williamson ,river on a government bridge1 and came to an abrupt end in an ,indian village on the western bank of ,sprague ,river4 ,so we decided to take the road as far as we could and then follow up the river to its source in the lake4 ,when we reached the ,williamson ,river1 we found there the lodge of a ,snake ,indian1 who appeared dressed in red paint and a breech-cloth1 and demanded toll4 ,but as ,american citizens we had paid taxes to help pay for that bridge2 so we refused to pay toll for the use of our own property1 and rode across in spite of the threats hurled at us4 ,we reached ,sprague ,river that same evening1 and went into camp a short distance from a large ,indian town4 ,the houses1 built by government contractors of rough logs1 consisted of a single room with a shake roof4 ,the ,indians had torn out the board floors1 and instead of using the fireplaces and chimneys which the builders had erected for their convenience1 they had cut holes in the roofs1 and built their fires in the middle of the floor1 sleeping around them at night as their fathers used to do in their lodges or ,sibley tents4 ,george1 who was more familiar with them than ,i was1 learned that a chief lay dying in one of the houses1 and after supper he left me and went to witness the death ceremonies4 ,after stowing away the bread and coffee between our mattresses and covering them with blankets1 and hiding the bacon at the bottom of the mess box with tin dishes piled on top of it so that ,i should hear the rattle if a thieving ,indian attempted to get at it1 ,i1 being tired1 dropped off to sleep4 ,about three o'clock in the morning1 ,george appeared1 having been shut up in the house with the dying chief all night4 ,when the medicine man began his incantations1 the doors and windows were closed1 while the steaming ,indians danced in a circle around the dying chief1 forcing the unwilling ,george to take part in the ceremonies4 ,all night long they moved around in their death dance to the music of their drums and the wild gesticulations of the medicine man1 and when ,george finally got away1 he was about exhausted4 ,he was soon lost in sleep1 and as ,i habitually lie on my sound ear1 neither of us heard anything through the night4 ,but the next morning1 when ,george had put on the coffee to boil and went into the mess box for the bacon1 it had disappeared4 ,the dishes had been carefully replaced4 ,after a breakfast of bread and coffee1 we were early in the saddle1 taking a heavy trail that led north and skirted ,sprague ,river4 ,by the merest chance1 we met a white man1 the first we had seen since leaving the post1 and we stopped to ask the way to ,silver ,lake4 ,a number of ,snake ,indians were standing around at the time4 ,the man told us to go north on the trail to a sheep camp in ,sican ,valley1 where we would receive further directions1 and thanking him1 we rode confidently forward4 ,just as the sun was sinking1 we entered a splendid forest of fir and spruce1 and soon found that our trail forked4 ,the heavy1 well-traveled branch turned a little west of north2 the other1 leading due north1 had apparently not been used since last year1 as it was covered with old leaves4 ,we did not know what to do1 as the man whom we had met in the morning had not mentioned this fork4 ,while we were talking about it1 we heard the jingling bells of a pack horse or ,indian cayuse1 and soon a boy hove in sight1 driving a couple of pack ponies4 ,moving to one side to let him pass1 ,i asked him where he was going4 8,to ,sican ,valley1 to a sheep ranch10 he answered1 and immediately was lost to sight among the giant trees4 ,we meekly fell in behind and hurried after him4 ,suddenly we came out into a natural park1 the end of our trail4 ,five ,indian lodges stood about in the open space1 and five valiant braves1 in their usual attire of paint and breech-cloths1 with the inevitable ,winchester1 stepped forward to inform us that 8white man was lost in the woods10 and that they would show him the trail for two dollars4 8,where is that miserable papoose80 ,i demanded1 but they only grinned and repeated1 8,we will show you the road for two dollars40 ,it was my habit1 in a crisis of this kind1 to smoke1 for ,i regret to say that ,i was for many years a lover of the soothing weed2 so1 drawing out of my saddlebag a pound of fragrant 8,lone ,jack10 ,i proceeded to fill my pipe and decide upon my further course4 ,instantly the ,indians crowded around me1 and dropping the butts of their guns to the ground1 pulled out their tobacco pouches1 and opening them wide1 held them up to be filled1 crying in chorus1 8,me tobac6 ,me tobac60 ,but the memory of the deceitful boy was still rankling in my mind4 ,i told ,george to follow me with the pack horse1 and deliberately lighting my pipe and filling my lungs with smoke to their utmost capacity1 ,i blew a cloud of it into the faces of the expectant beggars4 ,then ,i drove my spurs into my pony's flanks and started off in a mad race against time1 as the long shadows warned me only too plainly that the daylight1 our only guide now1 would soon leave us4 ,i did not look back1 but ,george1 who did1 saw the ,indians1 in anger1 level their rifles as they shouted to us to stop4 ,that race with darkness was an exciting one1 but just before night overtook us1 we reached the trail which we had left to follow the lying ,indian boy4 ,in our haste1 our bread had been torn from its sack by the outstretched limb of a tree1 and was lost4 ,however1 we were so thankful to have escaped paying toll to those filthy ,snakes1 that we cheerfully made our supper of coffee1 and sought our blankets4 ,at the first streak of daylight1 after another meal of coffee1 we were in our saddles2 and we traveled all day1 until1 just as the sun was setting1 we heard the welcome bleat of sheep and saw the herders driving their flocks down the slopes of the neighboring hills to their corrals in ,sican ,valley4 ,following them1 we soon spied the camp in the heavy timber and smelled the delicious savor of a pot of mutton that was boiling over the fire4 ,and before long1 seated at the rude table1 we were enjoying to the uttermost the hospitality of the camp4 ,we had learned on the journey that ,sprague ,river rises in the heart of the mountains1 instead of in ,silver ,lake1 and we had crossed the divide between it and the lake before reaching ,sican ,valley4 ,the next morning our sheepmen directed us on our way2 and that same evening we were skirting the lake's lovely shores4 ,its wide expanse of water put me in mind of my boyhood days on ,otsego ,lake or the ,glimmer-glass4 ,we soon reached the hospitable home of ,mr4 ,duncan1 the postmaster of ,silver ,lake4 ,he had built a comfortable house of logs1 with a large chimney at one end and an old-fashioned fireplace1 around which1 as the nights were cold1 we gathered and talked until far into the night4 ,mr4 ,duncan's family consisted of his wife and daughter1 a dear1 good girl1 who will forgive me1 ,i am sure1 if ,i tell a story at her expense4 ,george and ,i were sent to bed in a lean-to1 and as our bedroom was next to that of the ,duncans and the stoppings had fallen out of some of the chinks in the wall between1 we could hear everything that was said in their room4 ,in the middle of the night ,i woke up and heard the old gentleman talking to his wife about their daughter4 8,mother10 he said1 8,i think ,john will be a good husband for ,mary1 don't you80 ,before she could answer1 ,mary1 who had a bed at the other end of the parents' room1 called out with great energy1 8,i think so too1 father60 ,in an instant all was still1 while ,george and ,i1 in our efforts to keep quiet1 stuffed the bedclothes into our mouths until we were almost suffocated4 ,we unloaded our weary pack horse1 and the next day brought our supplies1 and loaded them into ,mr4 ,duncan's wagon4 ,then taking him with us for guide1 we started on our long drive to the boneyard1 fifty-six miles through the great sage-brush desert of eastern ,oregon4 ,on we journeyed1 through what seemed an interminable expanse of sage-brush1 greasewood1 and sand4 ,the bunches of sage-brush topped conical mounds of sand1 whose sides were scoured and polished by the winds that howled in and out through the labyrinth of hills1 laden with drifting sand4 ,if one could have gained an elevation above the level of these sandhills1 and looked out over the landscape1 one would have gazed upon a scene of even greater desolation than that afforded by the parched short-grass plains of western ,kansas1--a dreary1 monotonous waste of olive green1 stretching away north1 east1 and south1 as far as the eye could reach1 and shut in on the west by the great ranges of the ,sierras1 whose flanks1 dark below the timber line with heavy forests1 were deeply scarred above with glistening white glaciers4 ,we followed the ,california road to ,oregon1 for in those days ,oregon was practically an unknown territory1 with the exception of the ,willamette ,valley4 ,and ,i suppose that it is still so1 for that moist1 fertile valley differs as widely from the vast semi-desert east of the ,cascade ,range as the ,santa ,clara ,valley from the cactus-covered sandhills of southern ,california4 ,at night1 after a day's journey through sand and sage-brush1 we came to a ranch beside an alkaline lake in the very heart of the desert4 ,here1 in a cabin built of logs from the neighboring mountains1 lived the hermit of this region1 a man named ,lee ,button4 ,had it not been that the road passed his door1 he would have seen only a hunter now and then1 out after the deer which abounded in the desert1 or perhaps the cattlemen when in winter they turned their cattle loose in the desert to look out for themselves4 ,on all the neighboring ranches1 the cattle were turned into the desert for food and shelter in winter4 ,here1 protected from storms1 they fed upon the alkaline grass and sweet sage and upon the thick leaves which fell in handfuls from the greasewood bushes4 ,these cattle had cut innumerable paths at every conceivable angle1 and one unaccustomed to the country might easily become confused and lose himself in the labyrinth of trails4 ,there was horror in the thought of being lost in that solitude4 ,mr4 ,duncan put up his horses in the barn of the ranch1 which was well stocked with hay and oats1 and we picketed our ponies on a flat covered with alkaline grass on the borders of the lake4 ,then from under a certain post which he knew of1 ,mr4 ,duncan dug up a tin can containing the key of the cabin4 ,past experience had taught ,mr4 ,button caution4 ,he had gone to ,california once1 after a herd of horses1 leaving his door unlocked1 and some prowling immigrant had abused his hospitality and robbed his cabin of its store of food and blankets4 ,so now1 when he left home1 he locked the door and hid the key1 giving1 however1 the secret of its hiding-place to his neighbor1 ,mr4 ,duncan4 ,his cooking utensils1 consisting of a camp kettle1 a frying pan1 a ,dutch oven1 and a coffee pot1 were brought out and cleaned1 and the larder searched for food4 ,it was the custom of the country at that day to consider food and shelter free to all4 ,i was offered the next year a house1 blankets1 flour1 and bacon1 as much as ,i could use for nothing1 if ,i wanted to spend the winter on a ranch in eastern ,oregon4 ,i was only expected to cut my own wood and cook my own food4 ,soon a cheerful fire was blazing on the hearth1 and the burning sage-brush was filling the air with that indescribable odor from which one is never free while in the desert4 ,we had traveled through great droves of wild geese along the lake1 and as they were so tame that they simply stepped out of our way like barnyard geese1 we did not think it worth while to waste ammunition on them4 ,so ,i set three traps1 common steel traps such as are used for catching coons1 and strewed oats around them4 ,the next morning ,i found a brant in one1 a magpie in another1 and the house cat in the third4 ,we let the cat and the magpie go1 and breakfasted on the brant4 ,our usual fare was bacon1 bread1 and coffee1 and sometimes dried apples4 ,i worked for years in ,oregon with no other food1 except an occasional deer or mountain sheep4 ,the next day1 trusting entirely to ,mr4 ,duncan's guidance1 we pushed on without a trail1 winding in and out among the hillocks with no landmarks but the mountains in the west4 ,at sunset1 we came out into the open on the shore of a small alkaline lake4 8,fossil ,lake10 ,i named it at once1 and it goes by that name to this day4 ,this pond1 as we should call it in old ,new ,york1 covered only a few acres then1 and is now entirely dried up4 8,there10 shouted ,mr4 ,duncan1 as he pointed with his whip to the lake shore1 8there is the boneyard40 ,i instantly requested him to help ,george get supper and pitch the tent1 and seizing my collecting bag1 rushed down to the shore4 ,the clay bottom of the ancient lake had been dried out1 and now formed the shore of the remaining water4 ,this old lake bed had once extended over a much larger area1 but it had been partially buried beneath large piles of drifting sand4 ,scattered through the loose sand and on the clay bed were great numbers of the bones and teeth of reptiles1 birds1 and mammals1 indiscriminately mingled4 ,i had come upon a boneyard indeed4 ,i was down on the sand at once1 picking up bones and teeth and putting them in piles4 ,no two bones seemed to belong together1 and the skulls and arches had been crushed beneath the feet of animals1 probably cattle and deer1 which had come down to drink at the lake4 ,what pleased me1 however1 was the fact that scattered among these remains of an earlier day1 were arrow-heads and spear-points of polished obsidian1 or volcanic glass4 ,i was too much excited then to notice that ,i did not find a single bone or tooth in its original position in the clay matrix1 but that all were loose1 detached1 and scattered1 and that the implements were lying about in the same way4 ,as ,mr4 ,duncan was to return to the post-office at ,silver ,lake the next morning1 ,i gathered a cigar-boxful of loose teeth1 arrow-heads1 and spear-points1 and packed them to send off to ,professor ,cope4 ,and that night1 by a sage-brush fire1 ,i wrote the letter which he saw fit to publish in the ,american ,naturalist1 a magazine of which he was the editor1 under a title of his own1 8,pliocene ,man10 and signed 8,e4 ,d4 ,cope40 ,for weeks ,i sifted through my fingers the fine sand of that lake shore1 picking out bone after bone4 ,the only specimen which ,i found undisturbed in the clay matrix was part of the skull of a hairy mammoth1 or ,elephas primigenius4 ,dr4 ,shufeldt is the author of a valuable memoir on the fossil birds of this region1--8,the ,fossil ,avi-,fauna of the ,equus ,beds of the ,oregon ,desert10 published by the ,philadelphia ,academy of ,sciences4 ,he worked over the collection made by the late ,professor ,condon of the ,oregon ,state ,university1 the collection which ,professor ,cope made a few years after mine1 and mine4 ,in these three collections1 he finds five species of grebes1 and nine of gulls1 of which two species are new to science1 ,professor ,condon being the discoverer of one1 while ,i found the other4 ,of cormorants1 there are two species1 one discovered by ,cope4 ,one species1 quite common among the fossil remains1 is now extinct4 ,there is a new swan also1 described by ,professor ,cope1 who writes of it3 8,this swan was discovered by ex-,governor ,whitaker of ,oregon who discovered the ,fossil ,lake locality in the ,pliocene formations of the state4 ,the same bird was afterwards procured by my assistant1 ,charles ,h4 ,sternberg40 ,altogether there are nineteen species of ,anseres1 i4 e41 geese1 ducks1 swans1 etc41 of which two are new4 ,one of my discoveries was a flamingo1 which was dedicated to ,professor ,cope under the title ,phnicopterus copei4 ,dr4 ,shufeldt says3 8,it is a fact of no little interest that a flamingo inhabited the lakes of the ,silver ,lake region of ,oregon during the ,pliocene ,epoch40 ,the collections include a heron and a couple of coots also4 ,among the fowl are four grouse1 discovered by ,cope1 and an entirely new genus and species which ,i had the honor of finding4 ,of eagles1 there are two species4 ,there are also a great horned owl1 a blackbird1 and a raven4 ,among the other fossil remains taken from this region are six genera of fish1 a majority of them new1 and fifteen species of fossil mammalia1 including two llamas1 three horses1 an elephant1 a dog1 an otter1 a beaver1 a mouse1 a great sloth1 ,mylodon1 as large as a grizzly bear1 and other forms4 8,thomas ,condon10 writes ,dr4 ,shufeldt in his memoir1 8was the first scientific man to visit the ,fossil ,lake region1 with the results already stated4 ,cope and his assistant ,charles ,sternberg came later1 and gathered many hundred bones and bone fragments40 ,and in the preface to his 8,tertiary ,vertebrata10 ,vol4 ,,iii1 page xxvii1 ,professor ,cope writes3 8,the ,tertiary formations explored in #ahgh were the ,john ,day1 ,loup ,fork1 and ,equus beds4 ,these were examined by ,charles ,h4 ,sternberg both in ,washington and ,oregon2 in the former near to ,fort ,walla ,walla1 and in the latter1 in the desert east of the ,sierra ,nevada4 ,the basin of an ancient lake1 originally discovered by ,governor ,whitaker of ,oregon1 was found strewn with the bones of llamas1 elephants1 horses1 sloths1 and smaller animals1 with birds1 and all were collected by ,mr4 ,sternberg and safely forwarded to ,philadelphia4 ,i examined this locality myself in #ahgi and obtained further remains of extinct and recent species of mammalia found mingled with numerous worked flints40 ,the reader will notice that ,cope puts my expedition in '#gh instead of '#gg and that ,dr4 ,shufeldt gives ,cope's visit to ,fossil ,lake as before mine1 when1 in reality1 it was two years later4 ,on p4 #dbj of his memoir1 ,dr4 ,shufeldt writes3 8,we must believe that it still remains problematical whether man was there1 and further comparative search is demanded to decide whence came1 and at what time1 those stone implements of human manufacture1 commingled as they are with the bones of the animals1 many of which are long since extinct40 ,and ,professor ,cope says on the same subject3 8,scattered everywhere in the deposit were obsidian implements of human manufacture4 ,some of these were of inferior workmanship1 and many of them covered with a patin of no great thickness1 which completely replaced the luster of the surface4 ,other specimens were bright as when first made4 ,the abundance of these flints was remarkable1 and suggested that they may have been shot at the game1 both winged and otherwise1 that in former times frequented the lake40 ,after ,i had written the letter already mentioned1 having carefully gone over all the ground in the vicinity of ,fossil ,lake1 and longing for new worlds to conquer1 ,i started out one day on my pony through the desert1 hoping to find another locality in which the wind had uncovered a fossil bed4 ,i spent the greater part of the day in fruitless search1 and was about to return home when ,i was attracted by the top of a dead spruce tree sticking out of a sandhill4 ,the rest of the tree had been completely buried by the sand4 ,my curiosity was aroused1 and ,i climbed to the top of the hill to examine the spruce4 ,when ,i reached the top1 however1 ,i found myself looking down into a pleasant little valley1 which had been scooped out by the wind1 and1 descending1 ,i discovered that ,i had stumbled upon the former site of an ,indian village4 ,places near where the lodges had stood were marked by piles of the bleached bones of existing species of antelope1 deer1 rabbits1 etc4 ,none of these bones were petrified like those at ,fossil ,lake4 ,near the site of each lodge stood a large mortar1 made of volcanic rock1 with a pestle lying in it4 ,they had probably been used by the squaws for grinding up acorns and other materials for bread-making4 ,doubtless a storm of sand had forced the villagers to flee for their lives without giving them time to save even these valuable mortars4 ,i found a spring of cold water which had built up a mound of white sand1 and from the side of a sandhill ,i pulled out the back part of a human skull4 ,i could not tell how large the village had been1 as it extended into the sandhill4 ,i soon found where the ancient arrow-maker had had his shop by the great quantities of cast-off obsidian chips that covered the ground1 as well as by the broken and perfect arrow-heads and spear-points1 beautifully polished and finished1 and the knives1 drills1 and the like that lay about4 ,i did not find a vestige of anything made of iron4 ,having secured a number of the obsidian points1 which ,i afterwards sent to ,cope1 ,i started for camp2 but ,i had delayed too long1 and night overtook me before ,i reached home4 ,my pony and ,i came near being lost in the desert4 ,i gave him the lines1 but ,i was much worried at not seeing the welcome glow of the camp fire1 when ,i had thought that ,i must be near my tent4 ,finally ,i shouted1 and at last heard a faint answer4 ,but even then1 owing to my deaf ear1 ,i could not locate the camp1 and had to wait until ,george came up and piloted me in4 ,now without doubt the arrow-heads and spear-points mingled with the bones at ,fossil ,lake are of the same manufacture as those which ,i found at this ,indian village1 although the latter are not so much weathered1 having evidently been recently covered with sand4 ,i conclude1 therefore1 that the implements mingled with the bones are no older than the village1 perhaps a hundred years old4 ,they were probably shot by the ,indians of the village at the wild animals which doubtless came in great numbers to the lake to drink4 ,then some powerful wind1 like that which covered the village1 drifted away the sand that lay over the fossil bones1 and the flints1 being too heavy to be carried away with the sand1 dropped down and mingled with the bones4 ,this seems to me the only possible explanation4 ,and ,i am glad to say that so high an authority as ,professor ,j4 ,c4 ,merriam of the ,university of ,california1 after the most careful study and explorations1 agrees with me in this4 ,he has recently been over the ,fossil ,lake region1 and he assures me that it is a mistake to suppose that the human implements found there were contemporary with the extinct animals of the ,equus ,beds4 ,whenever ,george and ,i had collected a load of fossils1 we took them in to ,button's ranch4 ,one day we were late in starting1 and realized that we should have to hurry to reach the ranch before dark4 ,as so often happens1 this was the very occasion upon which we were fated to be delayed4 ,at a certain place on our route1 we had to pass some mud springs1 circular wells filled to the brim with thick1 yellowish mud of the consistency of mortar4 ,in wet weather they continually boiled up without overflowing1 but to-day they were covered with a hard coating of dry mud1 cracked deeply in all directions4 ,i called to ,george1 who was driving the pack horse1 to watch him and see that he did not jump into the spring that we were just passing2 but the words were hardly out of my mouth when the miserable wretch made a running jump1 and landing in the middle of the crust1 broke through and went down into the thick1 nasty mud4 ,as he was going down1 he seemed to realize what he had done1 and managed to get his front feet over the rim of solid earth4 ,and there he hung1 the broad pack--we had brought along our tent and blankets--helping to buoy him up4 ,we sprang from our horses1 and made a rush to save our precious fossils1 beside which everything else1 including the mischievous pony1 was of no account4 ,we had to cut the ropes that bound the fossils and camp outfit to the animal1 and when we had them safe on solid ground1 tie a rope around his neck and pull him out4 ,of course he was thoroughly frightened1 and did everything in his power to help us4 ,such a looking horse you never saw as he was when we got him out4 ,his whole body was covered with a coat of sticky1 yellow mud1 which we could not scrape off4 ,we had to take him into a creek and give him such a scrubbing as1 ,i think1 no member of the genus ,equus ever had before or since4 ,all this took time1 and it was late at night before we reached the ranch4 ,it was our habit1 when we got to the cabin and felt that it would be too much trouble to open our pack and get out our own supplies1 to help ourselves from ,mr4 ,button's store4 ,so1 after we had put the horses in the barn and given them a liberal feed of oats and plenty of hay1 we went into the larder to get something for our own supper1 for by that time we were pretty hungry4 ,after supper ,i lay down on the absent lord's blankets1 and was smoking the pipe of peace1 when a knock was heard at the door4 ,it surprised me1 as it was the custom of the country to walk in without the formality of knocking4 ,i shouted1 8,come in60 and a short1 heavy-set man entered4 ,he said that he had been overtaken by night1 and as both he and his team were in need of food1 rest1 and shelter1 he wanted to know whether we would take him in4 8,why1 certainly10 ,i answered4 ,i have noticed that most men are liberal with other men's property4 8,i don't own the ranch1 but we have just put our horses in the barn1 where there is plenty of hay and oats1 and there is plenty of food here4 ,george will show you the way to the barn and help you unhitch1 and ,i will have supper ready when you return40 ,he thanked me1 and while they were putting up the team1 ,i got a hot supper with materials from ,mr4 ,button's larder4 ,this meal was greatly relished by our midnight guest4 ,i returned to the bed and my pipe1 and was entering into a lively conversation with the stranger1 when the thought suddenly flashed into my head1 ,what if this man owns the ranch8 ,i sprang from the bed on the instant1 and fired pointblank the question1 8,do you know ,lee ,button80 8,yes1 ,i've seen him10 was the answer4 8,that's your name1 isn't it80 ,i asked4 8,yes10 said the stranger1 and ,i felt so cheap that ,i would have sold out for nothing4 ,but this was ,mr4 ,button's chance to show what sort of a man he was1 and when ,i apologized for the freedom with which we had made ourselves at home in his house and used his goods1 he told me that we had done exactly right1 and that he would have felt hurt if we had acted otherwise4 ,he became a true friend and helper1 and his log cabin proved a valuable place of shelter for my party during some of the cold ,october nights4 ,if these lines should ever reach his eyes1 they carry to him my cordial thanks for his hospitality4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,john ,,day ,,river ,,in #ahgh ,during the winter #ahgg-'gh ,i camped on ,pine ,creek1 ,washington1 exploring the swamps in the neighborhood and fighting against water to secure specimens4 ,we had dug a large shaft down to the bed of gravel1 twelve feet below the surface1 in which bones were to be found1 but every morning we found that the hole had filled with mud and water over night1 and we had to spend hours bailing it out4 ,when we finally got it clear again1 we had little time or strength left for securing fossils4 ,this performance had to be repeated day after day1 and of course the farther we excavated1 the more water there was to be bailed out4 ,i don't think that we were dry a single day that winter4 ,but luckily the water was warm1 and we did not suffer from colds4 ,on the twenty-third of ,april ,i started with a team and wagon from ,fort ,walla ,walla1 accompanied by my two assistants1 ,joe ,huff and 8,jake0 ,wortman1 the latter at that time an intelligent young man from ,oregon1 who had been introduced to me the winter before by my brother1 ,surgeon ,george ,m4 ,sternberg1 at that time post surgeon of ,fort ,walla ,walla4 ,during the past six months ,wortman had been my guest at my camp on ,pine ,creek4 ,afterwards he became known to science as ,dr4 ,j4 ,l4 ,wortman4 ,we skirted the ,blue ,mountains in a southwesterly direction1 traveling through the beautiful wheat-fields of that fertile region2 and striking south at ,cayuse ,station on the ,umatilla ,reserve1 we climbed the long slopes of the mountains and plunged down into the ,grande ,rounde1 once the bed of an ancient lake1 but now a lovely valley nestling among the hills4 ,from this point we drove south to ,baker ,city1 and leaving behind us the jagged peaks of the ,powder ,river ,mountains1 struck the ,john ,day ,river at ,canyon ,city4 ,on the second of ,may we camped on the other side of the mountains in a large meadow4 ,the boys went hunting and got a deer4 ,on the third1 our road led us again through rugged mountains1 covered in places with ice1 and we had to cut footholds for our horses1 as they were smooth-shod4 ,we passed through a large mining gulch1 where men were at work placer-digging for gold4 ,the whole surface of the country had been dug over1 and was disfigured with holes and ditches and heaps of earth4 ,on the fifth of ,may1 after passing through ,canyon ,city1 we started for the ,john ,day ,basin4 ,it snowed nearly all day4 ,on the road we met a man who told us of a rich fossil leaf locality1 on the ,van ,horn ranch2 and after a sixteen-mile drive we found the place and secured some very fine specimens4 ,the leaf impressions were found in a soft1 shaly clay-stone1 and were very abundant1 representing well-preserved ,tertiary flora4 ,that night we feasted on a large salmon trout which ,i caught in an irrigation ditch4 ,on the sixth 7,i am following my notebook7 we worked all day4 ,i collected two hundred specimens1 and ,mr4 ,wortman eighty-five4 ,they were all very fine1 and represented the oak1 the maple1 and other species4 ,i secured some fish vertebr also4 ,this is another case in which ,i lost credit for early discoveries4 ,i was told by ,professor ,cope1 a few years before his death1 that these specimens had never been examined4 ,in this same locality there is a bed of rock so light that it floats4 ,i threw a large mass of it at some object in the water1 and was amazed to see it float off down the stream4 ,it was the first time that ,i had ever seen a rock lighter than water4 ,on the seventh of ,may1 after a journey of fifteen days from ,walla ,walla1 we reached ,dayville1 a mile below the crossing of the ,south ,fork of the ,john ,day ,river4 ,one of the first men ,i met was a certain ,bill ,day1 whom ,i soon after hired as assistant4 ,he had for years been making collections of the fossil vertebrates here1 usually sending them to ,professor ,marsh4 ,i was able to secure a large and fine collection from him and another mountain man1 a ,mr4 ,warfield1 who had also spent much time collecting fossils4 ,both men had been employed by ,professor ,marsh during his expedition in this region1 and were very careful workmen4 ,we camped on ,cottonwood ,creek and prepared to pack into the ,basin1 or ,cove as it has been called4 ,for a hundred and fifty miles of its course1 the ,john ,day flows east1 skirting the ,blue ,mountains1 but here at ,cottonwood or ,dayville1 it has turned north and cut a great canyon1 four thousand feet deep1 through the heart of the mountains1 the so-called ,grande ,coule1 since known as the ,picture ,gorge4 ,at the foot of this canyon1 the mountains swing away from the river in a great horseshoe bend1 closing in upon it again several miles below4 ,this amphitheater1 three miles wide and thirteen long1 is a scene of surprising beauty4 ,the brilliantly colored clays and volcanic ash-beds of the ,miocene of the ,john ,day horizon paint the landscape with green and yellow and orange and other glowing shades1 while in the background1 towering upward for two thousand feet1 rise rows upon rows of mighty basaltic columns1 eight-sided prisms1 each row standing a little back of the one just below1 and the last crowned with evergreen forests of pine and fir and spruce4 ,but no pen can picture the glorious panorama4 ,ever since ,cretaceous times1 when a quiet inland sea laid down the thousand feet of ,kansas chalk1 here in the ,john ,day region vulcanism has held sway2 almost until to-day4 ,indeed ,i have often seen the summit of old ,mount ,hood wreathed with menacing clouds of smoke1 as if she were preparing to pour forth again her floods of molten lava and devastate the region4 ,when volcanic action first began1 great masses of ashes must have been thrown out over the country1 settling in the lakes and covering the remains of animals which had been accumulating there for ages4 ,then floods of lava1 one after another1 poured out over the forests1 until they lay buried beneath two thousand feet of volcanic rock4 ,where did this immense mass of molten rock come from1 and how8 ,a dike crosses the ,basin1 and for fifteen miles the basaltic columns lie along its edges like cordwood2 so we know that some of the lava at least was squeezed up out of the earth's crust through narrow cracks4 ,i remember once1 as ,i was standing with ,uncle ,johnnie ,kirk1 the hermit of the ,cove1 in front of his cabin1 he pointed to the basaltic cliffs that towered above us1 and observed gravely1 8,all vegetable matter40 ,he had found at the base remains of the forests which the lava had engulfed1 and had concluded that the whole mass represented similar remains4 ,before moving the outfit into the fossil beds ,i took my pony and started off to spy out the land4 ,following a horse trail that led up the gentle slope west of the canyon represented in ,dr4 ,merriam's picture of the ,mascall ,beds ,i reached a tableland1 which proved to be the divide between ,cottonwood and ,birch creeks4 ,here ,i found that the trail leading down to the mouth of ,birch ,creek was very steep--one could have greased one's boots and slid the whole distance of several hundred feet4 ,i was afraid to ride down and led my pony1 but ,i soon learned that an ,oregon pony has long1 well-developed legs and can climb up and down better than ,i could myself4 ,when ,i reached the river at the mouth of the ,grande ,coule1 ,i found to my dismay that all the rich-looking green and brown fossil beds were on the other side1 where the amphitheater which ,i have mentioned is cut out of the flank of the mountains4 ,as a boy ,i had learned to swim dog-fashion1 and as the river was not over thirty or forty feet wide1 and ,i was determined1 after coming so far1 to find some fossils and a good camping ground1 ,i decided to strip1 jump out as far as ,i could1 and paddle the rest of the way across4 ,no sooner thought than done4 ,in ,i sprang1 discovering too late that ,i had reckoned without my host and that the river1 which had been penned in for miles by the walls of the canyon1 was here flowing away from its prison with amazing swiftness and power4 ,my weak little body was as helpless as a straw in its grasp3 down ,i went1 and striking a boulder at the bottom1 was flung up five feet into the air1 ,i took in breath and closed my mouth as ,i went down again2 tossing me hither and thither like a cork1 beating me against rocks and hurling me high into the air1 the river bore me swiftly on1 until at last1 thank ,god6 it tired of its toy1 and threw me to one side into deep water1 under a willow whose welcoming branches ,i eagerly clasped4 ,there ,i hung until ,i had regained my strength enough to pull myself out4 ,but the fossil vertebrates of the ,john ,day beds were still across the river and the questions which ,i had crossed the mountain and risked my life to answer were still waiting for replies4 ,unwilling to return home beaten ,i walked up and down the river shore1 and was delighted to find an old boat caught in a pile of driftwood4 ,i dug it out with my bare hands1 only to find that its seams had parted and that its bottom was as full of holes as a sieve4 ,not dismayed1 ,i found a bed of sticky clay with which ,i calked my ship1 and venturing again into the flood1 managed to get to the other shore before the boat sank4 ,i found a place to camp lower down1 at the mouth of a canyon which opened out into the level country1 and on a little creek that ran in front of ,uncle ,johnnie's cabin4 ,i was very well pleased with my explorations in the fossil beds also1 for ,i found the skull of an ,oreodon1 a hog-like creature which1 judging from the abundance of skulls and skeletons1 must have lived in droves during the time when this rock was being deposited in the lakes of this region4 ,these animals were herbivorous in habit4 ,uncle ,johnnie always referred to them as bears4 ,he often brought a skull into camp with the remark1 8,here's another bar's head4 ,i've killed hundreds of 'em in ole ,virginia40 ,i returned to camp much elated1 and was planning to pack the outfit into the ,basin the next day1 when to my disgust ,joe ,huff1 who owned the horses1 refused to pack them1 as he did not want to run the risk of injuring them4 ,it was useless to tell him that he had been hired to do what ,i wanted1 etc42 he was not to be moved4 ,so ,i paid him off1 and saw him start for his home near ,moscow1 ,idaho1 riding bareback4 ,i felt sorry for him1 but he had a stubborn fit on1 and there was no doing anything with him4 ,after ,i had hired ,bill ,day1 he wanted me to overlook the past and re-employ him1 but it was too late then4 ,i suppose ,bill ,day must have weighed about a hundred and eighty pounds1 but he was an expert hunter and a keen observer4 ,he owned a herd of ponies and furnished me with all that ,i wanted1 and as he knew every inch of the fossil beds and all the best camping grounds1 his services were invaluable4 ,he kept our larder supplied with venison1 also4 ,i think my success in that region was largely due to his assistance4 ,i was also indebted to a ,mr4 ,mascall1 a man who lived on the second bottom of the river4 ,he had an extra log cabin behind the one he lived in1 and he let us use it as a storeroom for our extra supplies of food and for our fossils1 when we began to secure them4 ,this ,mr4 ,mascall had a wife and daughter1 and when we came in from the fossil beds1 after several weeks of camping out1 it seemed almost like coming home to be able to put our feet under a table1 eat off stone dishes1 and drink our coffee out of a china cup1 and to sleep on a feather bed instead of a hard mattress and roll of blankets4 ,then ,mr4 ,mascall was a good gardener1 and always had fresh vegetables1 a most enjoyable change from hot bread1 bacon1 and coffee4 ,i shall not soon forget his hospitality4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bf4--,,skull ,,and ,,tusks ,,of ,,imperial ,,mammoth1 ,elephas imperator4 ,in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bg4--;,,fossil-,,bearing ,,cliffs4 7,after ,merriam47 ,upper ,john ,day exposure4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bh4--;,,fossil-,,bearing ,,cliffs4 7,after ,merriam47 ,middle ,john ,day exposure4 ,when all was ready1 we were taken across the river in ,mr4 ,mascall's boat1 swimming our horses4 ,then the packs were adjusted1 and the wearisome climb up the face of the mountains began4 ,it usually took us half a day to reach the summit4 ,then we climbed down steep slopes and over spurs of the hills1 until we reached ,uncle ,johnnie ,kirk's hospitable cabin1 a #ab #ad structure of rough logs with a shake roof4 ,he kept bachelor's hall and lived all alone1 except when some cowman or fossil hunter came along4 ,we pitched our tent near his house4 ,not far away there was a tract of bad lands1 called the ,cone1 the largest in the ,john ,day ,basin1 covering1 ,i should judge1 a section of land4 ,it was cut into the usual fantastic forms1 peaks1 ridges1 and battlements1 and slender spires sometimes a hundred feet high1 and as thickly clustered as those of some old ,gothic cathedral4 ,their summits were crowned with hard concretions1 which protected their almost perpendicular sides from destruction by the elements4 ,the drainage canals spread out through this territory like the ribs of a fan1 converging at the entrance1 and woe to the man who chanced to be caught in one of them during a rain1 for the steep slopes shot the water down into them with such amazing rapidity that before he could turn around he would be engulfed in fathoms of water4 ,we always climbed up to some high point the minute we heard the rain strike the rocks above us1 and waited until the storm was over and the water had run out4 ,a ditch containing twenty feet1 sometimes1 of water would dry up as soon as it stopped raining1 so steep was the slope of its bed4 ,i was continually impressed in this region by the power of running water4 ,not only is this manifested in the mighty canyons which have been carved out during the course of ages from the solid rock1 but ,i stood transfixed with astonishment once1 at the mouth of the little creek in front of ,uncle ,johnnie's cabin1 on finding it dammed by a mass of basaltic rock1 weighing at least twenty tons1 which had been brought from its native hills1 three miles away1 by a flood of water1 and left stranded here4 ,all the side canyons that empty into the ,john ,day ,river have dumped their loads of boulders there1 in some places damming the stream or creating a series of rapids4 ,i soon found that all the ground in the fossil beds which was easy to get at had been gone over4 ,here and there we would run across a pile of broken bones and a hole from which a skull had been taken4 ,when ,i asked ,bill what he had meant by leaving the bones of the skeleton behind1 he answered1 8,we were only looking for heads1 though we sometimes saved knucks and jints40 ,this accounts for the scarcity of skeletons among the first collections made4 ,i saw to it that my party should care for every bone discovered4 ,i realized then1 that if we were to make our expedition a success1 we should have to climb where no one before us had dared to go4 ,it was a serious matter to scale those almost perpendicular heights2 one took one's life in one's hand in attempting it4 ,they were1 of course1 entirely bare of vegetation1 and where the slope was not too steep1 they were covered with angular fragments of rock which rolled from under one's feet and were likely to send one flying into the gorge below4 ,but ,i laid the situation before my two men1 explaining to them that unless they were willing to face the danger1 we should have to give up the expedition1 as we had explored the safe ground without results2 and they courageously agreed to follow where ,i led4 ,so every morning we started out for a day of perilous enterprise1 each with a collecting bag over his shoulder and a well-made pick in hand4 ,the latter was used not only for digging out fossils1 but was absolutely indispensable as an aid in climbing1 and as an anchor in case we began to slip4 ,we were never sure when we left camp in the morning that we should all meet there at night1 since a single misstep on those cliffs would mean death or worse than death on the pitiless rocks below2 but every day we gained confidence and grew more skilful in the use of our picks4 ,far above the pick-marks of the fossil hunters who had preceded us1 far above the signs of the mountain sheep that inhabited these wilds1 we made our way1 cutting niches for our feet as high above us as we could reach1 and drawing ourselves up with bodies pressed to the rock4 ,at each niche we rested1 and scanned the face of the cliff for the point of a tooth or the end of a bone1 or for one of those concretions1 among the thousands that everywhere topped the pinnacles or projected from the rocky slopes1 whose skull-shaped form revealed the treasure that was hidden away within4 ,when a fossil was found we first cut out of the face of the cliff a place large enough to stand upon1 and then carved out the specimen4 ,i could tell of a hundred narrow escapes from death4 ,one day ,i was standing on a couple of oblong concretions1 about a foot in length1 with a chasm1 fifty feet deep and three or four feet wide1 immediately in front of me4 ,after ,i had searched carefully the surface of all the rocks in sight1 ,i started to jump over to a narrow ledge on the other side of the gorge4 ,suddenly both concretions flew from under my feet1 and ,i was plunging head downward into the gorge when by a violent struggle in mid-air ,i managed to throw my elbows on the ledge2 and ,i hung there until ,i could find a foothold and pull myself out onto solid rock4 ,another time ,i was climbing a steep slope which was capped by a perpendicular ledge4 ,i thought1 however1 that ,i could climb over it to the top of a ridge that ran back into the hills1 where ,i could find a way down4 ,for understand1 we could never go back the way we had come1 as we could not relax our muscles sufficiently to enable us to find with the tips of our toes the niches by which we had climbed up4 ,so we had to be sure that we could get to the top and find a way down from there4 ,on this occasion ,i was so busy searching the face of the rock for fossils that ,i worked for hours1 climbing up niche after niche1 without noticing very much where ,i was going1 until chancing to look upward1 ,i discovered that an escarpment of the top ledge leaned over the slope that ,i was scaling1 rendering it impossible for me to reach the top4 ,i fully expected that ,i should have to cut out a place to sit in and wait until the boys missed me and looked for me4 ,they could then reach the top of the ledge by some other way1 and lower a rope to me4 ,but ,i was delighted to find at last a perpendicular seam in the rocky ledge1 which proved wide enough to admit my body4 ,so ,i climbed to the top as a man climbs a narrow well1 with my back braced against one side and my feet planted against the other4 ,but such experiences as these1 instead of making us timid1 only spurred us on to more dangerous attempts4 ,to show how reckless we became1 ,i remember that once ,bill found a skull in a perpendicular cliff of solidified volcanic mud1 the termination of a ridge that ran far back into the hills4 ,the skull was located about twenty feet up the face of the cliff1 and too far below the surface of the ridge to be reached from above2 so that there was no way to get at it but by scaling the cliff4 ,i cut niches on one side1 and ,bill on the other1 and we climbed up until we could reach the specimen with our picks1 clinging to a niche with one hand and wielding the pick with the other4 ,i worked with my right hand and ,bill with his left4 ,the rock was very hard1 and it took a long while to hew out the specimen4 ,while we were at work1 we heard a mountain sheep bleating for her young4 ,by reaching up we could get our hands over the edge of the cliff1 and pull ourselves up so that we could just peek over4 ,sure enough1 the sheep was coming down the ridge toward us in great excitement1 rending the air with calls for her lamb4 ,i began to imitate the bleat of her offspring1 and she increased her speed toward us with every sign of relief4 8,what if she should butt us off80 ,i said to ,bill1 and the position we were in1 clinging to the face of the rock with our toes and fingers1 made the idea so inexpressibly funny that he began to laugh1 louder and louder the more ,i tried to hush him up4 ,when ,i had led the sheep up to within ten feet of us1 she concluded that we were not her lost lamb1 and turning like a flash1 started on a run for the mountains a mile away4 ,out of a side canyon came the lamb1 and fell in behind its mother2 and we could see the dirt flying out behind them until they appeared to be about the size of a rabbit and a ground squirrel4 ,one day ,bill and ,i were out together in the beds1 and when we got back to dinner1 ,jake did not show up4 ,we were not much concerned about him1 as we concluded that he had found a specimen and was digging it out2 but when we came in at night and there was still no ,jake1 we made up our minds that he had either fallen and killed himself or that he was lying in some gulch with a broken limb4 ,in great anxiety we started out into the ,bad ,lands to find him4 ,it was a dangerous enough expedition in the daytime1 but doubly so at night1 and we risked our lives many times2 but we did not give up until we had made the desolate region ring with our calls4 ,at last1 about midnight1 with fear and sorrow in our heart1 we returned to camp4 ,by the moonlight ,i saw what appeared to be a human form in ,jake's bed4 ,i rushed to it and threw off the blankets1 and there1 sleeping peacefully1 lay ,jake4 ,we had a great mind to take him out into the ,bad ,lands and pitch him off into a canyon4 ,it seems that he had been to the mountains1 three miles away1 where a small exposure of the ,john ,day beds could be seen from camp2 and when he returned and we were not in1 he had not worried about us1 but had eaten his supper and gone to bed1 while we were making ourselves hoarse shouting for him4 ,this incident illustrates a peculiarity of youth--its thoughtlessness as to the anxiety which it may be causing its elders4 ,among the fossil remains which we secured in these ,john ,day beds1 were the limbs of a huge ,elotherium humerosum1 so named by ,cope on account of the great process on the humerus4 ,we found the specimen in ,haystack ,valley1 lying on its side1 with its toes sticking out of the face of a slope4 ,there were thousands of feet of volcanic rock above it4 ,following in with pick and shovel1 we cleaned up the floor1 to find1 when we reached the center of the humeri and femora1 that they had been cut through as smoothly as if it had been done with a diamond saw4 ,i knew1 of course1 that there had been a fault here1 and that the earth in slipping down had severed the bones4 ,the question that interested me was which side had gone down and how far4 ,if the side toward the open valley1 then the rest of the skeleton must have been destroyed by the wash1 as the slope above the bones lay at an angle of #de degrees to the floor on which they lay4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the mountain side had gone down1 and the slip had not been too great1 ,i should be able to find the rest of the bones4 ,inspired by this hope1 we put in several days of hard work1 and were delighted to find the severed bones three feet below the original level4 ,what a shaking and trembling of the earth's crust there must have been1 when miles of the mountain mass slipped down three feet toward the center of the earth6 ,no wonder that when a similar fault occurred at ,san ,francisco1 the puny works of man fell in ruins4 ,the bones of this ,elotherium are now on exhibition in the ,american ,museum1 which purchased the ,cope collection1 including the material that ,i secured through eight seasons in the field in charge of his expedition4 ,i had found in the ,cottonwood beds that lie on top of the ,john ,day ,miocene the cannon-bone1 or long cylindrical foot bone1 of a large camel4 ,as ,i closely studied this bone1 which is composed of opposite halves1 separated by a thin septum of bone in the center1 with a medullary canal on each side1 the conviction came to me that the two halves had once been distinct1 like the metacarpals and metatarsals of the pig4 ,with this idea in mind1 ,i was constantly looking for a camel in the older beds1 and ,i cannot express my delight when one day1 as ,i was exploring the ,john ,day beds1 ,i came across a skeleton which had been weathered out and lay in bold relief on the face of a slope4 ,i knew before ,i picked up the cannon-bone that my belief was verified1 and when ,i took up the two bones separately1 the fact was proved beyond a doubt that in this ancestor of the living form the metacarpals of the fore foot and the metatarsals of the hind foot were respectively distinct4 ,as the species represented by this specimen was new to science1 ,professor ,cope named it in my honor ,paratylopus sternbergi4 ,a skull of this species was afterwards found by ,dr4 ,wortman1 and both specimens are now on exhibition in the ,american ,museum4 ,i arrived at this conclusion with regard to the cannon-bone of the ancient camel as ,darwin1 ,marsh1 and ,huxley arrived at the conclusion that the ancient horse had three toes4 ,they recognized that the splint bones of the horse represented the side toes of rhinoceroses1 one on each side of the middle metacarpals and metatarsals respectively1 and they decided that they were the remnants of side toes in the ancestor of the horse4 ,and later we also found a three-toed horse4 ,i secured also in these beds the skull of a peccary and an oreodont1 both new1 and used as the types of ,cope's description1 and a couple of carnivores2 one1 called by ,cope ,archlurus debilis1 about the size of the ,american panther1 the other a dog about the size of a coyote4 ,cope gave the name ,enhydrocyon stenocephalus to this genus and species4 ,a splendid skull of the rhinoceros ,diceratherium nanum ,marsh1 was another of my discoveries here4 ,all the specimens1 with the skull of a rodent from the same beds1 are now on exhibition in the ,american ,museum4 ,of course these are but a few of the many specimens secured in these beds2 hundreds are stored away in the drawers and trays of the ,museum4 ,i was told that it would cost twenty-five dollars to get a typewritten copy of the list of ,john ,day fossils in the ,museum4 ,in that list are many specimens which my party secured or which ,i purchased from ,warfield and ,day4 ,professor ,cope once wrote me that my collection there represented about fifty species of extinct mammals4 ,one day in ,july ,i left ,jake ,wortman in the field and started for ,dayville1 leading a pack pony4 ,i intended to stay all night with ,mr4 ,mascall1 leave my load of fossils1 and take back a load of provisions4 ,bill ,day had lost one of the horses1 and as a large band of ,umatilla ,indians was encamped on ,fox ,prairie at the summit of the mountains1 about six miles east of our camp in the ,cove1 he had gone off in that direction to look for it4 ,when ,i reached the high mountain above ,dayville1 ,i could look down into the narrow valley of the ,john ,day4 ,although it was noon1 there was no smoke rising from the chimneys of the houses4 ,the fields of wheat were ripe for the cradle--they had no machines in that region1 and not only cradled their grain1 but threshed it with horses1 who tramped it out--but no one was working in them1 and there was no stock in the pastures4 ,what could it mean8 ,i asked myself2 and as ,i followed the long trail down to the river1 my heart was full of fearful forebodings4 ,had a pestilence killed all these people whom ,i knew so well8 ,or had they all fled1 with their horses and cattle1 from ,indians on the warpath8 ,without expecting to hear a response1 ,i called1 when ,i reached the river1 for ,mr4 ,mascall to come over with his boat and take me across4 ,to my delight1 ,i saw him come out of his house and take the trail down to the boat through the woods that covered the first river bottom4 ,all the while that he was unlocking the boat and rowing across1 ,i kept shouting1 8,what's the trouble8 ,where are all the people80 ,but not until ,i had got aboard with my pack and saddle1 and we had started back1 would he answer the questions which ,i had been asking myself ever since ,i left the top of the mountain4 ,it seems that three hundred ,bannocks1 or ,snakes1 under their chosen leader1 ,egan1 had left the ,malheur ,agency1 several hundred miles south1 and after stealing six thousand horses1 mainly from the ,french brothers' ranch1 were now on their way north to join ,homely1 the chief of the ,umatillas1 at ,fox ,prairie4 ,general ,howard1 who was in hot pursuit1 had sent a courier ahead of his command to the settlers in the ,john ,day valley1 advising them to gather at some central locality1 build a stockade1 and take their women and children into it for protection from the treacherous redskins4 ,everyone in the valley1 except ,mr4 ,mascall and an old man who kept the mail station on ,cottonwood ,creek1 a mile to the south1 had taken this advice and gone to ,spanish ,gulch1 a mining town on top of the mountains about ten miles southwest4 ,near sundown ,bill ,day came in1 having heard the news at the ,indian camp4 ,he instantly insisted that we leave everything and go to ,spanish ,gulch4 ,it was foolish1 he said1 to risk our lives going back to warn ,jake4 ,on the long trail up the mountain we should be in full sight of the ,south ,fork1 down which the ,indians were expected to come1 and it would take us half a day to climb those four thousand feet and hide ourselves in the canyons on the other side4 ,i refused1 however1 to be moved by his arguments4 ,i told him that ,i meant to go back1 and that he was to go with me4 ,we could not leave ,jake there in camp1 entirely unconscious of the fate that might be approaching him4 ,he knew nothing of the proximity of hostile ,indians1 and it was our duty to warn him4 8,well10 ,bill said1 8,i am going to look out for number one4 ,i have not lost any ,indians4 ,if you have1 go and hunt trouble4 ,let ,jake look out for himself40 ,all my shells1 perhaps three hundred1 were empty1 but ,i had plenty of powder and lead1 and the best long-range rifle ,i had ever owned1 a heavy ,sharp's weighing fourteen pounds1 and shooting a hundred and twenty grains of lead and seventy grains of powder4 ,i set to work cleaning and oiling it2 and then spent the whole night in front of the fireplace1 melting lead1 casting bullets1 and loading shells4 ,bill also stayed awake1 and with his needle-gun kept guard at a porthole which commanded a good view of the open ground around the house4 ,the next morning ,i started alone on my pony to follow the trail to the ,cove1 where ,jake1 unconscious of danger1 was at work in the fossil beds4 ,it seemed an interminable journey1 and ,i thought that there was an ambuscade behind every bush and pile of rocks that guarded the road4 ,but1 greatly relieved1 ,i got out of sight at last in the deep canyons on the other side1 and soon saw ,jake's pony near a fossil bed and found ,jake himself deeply interested in a splendid discovery he had made4 ,when ,i told him the news1 he wanted to drop everything until the war was over1 and fly for safety to the stockade4 ,but no2 my tent1 with many fine fossils in it1 was in an open valley in plain sight for miles1 and would quickly attract any marauding hostile1 who might set fire to it and destroy the work of months4 ,i insisted1 therefore1 upon caching1 the ,pacific coast term for hiding1 everything4 ,so we took down the tent1 and putting it1 with the fossils and all the rest of the outfit1 into a secret place1 we covered them with a big brush pile4 ,then ,i was ready to fly as fast as our ponies could carry us4 ,when we reached the river1 ,bill was still with ,mr4 ,mascall1 and brought over the boat4 ,then both men insisted that we go without further delay to the ,gulch1 as we had risked our lives long enough4 ,but there was a large collection of valuable fossils in the log house behind ,mr4 ,mascall's cabin1 and as the specimens were wrapped in burlap1 they would be destroyed if the ,indians burned down the house1 which they would be sure to do if they came4 ,i had no boxes1 but ,i had a quantity of new lumber1 which we had secured from a mill in the vicinity2 so1 refusing to be moved1 ,i took off my coat and went to work sawing up the lumber and making boxes4 ,the other men never let their guns leave their hands1 and kept guard all night1 expecting every moment to hear the whoop of the ,indians4 ,by daylight ,i had every fossil neatly packed1 each in a little box1 and then we all took hold1 and carrying the boxes down to the first river bottom1 hid them under a great grapevine1 which completely covered them4 ,after throwing dead leaves over our trail1 ,i was satisfied that we had done all that we could1 and as we could not induce ,mascall to abandon his property1 we left him and went over to the ,gulch4 ,we found nearly all the settlers keeping house inside the stockade1 which was built of pine logs and covered enough ground to hold their teams1 wagons1 and cattle1 as well as themselves4 ,as ,i realized that it would be impossible for us to do any work in the ,john ,day beds1 fearing every moment to be surprised by ,indians1 ,i concluded that this would be a good time to go to the ,dalles and try to find out what had become of the collection of ,fossil ,lake material which had been sent off the year before1 and had been lost somewhere4 ,i had a receipt for the specimens from a ,mr4 ,french1 who was1 ,i supposed1 the agent for the ,oregon ,steam ,navigation ,company4 ,his letterhead read 8,forwarding ,agent for the ,o4 ,s4 ,n4 ,co410 but ,i had repeatedly written to the agent at the ,dalles1 and had received no answer1 while ,cope1 from his end of the line at ,philadelphia1 had sent tracers out over every route he could think of1 trying to locate the fossils4 ,a ,mr4 ,wood1 the owner of a large herd of horses1 was driving the herd to a point near the ,dalles for protection from the ,indians1 and ,i joined his party4 ,but the several hundred horses raised such a volume of dust that1 after a few days of suffocation1 ,i concluded that ,i might as well lose my scalp as be choked to death1 and leaving the herd1 went on alone4 ,all along the way1 men1 women1 and children were fleeing for safety to the ,dalles1 and dozens of homes and ranches were being deserted just at the time when the people should have been saving their grain4 ,i never in my life saw so much excitement and fear4 ,as many white men were fleeing for their lives as there were ,indians on the warpath1 and every man of them was blaming ,general ,howard for not having exterminated the hostiles before they started4 ,i met the man who had hauled my ,fossil ,lake collection in to the ,dalles1 and for the first time learned the truth about them4 ,it seems that they had never been shipped4 ,mr4 ,french simply had a warehouse1 and forwarded goods by the ,steam ,navigation ,company1 and mine had been covered up in the warehouse and entirely forgotten4 ,i was in splendid spirits when ,i knew that they were safe4 ,having rescued this valuable material from the warehouse1 ,i returned to the ,gulch without seeing an ,indian1 to find the people still in a state of great excitement4 ,general ,howard had sent word that the men could put themselves under the leadership of ,colonel ,bernard1 each citizen furnishing his own mount and arms1 but receiving his rations from the ,government4 ,i tried to raise a company of men to accept this offer1 but not a man cared to go4 ,at last1 heartily tired of staying in camp1 ,i asked for a volunteer to go with me to the ,john ,day valley to find out how ,mr4 ,mascall and the old man at the stage station were getting on4 ,no one would go at first1 but later ,mr4 ,leander ,davis1 who was for many years a fossil hunter for ,professor ,marsh1 agreed to go with me2 and packing a horse with blankets and supplies1 we started4 ,we were relieved to find both men well1 and no sign of ,indians4 ,continuing our journey east1 we crossed the south fork of the ,john ,day1 and all doubts as to the movements of the ,indians were removed4 ,for a wide trail1 cut deeply into the dry soil by six thousand horses and the three hundred ,indians who were driving them north1 led down the slope and followed up the main fork on the ,canyon ,city road4 ,as we sat on our horses1 looking south along the heavy trail1 we saw some half-dozen horsemen coming toward us4 ,we knew that they must have seen us1 and concluded to stay where we were until we could make them out4 ,before long we saw the glitter of sabers and the flash of gold buttons1 and soon ,general ,howard and his staff rode up at a gallop4 ,i recognized him by his brigadier general straps and by his empty sleeve4 ,he had lost an arm fighting to preserve the ,union4 ,we saluted1 and he asked me whether we had seen his pack train4 ,when ,i answered no1 he asked me if we knew where he could find some bacon1 as he and his staff1 as well as the troops behind them1 had been living for three days on fresh beef without any salt4 ,i told him of a smokehouse across the bridge1 and he sent his scout to examine it4 ,the man returned shortly with the report that not only was the smokehouse full of bacon1 but that the table in the dwelling house was set for a meal1 with cold coffee in the cups1 bread1 cold bacon1 and potatoes1 all ready to eat4 ,the people had evidently just sat down to dinner when someone had rushed in with the news that the ,indians were coming1 and they had all thrown back their chairs and fled for their lives4 ,while the ,general and his staff sat down to a hearty meal1 ,leander and ,i continued to follow the trail4 ,at one place1 where a farmer made cheese1 we found that a number of large cheeses had been taken out into the road and rolled along for some distance with a stick4 ,we followed up the trail which they had made in the deep dust1 and put one of them on our pack4 ,we went into one of the houses on the road1 and found that the ,indians had broken up all the furniture1 including the sewing-machine1 etc4 ,in the front room they had poured out a barrel of molasses1 spread over it several sacks of flour1 and stuck a little woolly dog in the mixture4 ,the poor little fellow was dead4 ,a little farther on1 a sheepman's house had been burned1 and near by two thousand sheep had been mutilated and thrown into piles to die4 ,the herders were found scalped a few days later4 ,at one farmhouse a fine brood mare had been killed because she could not keep up with the herd4 ,some days later1 on the twenty-ninth of ,july1 ,i believe1 there was a total eclipse of the sun4 ,the heavens were like brass1 and there was a peculiar condition of the atmosphere such as ,i have never experienced before or since4 ,a report was spread abroad that the ,indians had returned and burned all the farmhouses along the river4 ,i was at the time with ,leander ,davis1 and we rode up to ,perkins ranch1 where a lot of men had congregated and were taking turns standing guard for fear of the ,indians4 ,when we rode up they were standing about1 uncertain as to what it all meant4 ,the dogs had gone under the stoop and the chickens to roost4 ,the air was motionless1 and an unusual stillness was over everything4 ,the men welcomed us in hushed voices4 ,i sprang from my horse and asked ,perkins whether he had any pieces of broken glass4 ,he said that there were plenty under the west window1 and ,i went and got a supply1 followed by all the men1 who were greatly relieved by my explanation of the phenomenon4 ,we got a candle and blackened the pieces of glass1 and watched the progress of the eclipse through them4 ,it had a more disquieting effect upon the hostile ,indians4 ,it seems that the soldiers had cut them off from crossing the ,columbia by capturing all the small boats and patrolling the river night and day2 so that with ,howard's troops on the trail behind them1 troops from ,walla ,walla on their flanks1 and the river in front1 they were in a bad way4 ,moreover1 the ,french brothers and the governor of ,oregon had offered a reward of two thousand dollars for ,egan's head4 ,the ,umatilla ,indians were accused of pretending to help the whites in the daytime1 and really helping the ,snakes at night4 ,so the commander sent out a party of soldiers to capture the squaws and little children of ,homely and the other chiefs and hold them as hostages for the good behavior of their braves4 ,when the latter asked the commander to release their families1 the answer was given that if they would capture ,egan and deliver him up to the authorities1 they would not only get back their wives and children1 but would receive the two-thousand-dollar reward4 ,otherwise their families would still be held as hostages4 ,it appeared that ,egan had an appointment with ,homely at a certain hour4 ,as he rode out from his camp1 with a brave behind him1 ,homely1 similarly attended1 went out to meet him4 ,when they met between the two camps1 they turned at right angles and rode toward the point agreed upon for the powwow4 ,but as they were riding thus1 side by side1 ,homely1 with a word to his brave1 suddenly raised his rifle and shot ,egan1 while his brave shot the attending ,snake4 ,they then immediately severed the heads of the dead men1 and riding back with them to the whites1 claimed the reward4 ,about the same time1 the eclipse came on1 and the poor ,snakes1 deprived of their leader1 thought that the world was coming to an end1 and leaving their great herd of stolen horses1 fled in small bands toward the ,malheur ,reservation1 and were all eventually captured4 ,the war thus ended1 as soon as ,i could get things in shape and my party together1 ,i returned to the ,cove1 got my outfit and fossils1 and moved over into ,haystack ,valley4 ,i remained there all winter1 and the next season secured another large collection4 ,many of the specimens in it are described by ,professor ,cope in ,vol4 ,,iii of the 8,tertiary ,vertebrata40 ,on p4 xxvi and the two following pages of the preface1 he pays his collectors a high compliment1 which ,i give myself the pleasure of repeating here in his own words3 8,the same year '#gg ,i employed ,charles ,h4 ,sternberg to conduct an exploration of the ,cretaceous and ,tertiary formations of ,kansas4 ,after a successful search1 ,i sent ,mr4 ,sternberg to ,oregon4 ,the ,tertiary formations explored in #ahgh were the ,john ,day and ,loup ,fork of ,oregon4 ,the ,john ,day formation was chiefly examined on the ,john ,day ,river and the ,loup ,fork beds at various points in the same region4 ,these yielded about fifty species1 many of them represented in an admirable state of preservation40 ,after mentioning the work of his other explorers1 he goes on to say3 8,mr4 ,sternberg's expedition of #ahgh was interrupted by the ,bannock war1 and both himself and ,mr4 ,wortman were compelled to leave their camp and outfit in the field and fly to a place of safety on their horses4 ,it is evident that an enthusiastic devotion to science has actuated these explorers of our western wilderness1 financial considerations having been but a secondary inducement4 ,and ,i wish to remark that the courage and disregard of physical comfort displayed by the gentlemen above referred to are qualities of which their country may be proud1 and are worthy of the highest commendation and of imitation in every field40 ,before leaving this interesting field1 ,i wish to show my readers ,cope's figure of the great saber-toothed tiger1 ,pogonodon platycopis 7,fig4 #ca71 which was secured in #ahgi by ,leander ,davis4 ,i do not remember who first discovered the specimen1 but for weeks each of us collectors1 ,wortman1 ,davis1 and ,i1 tried to devise some means of securing it ,the skull topped a pinnacle1 perhaps thirty or forty feet high1 and tapering like the spire of a church4 ,at the top it was only a foot in diameter4 ,we knew that it would not be strong enough to support the weight of a ladder1 and it was too steep to scale4 ,moreover1 if we blew it up with powder1 the skull1 whose rows of teeth seemed to grin at us defiantly1 would be shattered to bits4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bi4--;,,fossil-,,bearing ,,cliffs4 7,after ,merriam47 ,mascall ,formation4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cj4--;,,fossil-,,bearing ,,cliffs4 7,after ,merriam47 ,clarno ,formation4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ca4--,,skull ,,of ,,great ,,sabre-,,toothed ,,tiger1 ,pogonodon platycopis4 ,discovered in ,john ,day ,river1 #ahgi1 by ,leander ,davis4 7,after ,coke47 ,by whatever method it was secured1 it represented a feat of the greatest possible bravery1 and ,cope did only justice to ,leander ,davis in publishing his understanding of the manner in which it was done4 ,that description is attached to the skull to-day1 and thousands have read of ,davis' heroic act in securing it for science4 ,professor ,cope says that he cut niches and climbed to the top of the spire4 ,my remembrance1 however1 is that he threw a rope around the spire and let it settle down to where he thought the rock would be strong enough to support his weight4 ,he then climbed up hand over hand to the loop1 stood erect1 picked up the skull1 and without putting any pressure on the rock1 got back to his rope and down to safety below4 ,he then secured the rope by jerking off the top of the pinnacle4 ,it matters little how he got the skull1 but ,i am ready to testify that it was the bravest undertaking ,i ever saw accomplished in the ,john ,day beds2 and as long as science lasts1 this noble specimen of one of the largest tigers that ever lived should be associated with the name of ,leander ,davis4 ,i am glad that the great dike across the ,cove is named after him also4 ,what is it that urges a man to risk his life in these precipitous fossil beds8 ,i can answer only for myself1 but with me there were two motives1 the desire to add to human knowledge1 which has been the great motive of my life1 and the hunting instinct1 which is deeply planted in my heart4 ,not the desire to destroy life1 but to see it4 ,the man whose love for wild animals is most deeply developed is not he who ruthlessly takes their lives1 but he who follows them with the camera1 studies them with loving sympathy1 and pictures them in their various haunts4 ,it is thus that ,i love creatures of other ages1 and that ,i want to become acquainted with them in their natural environments4 ,they are never dead to me2 my imagination breathes life into 8the valley of dry bones10 and not only do the living forms of the animals stand before me1 but the countries which they inhabited rise for me through the mists of the ages4 ,the mind fills with awe as it journeys back to those far-distant lands4 ,stop1 reader1 and think6 ,in this ,john ,day region1 ten thousand feet1 or nearly two miles1 of sedimentary and volcanic rock lie above the ,niobrara ,group of the ,cretaceous1 from which ,i dug last summer the beautiful skull of a ,kansas mosasaur1 ,platecarpus coryphus1 which lies before me now1 its glistening teeth as perfect as in the days when they dripped with the blood of its victims4 ,how many ages were those ten thousand feet in building8 ,how long has it taken the running water1 with its tools of sand and gravel1 to carve out the ,grande ,coule and the river valley1 and expose all the various formations1 with their records of the life of the past8 ,and yet all this has taken place since my mosasaur1 which seems to watch me as ,i write1 fought its last battle and sank to rest beneath the waves of the ,cretaceous sea4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,my ,,first ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,permian ,,of ,,texas1 #ahhb ,my first expedition to the ,permian of ,texas was made in #ahhb1 while ,i was in charge of collecting parties for the ,museum of ,comparative ,zoology of ,harvard ,university4 ,i left the station at ,north ,cambridge about the fifteenth of ,december1 and reached ,dallas on the twenty-first1 with the address of ,a4 ,r4 ,roessler2 but ,i was told at the post-office that there was no such man and no such address in the city4 ,i had been depending absolutely upon the information which ,i hoped to receive from this ,mr4 ,roessler1 as ,i myself had no more idea as to the whereabouts of the ,permian beds than a new-born child4 ,dr4 ,hayden had written me to follow up ,red ,river until ,i found the red beds1 which had colored the whole flood-plain of the valley1 and ,i had seen the red mud at ,texarkana as ,i entered the state2 but it would take years to explore the whole valley of that great stream4 ,i felt that ,i had come upon a wild-goose chase1 and ,i suppose showed my dismay in my face1 for the postmaster asked if he could help me4 ,i told him my troubles1 and he said that there was a man in town1 a ,professor ,w4 ,a4 ,cummins1 who had been ,cope's assistant the year before4 ,greatly cheered1 ,i went to the man's house posthaste1 to be met at the door by his wife1 who told me that the ,professor was in ,austin4 ,whereupon my spirits dropped below zero again4 ,but if a girl's face is her fortune1 so is a man's sometimes1 for ,i gained ,mrs4 ,cummins' sympathy at once4 ,when ,i told her why ,i had come to ,texas1 she answered1 8,why1 ,i was with ,professor ,cummins on his expedition to the ,permian beds10 and proceeded to give me all the information which ,i thought necessary4 ,i learned that they had made their headquarters at ,seymour1 in ,baylor ,county1 between the ,brazos and ,wichita rivers1 and ,i supposed that anyone in ,seymour could tell me the exact localities from which the fossils came4 ,later ,i found to my sorrow that this was not the case2 and ,i wasted months of careful exploration over barren beds before ,i found the horizon that yielded the wonderful batrachians and reptiles of which ,i had come in search4 ,much elated1 ,i took the train for ,gordon1 a cattlemen's town south of ,seymour1 and the point nearest to it by rail4 ,i arrived there on ,christmas ,eve4 ,i was the only passenger to leave the cars and was welcomed by about twenty cowboys1 who were just beginning to paint the town red4 ,the leader asked me where ,i came from1 and ,i answered promptly1 8,from ,boston40 8,where do you want to go80 he asked4 8,to the best hotel in town10 said ,i4 8,all right60 he said4 8,we'll take you there40 ,and sure enough1 they did4 ,they formed in double file and put me in the middle of their ranks4 ,then the two men ahead of me laid their ,winchesters over my shoulders from in front1 and the two men behind crossed these guns with their own1 and at the word1 8,fire at will60 the whole command opened fire and kept it up all the way to the hotel4 ,there a girl appeared1 carrying a lamp with no chimney1 and the men1 facing the porch1 allowed me to go into the waiting room4 ,i turned first1 and made a little speech1 thanking them for their kind reception and remarking that if ,i were not so poor1 ,i should stand treat for the whole crowd4 ,this satisfied them1 and shouting 8,all right60 they went off to continue their nonsense until they were all drunk4 ,i hired the son of the hotel keeper1 a ,mr4 ,hamman1 put my baggage in his wagon1 and started on the journey north to my headquarters at ,seymour1 which we reached eight days later4 ,here ,i got off the track again1 for although everyone in town knew ,professor ,cummins1 no one could tell where he had found his fossils4 8,over in the brakes10 was all the information anyone could give4 ,finally a man named ,turner asked me to come over to his cattle range on the middle fork of the ,wichita1 as the country was cut up into canyons and ridges and denuded1 so that ,i should be likely to find fossils4 ,he knew of some mastodon bones in the vicinity1 he said4 ,so ,i went with him4 ,at one place the road led us across the narrows1 where there is scarcely room for a wagon road between the brakes of the ,brazos and the ,big ,wichita4 ,looking south1 shallow ravines led to the valley of the ,brazos1 while to the north were deep gulches and mounds capped with white ledges of gypsum with red beds of clay below4 ,i had reached at last the red beds of ,texas4 ,an interesting phenomenon is to be observed here--the bed of the ,big ,wichita is one hundred and seventy-five feet lower than that of the ,brazos4 ,north of the ,brazos1 along a line that extends through ,baylor ,county1 the country has been lifted up and disturbed by pressure from below1 while south of that line1 the only disturbance in the strata has been due to erosion4 ,everywhere in the red beds of the ,wichita valley are signs of an elevation of the earth's crust1 and for miles down the stream one comes upon miniature mountains with the strata turned up at all angles4 ,the river valley occupies a fault4 ,very beautiful indeed was the view when we got in sight of the brakes of the ,big ,wichita4 ,as far as the eye could see stretched miniature ,bad ,lands1 with rounded knobs1 deep canyons1 bluffs1 and ravines4 ,the prevailing color of the strata was ,indian red1 but beds of white gypsum and of greenish sandstone relieved the sameness4 ,sometimes seams of gypsum filled cracks in the strata1 forming dikes a few inches in thickness4 ,between the hills grew patches of grass1 a welcome sight to our horses1 for we had passed through a country devoid of vegetation4 ,the fall before1 the army worm had eaten the ground clean of everything that was eatable4 ,we pitched our camp near a ditch that had been cut through the sediment which overspread the flood-plain4 ,the day after pitching camp1 ,i heard ,george ,hamman calling me1 and crossing the bridge1 saw him beckoning me to follow him4 ,he gathered his pockets full of cobblestones as he went along1 and when he reached the edge of the ditch a little way below the crossing1 he began to throw the stones at something4 ,i ran up to him1 and heard the rattle of snakes1 but could not see any until1 resting my hand on his shoulder1 ,i lifted myself on my toes and saw1 on the other side of the ditch1 a cave with a broad floor4 ,lying singly or knotted together in gorgon spheres1 with heads sticking out in all directions1 were hundreds of large rattlesnakes1 which had come out of the cracks in the earth to bask in the sun on this sheltered floor4 ,they had become terribly irritated by the blows of the stones which ,hamman was hurling at them1 and were rattling in chorus and striking out in all directions1 biting themselves and each other4 ,suddenly one rattled in the high grass at our very feet1 and looking down1 we saw a big fellow making ready to strike4 ,as quick as a flash ,hamman threw himself over backward1 knocking me down1 and the instant he touched the ground1 turned a complete somerset4 ,while ,i lay there1 overcome with laughter1 he turned two more1 and finding himself on the road1 started for camp on a run4 ,i was too hysterical with laughter to help myself1 and lay there1 while the snake continued to sound its rattle and dart out its forked tongue1 swinging its head back and forth above its coiled body4 ,when ,george saw my predicament1 he was brave enough to come back and pull me out of reach of his lordship's fangs4 ,then we were mean enough to kill him4 ,he measured five feet in length4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cb4--,,skeleton ,,of ,,fin-,,backed ,,lizard1 ,naosaurus claviger4 ,collected by ,charles ,sternberg in the ,permian ,beds of the ,big ,wichita ,valley1 ,baylor ,co41 ,texas1 in the winter of #ahif4 ,by permission of ,prof4 ,h4 ,f4 ,osborn of the ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history4 7,photo4 by ,anderson7 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cc4--;,,fin-,,backed ,,lizard1 ,naosaurus claviger4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight4 7,from model in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,the valley contained thousands of wild turkeys1 and it was a fine sight to see them come down in great droves from the hills at night to roost in the trees below4 ,on the level prairie there were many antelope1 also2 and wild cats and coyotes were seen nearly every day4 ,i remember one day1 when crossing a low level prairie covered with bushes a couple of feet in height1 seeing at my left a coyote which was running along in a straight line1 with its nose pointed toward a certain spot1 like a pointer dog after a prairie chicken4 ,my interest was aroused1 and to increase my curiosity1 ,i caught sight of a short-tailed cat1 the ,canadian lynx1 crawling along the ground in the same direction4 ,i knew that they were both trailing some prey which each1 unknown to the other1 had scented1 and imagining that it might be a calf1 ,i shouted1 as ,i did not want to see it torn to pieces4 ,this startled the cat1 and drove her off at a tangent to her trail4 ,the coyote continued his course1 but did not stop1 for a ,texas cow had run to the point toward which he was traveling1 and stood with lowered horns1 ready to repel his assault2 while her calf sprang up and deliberately proceeded to take advantage of the situation to get his dinner4 ,in this region1 as in the ,kansas chalk beds1 the question of water gave us a great deal of trouble4 ,all the water in the river is that which goes by the name of alkali in the ,west1 being thoroughly impregnated with salt and other mineral ingredients4 ,there are1 moreover1 no wells or springs in the red beds4 ,the surface rock is porous1 and the water sinks through it to the compact gray beds below1 from which it drains off into the river4 ,these gray beds are some distance below the surface1 and so far as ,i know1 have never been reached in digging for water4 ,one is1 therefore1 forced to depend upon rain water4 ,this is collected either in artificial tanks built by the cattlemen1 or in natural tanks1 sometimes along the creek beds1 but usually in the flood-plain in old creek beds1 where the fine red mud has been puddled by cattle1 perhaps1 or in the olden days1 by buffalo4 ,these ponds hold water for years1 although often they become very foul from the cattle that frequent and wade into them in summer to get away from the flies4 ,it is an odd sight to a stranger in the valley of the ,big ,wichita to see the rain come rushing down the hills4 ,it soon becomes as thick as cream with the fine red clay1 and to think of depending upon such water for drinking and cooking purposes is revolting to one who remembers the sparkling springs and clear wells of the ,east or any mountainous country4 ,during quiet days1 when the wind was not blowing1 the red mud would settle in the bottom of the tanks1 but one had to be careful not to pull out one's pail suddenly or the water would instantly thicken with mud from the bottom4 ,nothing would settle this water but boiling it1 although it might be cleared a little by the pulp of cactus leaves4 ,i have sometimes gone to the trouble of peeling the broad leaves of the prickly pear and beating them into a mucilaginous pulp to throw into a pail of muddy water4 ,the mud attached itself to this material and sank with it to the bottom2 but even then the clarified liquid remaining on top did not make a very tempting drink4 ,i soon got used to the thick red water1 however1 as had the other inhabitants of the country1 and for six seasons drank it thankfully1 when ,i was thirsty4 ,when a man is thirsty1 he drinks first and tastes the water afterwards4 ,i once asked an old cowman what he did for drinking water on the range1 and he answered1 8,wherever and whatever a cow can drink1 ,i can40 ,and cows will take filthy water1 if they can get no other4 ,all that winter ,i worked in these desolate beds1 walking over thousands of acres of denuded rock1 searching without success for the fossil fields4 ,the dominant color of these beds is red1 but the tints vary so that the eye is dazzled and wearied by the constant change4 ,there are countless concretions too1 all of which had to be looked over4 ,if fine specimens had rewarded the labor1 all would have been well1 but ,i know of no work more trying than spending day after day in a fruitless search4 ,at last ,hamman1 having fattened his horses on two-dollar corn1 started a quarrel with me1 so that he might have an excuse for deserting me1 and drove off with the team1 which ,i had hired for some time longer1 leaving me alone1 thirty miles from town4 ,fortunately1 however1 ,i found a good1 honest ,irishman1 ,pat ,whelan by name1 who became not only a splendid assistant1 but a true friend4 ,poor fellow6 ,i learned a few years ago that he had frozen to death in ,montana4 ,one warm1 sultry day ,i sent him in to town for provisions4 ,i had no tent at that time1 but he left me the wagon sheet1 and ,i had camped on the south side of a large tree1 which was so effectually covered with green briers as to be an almost impenetrable defense against the north wind4 ,i was in the field after ,mr4 ,whelan left me1 and noticing the ,texas cattle coming from the prairie to the heavy timber1 ,i concluded1 although there was not a cloud in sight1 that they had scented a norther4 ,rushing to camp1 ,i began rapidly to make preparations for the storm4 ,first ,i cut a couple of crotches and sank them well into the ground on the south side of the brier-covered tree4 ,then ,i put up a ridgepole and stretched over it the wagon sheet1 which ,i fastened securely to the ground on either side4 ,i also heaped dirt on the edges1 to keep out the snow4 ,i thus had a dog tent1 opening toward the northern barrier and toward the south4 ,there was plenty of fallen wood lying about1 and ,i devoted every moment and all my strength to cutting it up and dragging it to the tent4 ,i must have got several cords together before ,i heard the wind howling in the heavy timber to the north4 ,i piled up this supply of fuel at the opening toward the green brier thicket1 and built a big fire at the mouth of the tent4 ,soon an awful storm was upon me1 all alone1 thirty miles from any human habitation4 ,how the wind moaned through the creaking branches6 ,a dense darkness spread like a pall over the heavens1 and the shrieks and wails of the tempest echoed through the woods like the cries of lost souls4 ,then snow and sleet began to fall in fitful gusts1 and beat upon the thin canvas that was my only shelter4 ,at such a time a man loses much of his confidence in himself4 ,pretty small ,i felt myself when measured with that storm1 which bent the great cottonwoods and elms like reeds before it4 ,after supper1 tired out with my unwonted exertions1 ,i fell asleep4 ,whenever the fire sank down and the cold became severe1 ,i roused myself and piled fresh fuel on the dying embers1 and when they blazed up again1 dropped off once more4 ,three days and three nights that norther lasted4 ,i understood then why the people of the ,southland speak of them as they do and dread their coming4 ,i never once left my shelter until it cleared4 ,poor ,pat ,whelan6 ,he had lost his horses in the storm1 and being sure that ,i would freeze to death if he could not get back to me1 he had spent every hour of daylight looking for them4 ,what he must have suffered in that awful gale1 while ,i was safe and comfortable6 ,my readers would grow weary if ,i told the whole story of that winter's search4 ,there were so few results that ,i became thoroughly disheartened and anxious to give up the fight and go home1 where my wife and dear baby were waiting for me4 ,there was further cause for discouragement in the fact that ,pat had only agreed to stay with me until spring plowing began1 and the time for that was rapidly approaching4 ,but ,i would not give up4 ,so we worked on down the stream toward the ,fort ,sill cattle trail1 traveling on an average twenty miles a day on foot1 with the record 8,nothing0 in my notebook night after night4 ,but on the eleventh of ,february1 after forty days of unceasing effort1 ,i discovered below the forks of the ,big ,wichita a somewhat different horizon from that of the beds over which ,i had been working so persistently without success4 ,some of the beds in this region are composed of red clay1 with small irregular concretions that are piled in heaps at the base of the hills and roll under one's feet1 rendering travel difficult ,in other strata are deposits of small nodules1 held together by silica4 ,these nodules are of various colors1 and where held securely and ground down1 make beautiful mosaics4 ,then there are beds of greenish sandstone1 laid down in thin layers2 and in these beds1 for the first time since ,i came to ,texas1 ,i found the remains of a ,permian vertebrate4 ,my notes say3 8,although it is not wise to shout before ,i am out of the woods1 yet ,i feel very much encouraged1 and ,i earnestly hope for the success ,i have worked for4 ,i have evidently worked too high in the red beds to find fossils40 ,on the second day in these beds1 ,i found fragments of the great salamander ,eryops1 and on the twenty-second of ,february1 ,i found the first specimen that ,i had ever seen of the long-spined reptile1 ,dimetredon4 ,of this last ,i got seventy-five pounds of bones and matrix1 preserved in iron ore concretions4 ,the teeth are long1 recurved1 and serrated4 ,i knew little then about these most ancient of all the vertebrates that it has been my fortune to collect1 but ,i shall have more to say about them later4 ,the authorities now place the time when these animals lived twelve million years away4 ,indeed1 8,god is not slack as some men count slackness1 one day is with the ,lord as a thousand years1 and a thousand years as one day40 ,the only way in which we can realize the lapse of millions of years is by a study of the work which nature has accomplished in them1 depositing vast strata1 lifting them up into mountain ranges1 and carving out in them flood-plains and mighty canyons4 ,more interesting still is a study of the countless forms of life which1 in ever-varying groups1 have each in turn dominated sea and earth and air4 ,first1 as here in ,texas1 the batrachians reigned supreme1 a race of creatures which were supplied with both gills and lungs1 so that they could live both on land and in water4 ,then came the reptiles1 and later still dawned the ,age of ,mammals1 with man as the crowning work of the ,creator's hands4 ,i was now at last in the fossiliferous beds and secured some fine material4 ,unfortunately about this time ,pat gave notice that he would soon be obliged to leave me4 ,i should then have no team1 and to work in these fossil beds without a means of transportation would be as useless as to attempt to dig up a forest with a hoe4 ,i had1 however1 sent north for an assistant1 a ,mr4 ,wright1 and after hunting for me a day and a half in the brakes of the ,big ,wichita1 he finally arrived in camp4 ,on the sixth of ,march a violent norther struck us4 ,we were better off for protection than we had been1 however1 as my tent had at last arrived from ,kansas2 and although only an ,a-tent1 it kept out the storms of sleet and snow that fell for three days4 ,during all that time the cattle remained without food in the dense woods4 ,such times as this1 when we were confined to the close quarters of our tent and could accomplish nothing but keeping ourselves warm1 are in my opinion the most uncomfortable which the fossil hunter is called upon to endure4 ,on the ninth of ,march1 the sun rose bright and clear upon a scene of surprising beauty4 ,every tree1 bush1 and blade of grass on the red beds was covered with a milky white ice1 whose silvery luster was set with innumerable sparkling gems4 ,it was glorious at sunrise1 but as the morning advanced1 the snow and ice began to melt1 leaving patches of red and white over the ,bad ,lands1 and by noon had entirely disappeared4 ,the hills rapidly dried1 as the thick red water sought the drainage canals1 and we were soon at work once more4 ,as a precaution against the very difficulty which ,i had encountered1--,i mean the impossibility of keeping a man and team with me1--,i had obtained from the ,secretary of ,war1 through the efforts of ,professor ,alexander ,agassiz1 a letter of introduction to the commanders of western posts1 requesting them to assist me by every means in their power not inconsistent with the public service4 ,with this letter from the ,honorable ,robert ,t4 ,lincoln1 a son of our martyred ,president1 ,i started out on the twelfth of ,march for ,fort ,sill1 on a pony hired from a livery stable4 ,i was assured that it was only sixty miles to the ,fort1 and that the pony could easily take me there in a day1 but ,i soon found that he was just off grass1 and weak and thin4 ,i also discovered1 after night had overtaken me1 that ,i had been put on the wrong cattle trail4 ,i reached a house in the evening1 that of a school-teacher1 who1 because of his having had some education and possessing the ability to talk intelligently1 was known in that region as 8,windy0 ,turner1 in distinction from 8,bull0 ,turner1 a cowman4 ,i found him to be a gentleman4 ,the next morning he gave me directions as to how to reach the old trail that led to the ,fort4 ,i was to go to ,wagoner's cattle camp1 where the trail crossed ,beaver ,creek1 and spend the night there4 ,i traveled nearly all day1 and reached the ranch building1 the only house ,i had seen since ,i left the school-teacher's1 only to find the camp deserted4 ,not a man nor a cow was in sight4 ,as ,i had had no lunch1 ,i was very hungry1 and this being my first visit to this region1 ,i did not know where to turn for food and shelter4 ,at last1 however1 ,i saw a horseman coming toward me from the northeast1 and rode to meet him4 ,he was a cowboy4 ,i inquired where ,wagoner had gone1 and learned that he had left a few days before for the ,indian ,territory4 ,i was told1 moreover1 that the nearest place at which ,i could get a meal was back on ,coffee ,creek1 which ,i had left in the morning4 ,when ,i complained of being cold and hungry and of not liking to sleep in my saddle blanket on the ground without supper1 the cowboy replied that he had not had a morsel to eat for three days and that he had slept for three nights in his saddle blanket4 ,after that ,i said no more4 ,i was unwilling to return all the way back to the hospitable roof that had sheltered me the night before1 and continued my journey1 with no expectation of coming upon a human habitation until ,i reached ,red ,river the next night4 ,it is hard to express my delight1 therefore1 when1 upon reaching the divide between ,beaver ,creek and ,red ,river1 ,i saw a lot of tents1 some distance to the right of the trail4 ,i hurried to the encampment1 and found that it belonged to the locating engineer of the ,denver and ,fort ,worth ,railroad4 ,when ,i told the young man from whom ,i had obtained this information that ,i wanted to see the engineer1 he grinned 7,i was not a very pleasant-looking individual1 covered as ,i was with the dust of travel71 but he opened the door of the tent and said1 8,here's a man who wants to see you40 ,as the occupant of the tent came forward1 ,i presented to him my letter of introduction from the ,secretary of ,war2 and ,i saw the grin disappear from the face of my guide as the engineer shook hands with me cordially1 and remarking1 8,that is a good enough letter of introduction for me10 placed himself at my service4 ,when ,i told him that my pony and ,i were hungry1 he instructed the man who had expected to see me refused the courtesies of the camp to get up a good supper for me and to care for my pony4 ,then1 inviting me to make myself at home1 he entertained me royally1 and after ,i had made a hearty meal1 opened a bale of new woolen blankets1 and provided me with a most comfortable bed in his own tent4 ,i hope if ,major ,j4 ,f4 ,menette sees this story1 he will accept at this late day my thanks for his kindly treatment4 ,the next night ,i reached the crossing on ,red ,river1 where ,i found a house and stayed all night4 ,the next day1 about nightfall ,i crossed ,cach ,creek1 and saw at my right1 in a bend of the creek1 an elevated 8bench0 on which a tepee was pitched4 ,there were two ,indians standing about1 one a large1 fleshy1 good-natured man1 the other thin1 with large1 prominent cheek bones1 a typical ,comanche4 ,a large flock of children ran out to greet me4 ,i must confess that ,i felt a little uneasy at being so entirely alone and at the mercy of these ,indians1 but ,i made the best of it1 and as several turkeys were lying on the ground1 ,i told the good-natured man that ,i wanted his squaw to cook me one for supper4 ,this she proceeded to do1 removing the breast and putting it on a wooden spit which she stuck in the ground before a large bed of coals and constantly turned until the meat was done4 ,this1 with a cup of coffee which she made me and the bread crumbs from my lunch1 gave me quite a meal4 ,i was too hungry to be fastidious4 ,the ,indians were roasting camus1 the bulb of the wild hyacinth1 which grew plentifully in the creek bottom4 ,they had dug a pit five feet deep and three in diameter and kindled a fire at the bottom1 using at least a cord of wood to heat thoroughly the surrounding ground4 ,the ashes were then scraped out1 and the walls plastered with a mortar of mud1 over which green grass was thickly strewn to prevent the bulbs from burning4 ,the bulbs were then put in and covered with grass and mud1 and a fire built on top of them4 ,the next morning they were done1 and were as much relished by these ,indian children as popcorn or peanuts by the whites4 ,i tasted some4 ,they had a sweetish taste1 a little like sweet potatoes1 but they were so full of sand that my teeth were not strong enough to grind them up4 ,i put off going to bed until late1 as ,i dreaded sleeping in the high grass where ,i had left my saddle4 ,but at last the children1 who had been amusing me1 went off to bed1 and ,i decided to go too4 ,i spread half my saddle blanket under me1 and with my saddle for a pillow was just dozing off when ,i heard a rustle in the dead grass1 and the thin ,indian1 whom ,i disliked1 stuck his head almost into my face4 ,he had something in his hands which he wanted to swap with me for some of my property1 and the more ,i argued1 the more determined he was to trade4 ,he wanted my pony1 my ,winchester1 everything ,i had1 and ,i was afraid that he would take them whether or no4 ,at last1 however1 he left1 crawling through the grass as he had come2 but ,i was just dropping off to sleep1 when ,i heard the snake-like rustle again4 ,i was getting mad by that time1 and when the ,indian parted the tall grass and peered through the opening1 he faced the muzzle of my gun1 while ,i told him with much vehemence that if he did not go about his business and let me get to sleep1 ,i would bore a hole through him4 ,this had the desired effect1 and but for the cold1 which wakened me often1 ,i slept in peace the rest of the night4 ,i was wakened in the morning by a shot1 and a wild turkey fell from a tree near where ,i had been sleeping4 ,they were so tame and abundant that they roosted in camp4 ,the jolly ,indian was anxious to earn another quarter1 and as ,i had ordered turkey for supper1 he had concluded that ,i wanted one for breakfast4 ,i was not quite so hungry this morning1 and detected the ,indian smell which is left on everything they touch2 but ,i made a brave attempt not to show my disgust to my host4 ,after breakfast1 as ,i started out for the trail1 a boy of fourteen walked down with me and stood talking1 with his hands tangled in my pony's mane4 ,i had given him some tobacco1 and he was smoking a cigarette which he had made with a dry leaf4 ,at our feet the path divided and encircled a little mound of earth covered with buffalo grass4 ,when the boy had finished his smoke1 he threw the still burning stump into this dead grass1 which was damp with dew and sent up a dense column of smoke4 ,this was all done so naturally that ,i thought nothing of it until ,i got up on the level prairie1 where ,i could see for miles ahead4 ,as far as the eye could reach1 column after column of smoke was rising through the still morning air4 ,it was thirty miles from the crossing at ,cach ,creek to ,fort ,sill1 yet when ,i presented my letter to ,major ,guy ,henry in the office at nine o'clock the next morning1 the first question he asked was 8,did you leave the crossing at ,cach ,creek about sunrise yesterday morning80 ,and when ,i answered that ,i had1 he said that probably about ten or fifteen minutes after ,i left the creek1 the ,comanche chief had received notice by smoke signal that one man was coming over the trail toward the ,fort4 ,in coming to ,fort ,sill1 ,i had inadvertently come from one department into another1 and the major had no power to send men out of his department without orders from ,general ,sheridan1 the commanding general of the ,army4 ,so ,i had to wait at ,fort ,sill until the matter could be arranged4 ,the southern cowboys1 who hated the army blue and the darky soldiers who were stationed at the ,fort1 were doing all that they could to irritate the officers4 ,while the latter were at dinner and the soldiers off duty1 a squad of cowboys would ride into the post across the well-kept grass on the parade grounds up to the flagstaff1 and fire at the ,stars and ,stripes4 ,another of their tricks was to shoot off the glass insulators from the government telegraph lines which connect the ,fort with the headquarters at ,leavenworth and with the ,department of the ,gulf4 ,they had just accomplished this piece of mischief when ,i arrived at the ,fort1 and before the major could communicate with ,general ,pope1 ,commander of the ,department of the ,missouri1 in which ,fort ,sill was situated1 he had to send out the signal sergeant to repair the line4 ,at last1 however1 all was arranged1 and by general order1 ,corporal ,bromfield1 three privates1 a six-mule team1 and a wagon with a white teamster1 and fifty days' rations1 were detailed for my use4 ,i started out with this escort1 elated by the knowledge that ,i now had men and means of transportation upon which ,i could depend4 ,it is indeed a lovely drive from ,fort ,sill to ,red ,river4 ,we were rarely out of sight of the impressive ,wichita ,mountains1 which rise from a sea of green plains like an islet in a lake4 ,we reached the river on the second day1 and had a mile of sand to pull through4 ,at one time ,i thought that we would go down in the treacherous quicksands1 but our magnificent team of dark-colored mules and the skill of the teamster carried us safely over4 ,i have since seen1 in the sands of this same river1 holes ten feet deep which had been dug to rescue wagons loaded with valuable goods1 that had sunk down to bedrock during high water4 ,when we reached the beds of the ,big ,wichita1 we worked both ,indian and ,coffee creeks1 a few miles apart4 ,here at last1 after so much toil and so many hardships1 ,i found myself in the very center of the fossil-bearing strata1 and secured a number of fine specimens1 among them the great salamander ,eryops1 the wonderful fin-backed lizard ,naosaurus1 that peculiar batrachian ,diplocaulus1 and other forms4 ,on arriving at the fossil beds1 ,i showed ,corporal ,bromfield where ,i wanted him to pitch my wall tent1 and went into the field with ,mr4 ,wright1 in search of fossils4 ,when ,i returned at night1 ,i found that the corporal had pitched my tent on a level and his own ,a-tent as close to it as he possibly could4 8,this will never do10 ,i said to myself4 8,discipline will go to the dogs1 if ,i allow such close companionship40 ,so ,i ordered him to take down his tent and pitch it a hundred yards away1 and to follow this rule in future4 ,the soldiers were very indignant1 but they obeyed orders4 ,as a general rule ,i found that ,i could handle them1 although there were a few breaches of discipline4 ,i was so unfortunate on this expedition as to have my tent burned1 with nearly all my personal property4 ,when the men got to the flaming tent1 the first thing they did was to cut the guy-ropes and let it blow over4 ,they then1 at my request1 brought water and threw it on the burning sacks that held the fossils4 ,this saved the fossils1 but to do so we had to let everything else go4 ,on the twenty-fifth of ,april1 we started with our load for ,decatur1 the nearest railroad point4 ,we took the ,henrietta road1 and camped on the ,little ,wichita1 where1 in the sandy shales of the ,upper ,carboniferous or ,permian1 we found a locality rich in the fossil flora of that region4 ,we secured a number of large fern fronds1 etc4 ,wild turkey were1 as usual1 abundant4 ,lee ,irving1 one of the escort1 killed a hen and gobbler1 and gave us a change from our customary diet of bacon4 ,on the fourth of ,may1 after a long journey1 we plowed through the valley named1 and well named1 the ,big ,sandy1 and passing through groves of splendid live oaks1 pecans1 water elms1 and locusts1 reached ,decatur1 the terminus of the ,fort ,worth and ,denver ,railroad4 ,here ,i delivered to the agent my precious load of fossils1 which had cost me so much expense1 labor1 and anxiety1 and set out on the return trip to ,fort ,sill2 where1 on the twelfth of ,may1 after a journey without incident1 ,i turned over my command to ,major ,henry4 ,the next time ,i heard of this splendid officer1 he was a brigadier general in command of ,porto ,rico4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,expeditions ,,in ,,the ,,texas ,,permian ,,for ,,professor ,,cope1 #ahie1 #ahig ,in the summer of #ahie1 sixteen years after my last expedition for ,professor ,cope1 ,i was employed by him to make further explorations in the brakes of the ,big ,wichita4 ,my assistant and cook was a farmer1 ,frank ,galyean by name1 who lived on ,coffee ,creek on the ,vernon road1 twenty-five miles north of ,seymour4 ,i camped a mile above his house on the west branch of the creek at ,willow ,springs1 a favorite camping ground1 as it was one of the few places in which water was always to be found4 ,to the west rose ,table ,mountain1 a hill several hundred feet high1 and mountains of the same height extended in a southwesterly direction to ,indian ,creek1 about four miles from camp4 ,i worked for several weeks on ,indian ,creek and ,coffee ,creek with very poor returns1 but on the nineteenth of ,september1 ,mr4 ,galyean1 who was of a sanguine temperament1 announced that he had discovered the complete skeleton of a huge beast4 ,so1 filled with high ropes1 ,i followed his lead along the rough face of the mountains1 until at last1 when we were completely exhausted by the ruggedness of the way1 he pointed out a pile of the weathered and broken bones of a species so common that they were not worth picking up4 ,dropping in a moment from my hill of expectancy into a slough of despond1 ,i turned homeward1 ,mr4 ,galyean1 who was as disappointed as ,i was1 leading the way to a short cut through a gap in the mountains4 ,as he got on the trail1 which had been made by animals on their way to the spring1 he stooped and picked up something1 remarking1 8,why1 here's a bone60 ,i took it1 and was astonished to find it a complete skull1 covered with a hard siliceous matrix from a heavy bed of ,indian red clay1 which was completely covered with concretions4 ,i had never carefully explored this horizon1 as ,i had taken it for granted that it was barren4 ,and ,i suppose that other collectors had imagined the same1 for although it was within a mile of ,willow ,springs1 where ,boll and ,cummins and other collectors had camped through a series of years1 ,i was the first to discover this deposit of extinct animals4 ,we followed the trail over a slight rise into an amphitheater a couple of acres in extent1 and then over a higher rise into another1 a little larger1 carved out of the mountain side and entirely denuded of soil4 ,these two amphitheaters proved to be the richest fossil beds ,i ever discovered in the ,permian of ,texas4 ,i quote the following entry from my notebook regarding this discovery3 8,after finding the perfect skull discovered by ,galyean1 we at once got into the richest ground ,i have ever seen in these beds4 ,i got a perfect skull1 and ,galyean another4 ,we have worked too low1 it seems4 ,this rich bone bed is on top of the beds ,i have been working1 at the heads of the ravines that cut into the face of the mountains4 ,the concretions in which the bones are preserved are in red clay1 and are of greenish and other colors40 ,in my excitement over this rich find1 ,i forgot my disgust with ,galyean for leading me on a wild-goose chase1 forgot how tired ,i was1 forgot my dinner1 forgot everything1 and set to work at once collecting skulls and bones4 ,i remember that ,i filled my collecting bag with seventy-five pounds of skulls1 from less than an inch to over eight inches in length1 and all new to me and to science4 ,this load ,i started to carry down the steep trail to camp1 a mile away4 ,the good-natured ,galyean1 when he saw me tottering under the load1 offered to relieve me of my burden1 but ,i answered with such vehemence that no one should touch it1 that ,i would break my back first1 that it was more precious than its weight in gold1 that he gave it up and fled down the mountains to camp1 so that he might at least have a warm meal waiting for me when ,i arrived4 ,how can any man who has not had the experience himself1 realize the glory of my triumphal march down that rugged trail8 ,not ,nebuchadnezzar1 when his chariot headed the army that was carrying away the treasures of the ,lord's house from ,jerusalem1 with the king of ,judah1 blinded and bound in shackles of brass1 in his train1 could have known a prouder joy than ,i did now over this discovery of a new region1 in the very heart of the old1 which promised so rich a harvest of rare fossil remains4 ,this is an instance of an experience which has been very common in my life--when ,i have been most completely hopeless and discouraged1 ,i have made my greatest discoveries4 ,of the remarkable batrachians and lizards which twelve million years ago peopled the estuaries and bayous of the ,permian ocean shores1 ,i found1 during that three months' expedition1 forty-five complete or nearly complete skulls1 many of them with more or less perfect parts of the skeletons attached1 and forty-seven fragmentary skulls1 ranging in size from less than half an inch to two feet in length2 the whole collection containing one hundred and eighty-three specimens of the extinct life of the ,texan ,permian4 ,the ,american ,museum1 which secured this splendid material1 was unable to describe and publish it then1 while the results of my famous expedition to these beds in #aija for the ,royal ,museum of ,munich were at once described by ,dr4 ,broili4 ,consequently the ,american ,museum lost much of the glory which attaches to the description of new material4 ,however1 the ,permian collection in the ,american ,museum is now being worked out with results of great importance to science4 ,encouraged by my success on this expedition1 ,i set out with high hopes on ,january twentieth of the following year to continue my work for ,professor ,cope in these beds4 ,on reaching my headquarters at ,seymour1 ,i succeeded in hiring an old man with a team and wagon1 and on the twenty-fifth of ,january1 ,i made my first camp on ,bushy ,creek1 ten miles north of ,seymour4 ,three days later ,i found what ,i believed promised to be a fine specimen of the ladder-spined reptile1 ,naosaurus1 called fin-backed by ,cope4 ,a number of perfect spines were exposed1 presenting the possibility of securing a complete specimen4 ,i worked very carefully over this skeleton1 hoping to take it out whole and in good shape4 ,it lay in red and white sandstone1 which easily disintegrated on the surface into shale-like flakes4 ,the spines and transverse projections1 which terminate in rounded knobs1 were all broken in situ1 and were also flexed and tilted with the strata1 so that great care was necessary in following them4 ,they were about three inches apart4 ,i numbered the spines #a1 #b1 #c1 etc41 not with reference to their natural position1 but to the order in which ,i came to them4 ,a good many of the rounded ends of the lateral spines were missing1 having been washed down the slope4 ,i hoped to find them later4 ,as ,i studied these remarkable spines1 many of them1 near the center of the body1 three feet high1 with the lateral spines alternating or opposite1 ,i instinctively called the creature the ladder-spined reptile2 and ,i cannot see how ,professor ,cope could have imagined that these spines had any resemblance to the mast and yard-arms of a vessel1 and that there was a thin membrane stretched between them which caught the breeze and acted as a sail4 ,later discoveries show it to be a land animal4 ,professor ,osborn's magnificent restoration of the ,naosaurus is shown4 7,fig4 #cc47 ,as ,i have said1 it was a long and trying task to take up the skeleton1 as it was in thousands of fragments4 ,if ,i had dug them up as one would dig potatoes1 no one would ever have had the patience to put them together again4 ,so ,i took up each spine in sections1 wrapping say fifty fragments together1 and numbering them ,no4 #a1 spine #a1 package #a1 etc42 so that when the whole collection came to be put together1 the sections could be mended separately first and then joined to one another4 ,the broken condition in which ,i found the skeleton prevented me from realizing then how complete and valuable it was2 but as ,i look now at the fine photograph of the mounted specimen1--the only mounted specimen of the ,naosaurus in the world 7,fig4 #cb71 ,i can see that this expedition was indeed a success1 in spite of the discouragement which ,i went through at the time4 ,after the discovery of the ,naosaurus1 ,i was obliged to spend weeks of work without results1 growing more and more disheartened because ,i myself was fully persuaded that the search was useless4 ,professor ,cope was convinced that there was a fossil-bearing stratum between the ,permian and ,triassic1 which would yield an entirely new fauna1 and he had reasoned out that this ideal bed must be located northwest of the productive bed already known1 in the very region1 in fact1 which ,i had gone over with such care for the ,museum of ,comparative ,zoology of ,harvard in #ahhb1 and found barren4 ,i1 therefore1 protested as strongly as ,i could against making the trip2 but he insisted1 and his more powerful will won the day4 ,so ,i was forced to spend a month of extremely trying labor at the head of ,crooked ,creek and in the other creek valleys1 northwest of the productive beds4 ,here were thousands of acres of denuded bluffs of red clay1 cut into fantastic shapes1 often resembling old fashioned straw bee-hives or crumbling towers and battlements4 ,as far as the eye could reach1 they spread out along the divide in ever-varying shapes4 ,the beds disintegrated easily into red mud4 ,there were no concretions1 although the rock was full of concentric rings1 from the sixteenth of an inch to an inch in diameter1 consisting of a round white spot with a red rim4 ,the narrow dikes which cross the thick deposits of clay are filled with fibrous gypsum4 ,underneath the clay lie strata of red and white sandstone and compact concretionary rock1 all barren4 ,but the discouragement which attended my unsuccessful search was only one of the trials with which ,i had to contend that winter4 ,in the first place1 the weather was against me4 ,it snowed or rained continually1 so that the ground was never dry1 and ,i took up ten or fifteen pounds of red mud on each foot as ,i walked4 ,i came down with a severe attack of grippe1 too2 and to make matters worse1 my teamster1 who was also my cook1 took a particular dislike to my stove1 which had been manufactured under my own supervision and had always proved satisfactory with other men1 and insisted upon doing all his cooking in a trench outside the tent1 so that ,i lost the heat which ,i might have had but for his obstinacy4 ,every morning ,i climbed out of bed with aching bones1 and started on my long tramp4 ,at first ,i would hardly be able to drag myself along1 but gradually1 as ,i warmed to the work1 ,i would move faster1 until usually ,i got so far away from camp that ,i should not have been able to return for dinner without taking more time than ,i could afford1 and so went without that meal4 ,after working as long as ,i could see1 ,i would return to my uncomfortable camp1 to go through the same performance on the following day4 ,i had suffered from fever and ague in the fossil fields of ,kansas1 and had supposed that it would be impossible to suffer more1 but ,i found the grippe even more relentless than the ague4 ,to add to my worries1 the people at my post office had taken in a family with a malignant form of sore eyes1 and although ,i supplied them with curatives1 they would get careless4 ,the peevish old man whom ,i had employed gave me a great deal of trouble too1 at one time threatening to leave me alone in the brakes4 ,in general1 my experiences with hired men have taught me the advisability of owning my own outfit1 whenever it is possible4 ,a hired man knows how helpless one is in the fossil fields without transportation1 and takes advantage of the power which that helplessness gives him2 or he looks at things from the hired man's point of view1 and if he can better his wages by leaving his employer1 thinks that he has a perfect right to do so1 even if he has made a contract to remain4 ,illustration ,illustration ,after working for weeks in accordance with ,cope's instructions1 although it was as useless as carrying bricks from one side of a yard to the other and back again1 ,i returned1 worn and discouraged1 to the beds which produced at least a few fossils4 ,i determined1 moreover1 to give up the field at the end of my contract1 and go home1 and wrote a despondent letter to ,cope1 asking to be relieved when the contract expired1 as ,i needed rest4 ,it was then that ,i received the letter which ,i publish here in facsimile1 a letter which ,i shall always cherish1 not only because it shows the very best side of ,cope's character1 but because it makes me feel that he realized that my life work could not be measured by money4 ,it gave me at the time the kind of encouragement which ,i needed more than any other1 and on receipt of it1 although ,i was just ready to give up from exhaustion and homesickness1 ,i decided to remain another month in those barren fields4 ,cope promised that he would never again send me into a field against my own judgment2 and by having my own way again1 ,i was so fortunate as to add many new specimens to the collection4 ,for ,i was rewarded1 as ,i have always in my life been rewarded1 for my many days of fruitless toil1 by the discovery of a long stretch of beds whose brilliant metallic color1 the result of a large amount of iron accumulated by a dank and luxurious vegetation1 testified that they had once formed the mud at the bottom of a bayou4 ,this old swamp proved to have been the habitat of countless salamanders1 and thanks to this discovery ,i accomplished more during the last month of my stay in ,texas than during all the rest of the time put together1 leaving out of account1 of course1 the fin-backed lizard4 ,i take pleasure in showing my readers a splendid skull 7,fig4 #cd7 after ,broili1 both the palatine and superior exposures of one peculiar species of these salamanders1 to which ,cope gave the name ,diplocaulus magnicornis4 ,the eyes are far down on the face1 but with a broad expanse of sculptured bone behind1 terminating in two long 8horns10 fourteen inches across from tip to tip1 which are merely the greatly prolonged corners of the back of the skull4 ,there are three rows of minute teeth in the roof of the mouth1 and a couple of occipital condyles4 ,the vertebr have a double row of spines down each side of the median line1 and the body is long and slender with weak limbs4 ,the head was the largest part of the creature4 ,this species was the most common of all those which ,i discovered in the ,permian beds4 ,professor ,cope used to call the specimens 8mud heads10 as they were almost always covered with a thin coating of silicified mud1 which was very difficult to remove4 ,in fact1 nearly all the bones in this region were enclosed in a hard red matrix4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cd4--;,,fossil ,,skull ,,of ,,giant ,,salamander1 ,diplocaulus magnicornis4 ,collected by ,charles ,sternberg in #aija4 7,after ,broili47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ce4--,,professor ,,henry ,,fairfield ,,osborn4 ,in the spring of #ahig1 ,i was again working in the ,texas ,permian for ,professor ,cope4 ,he was deeply interested in the ancient fauna of the region1 and ,i was sending him all the finer specimens by express1 as ,i had during the last two years4 ,on the fifteenth of ,april1 ,i was camping on ,indian ,creek1 having just completed a long and trying journey of about a hundred miles1 around the ,little ,wichita and back to the main river at ,indian ,creek4 ,during the trip we had encountered a terrible windstorm1 which had threatened to carry away our tent1 but we had weathered the gale and camped in the timber4 ,i had gone to bed1 but was roused from my cot by the arrival of a livery-man1 who had been hunting for me all the day before4 ,he handed me a message from ,mrs4 ,cope1 announcing the death of her husband on the twelfth of ,april4 ,i had lost friends before1 and had known what it was to bury my own dead1 even my firstborn son1 but ,i had never sorrowed more deeply than ,i did now over the news that in the very prime of life1 in the noonday of his glorious intellectual achievements1 as he was bending all his energies to the study and description of the wonderful fauna of the ,texas ,permian1 the greatest naturalist in ,america had passed away with his work undone4 ,death is terrible always1 but it seems especially so when it strikes down men in the highest rank of intelligence1 who are adding every day to the world's knowledge4 ,i was ,cope's assistant in the field for eight seasons1 and while we did not always agree1 ,i consider the work which ,i did for him my most valuable service to science4 ,it has often been my good fortune to supply him with some important link in the line of descent of vertebrate life1--such as1 for instance1 the famous batrachian genera ,dissorophus and ,otoclus1 reptiles with a carapace1 indicating the line of descent of turtles from batrachians1 or the camel from the ,john ,day beds1 with the metacarpals and metatarsals distinct1--and to furnish him with a large number of other forms which1 with the material secured by his other collectors1 helped him to acquire what ,dr4 ,osborn has so truthfully called 8a masterly knowledge of each type40 ,it is largely due to his efforts that the great science of paleontology1 which1 within my remembrance1 had but few votaries1 is now considered one of the most interesting studies of modern times4 ,well did he prophesy1 8,after us there will be more demand for our wares02 how well one can fully realize only when one remembers that the great ,american ,museum 7whose department of paleontology under the able management of ,dr4 ,henry ,f4 ,osborn 7,fig4 #ce7 is now one of the glories of science71 that the ,carnegie ,museum in ,pittsburg and the ,field ,columbian in ,chicago and the ,museums of ,yale and ,harvard and ,princeton1 besides many others both here and in ,europe have been largely built up since he wrote those words4 ,one thing is certain--as long as science lasts1 and men love to study the animals of the present and of the past1 ,cope's name and work will be remembered and revered4 ,i am glad to be able to show a good photograph of this lamented naturalist 7,fig4 #ae74 ,peace be to his ashes6 ,,chapter ,x ,,in ,,the ,,red ,,beds ,,of ,,texas ,,for ,,the ,,royal ,,museum ,,of ,,munich1 #aija ,warned by my experiences in the red beds of ,texas without a team of my own1 when ,i made a contract to conduct an expedition there under the direction of ,dr4 von ,zittel of the ,paleontological ,museum of ,munich1 ,i resolved to ship my own horses and outfit to the field4 ,i gave them into the charge of my son ,george1 who was rapidly becoming a most valuable assistant1 and saw him put them aboard a freight car and get in himself4 ,the next time ,i saw him was at ,rush ,springs in the ,indian ,territory1 on top of a freight car1 skilled in all the lore of a brakeman4 ,we reached the old camp at ,willow ,springs on the thirtieth of ,june1 #aija4 ,the heat had already set in1 promising the hottest season that ,i had ever experienced in the valley of the ,big ,wichita4 ,it grew more and more intense as the months passed1 the mercury often rising to #aac in the shade4 ,all the water dried up in both the natural and the artificial tanks1 and the short buffalo grass in the pastures curled up and blew away4 ,we were camped in ,wagoner's great pasture1 twenty-five miles wide by fifty long1 and ,i saw cattle die of thirst and starvation4 ,some had become so hungry that they had eaten the prickly pear1 spines and all1 and their mouths were full of putrefying sores where the spines had worked out4 ,the ground was hot1 and the air like the breath of a furnace2 and we had to haul all the water we used in camp from six to twenty miles4 ,to add to our troubles1 one of our horses1 ,baby1 almost cut off her foot in a wire fence while striking at the flies1 which1 during the day1 never ceased to torture man and beast4 ,even at night the horned cattle were not free from them1 for they clustered around the base of the horns1 fifteen or twenty deep1 like hives of swarming bees1 for rest4 ,the country was indeed a desert and deserted4 ,all the people who had settled this valley on ,coffee ,creek or other streams1 had gone never to return2 the cowman had bought up all the homesteads4 ,the schoolhouse in which ,i had so often attended worship had been moved from its foundations1 and the houses that had once echoed to the merry cries of children1 stood empty and desolate4 ,how can ,i describe the hot winds1 carrying on their wings clouds of dust1 which were so common that year and the next8 ,i once went to ,godwin ,creek1 south of ,seymour1 passing on the way a hundred-acre field of corn4 ,it belonged to an old man1 who had cultivated it until it was perfectly clean1 and the long rows of living green were beautiful to see4 ,when ,i passed it again on my way back1 a hot wind was blowing1 so hot that ,i had to shield my face and eyes to keep them from burning4 ,the beautiful field1 upon which the old man had looked with so many hopes of a rich harvest1 had been scorched and seared as if by a blast of fire4 ,so the weeks lengthened into months1 and the merciless sky still refused us rain4 ,at our camp on ,coffee ,creek the heat was so terrible that we could not keep eggs1 butter1 or milk1 or many other edibles necessary to comfort and health4 ,the result was that my stomach soon got out of order1 and a severe attack of biliousness set in1 attended by an incessant longing for a drink of cold1 pure water4 ,i thought by day and dreamed by night of the well on my farm at home1 with the clear water dripping from the bucket2 for our only drink1 except coffee1 was the warm1 foul-tasting water which had been brought in a barrel from twenty miles away and had soon become stale4 ,even that was always giving out at inconvenient times4 ,whenever we came to a new fossil locality1 and the hope was strong within me that now we would make a rich find1 ,george was sure to say1 8,papa1 we're out of water10 and we had to make the long journey through the awful heat over the dust-laden roads to the well at ,seymour1 twenty miles away4 ,when we reached it at last1 how we buried our faces in the bucket and the cool water6 ,illustration ,,palaeontolgische ,,sammlung ,,des ,,staates ,alte ,akademie4 ,mnchen1 den #bc ,december #aij ,charles ,sternberg ,esquire4 ,lawrence ,city ,ka ,my dear ,sir1 ,before receiving your last letter of the #fth ,decemb4 ,i had sent to your address a cheque of #bjj as ,salary for the last month of your collecting in ,texas4 ,i take notice of your freight expenses 7#c #df;c7 and shall sent this little sum by an other occasion4 ,the #e boxes with your great collection as well as the express box with the little skulls have been safely arrived4 ,i have looked over the results of your researches and think that the collection of this year is better than any other made before in ,texas4 ,with few exceptions we have nearly all the genera created by ,prof ,cope and several of these in much better condition4 ,beside theire is certainly a good number of very interesting and new material which will give us bussiness for several years4 ,i am very glad that ,i can give you such a satisfactory report about your hard work in the interest of our museum and ,i hope to remain further in friendly relations with yourself4 ,with the best wishes for the coming year and the kindest regards faithfully yours ,dr4 ,zittel ,but ,i will not dwell on this side of the picture1 because there is another side4 ,we were finding in wonderful abundance the material which we had come to secure1 and the hardships were forgotten in the joy of success4 ,in spite of the many obstacles with which we had to contend1 we secured the collection described in that great letter from ,dr4 von ,zittel which ,i publish here in facsimile and which ,i prize more than any letter ,i ever received4 ,before ,i accepted von ,zittel's offer that ,i should conduct an expedition for him in the brakes of the ,big ,wichita1 ,i wrote to him1 telling him how my work for science had had1 from a material standpoint1 no great returns4 ,my life1 ,i said1 had been a constant struggle to secure sufficient funds to carry on the work1 and the men who had bought my material had for the most part felt that they were doing good service to their museums by securing it at the lowest possible price1 without taking into consideration that even a fossil hunter has to live4 ,it was with pleasure indeed that ,i received the answer of this great ,german1 whose works on paleontology are used as text-books in our universities4 ,dr4 von ,zittel wrote3 8,i am sorry that from your letter you do not consider yourself in a position to work for the ,munich ,museum in ,texas this spring4 ,i can readily understand that after your long activity in scientific fields without material results you are somewhat discouraged and embittered1 and feel that your services in this direction have not been sufficiently appreciated4 ,for my part1 ,i have done my best to give you credit for the scientific side of your work1 and your collections from ,kansas and ,texas in the ,munich ,museum will always be an everlasting memorial to the name of ,charles ,sternberg40 ,such a letter1 from a man like von ,zittel1 put new life and courage into my veins1 as a similar letter from ,professor ,cope had once before1 and made me feel that a little suffering more or less mattered nothing when measured with such enduring results4 ,cope is dead and von ,zittel is dead1 so far as such men can die1 but ,i have preserved their letters as heirlooms for my children's children2 for they testify that 8no matter what the common herd may say about me10 ,i have accomplished the object which ,i set before myself as a boy1 and have done my humble part toward building up the great science of paleontology4 ,i shall perish1 but my fossils will last as long as the museums that have secured them4 ,but to return to the ,texas ,permian4 ,i will follow my notebook for a while1 as that1 perhaps1 is the best way to give my readers an idea of our life there4 ,on the eleventh of ,july #a was in ,seymour4 ,i write3 8,a big dust storm struck the town1 and this evening a rain is falling4 ,this is indeed a great relief to me1 as it will make the air cooler and give me water in the brakes1 so that ,i can visit localities ,i could not before4 ,my wagon1 brought from ,kansas1 is a narrow-gauge one1 and all the roads in ,texas are cut by broad-gauge wagons4 ,this forces my team to pull with one set of wheels in the rut and the other outside4 ,consequently the labor is wearing them out1 in connection with the awful heat4 ,i am1 therefore1 having new axles made1 a long and tedious work1 and ,i am resting out of the heat4 ,jesse ,s4 ,williamson has told me to occupy the building owned by himself and ,will ,minnich4 ,it is a little cabin within a mile of the bone bed near ,willow ,springs4 ,it has a tank of water for the horses1 and is but a mile away from the schoolhouse1 where a well has been dug4 ,a few bucketsful a day1 enough for camp use1 trickles into it40 ,this cabin proved to be a great accommodation1 especially as the owners had a stack of sorghum1 which was placed at my disposal and saved me the trouble of hauling out hay4 ,as one of my spindles was broken1 ,i had to send to ,lawrence for another1 and it was not until the sixteenth that ,i got my wagon from the shop4 ,i then drove out to my old camp on ,grey ,creek in ,mr4 ,craddock's pasture4 ,here1 too1 was the center of a field from which ,i had reaped a rich harvest for ,professor ,cope4 ,on the seventeenth1 my notebook states that ,i was in the field all day and found fragments of skeletons and skulls1 all broken to pieces and mixed up together4 ,i could not find the horizon from which these specimens came4 ,they were all piled together with concretions in a long1 narrow wash1 while above there was a level denuded tract covered with concretions4 ,the only way in which ,i can account for the mixture of fragmentary specimens is that a bone bed lay above the level stretch1 and in the disintegration of the deposit1 the fragments were carried by floods into the narrow gulch1 until not a sign of the original bed was left to mark its site4 ,i had sent a large collection from this same locality to ,professor ,cope1 and he had been much interested1 but had also been extremely tantalized by the fact that there were great numbers of fragmentary skulls1 and that although the fragments looked freshly broken1 none of the pieces could be united to form a perfect skull4 ,i now found the same trouble again4 ,possibly some of the missing fragments of the skulls in ,cope's collection1 now in the ,american ,museum1 may be in the lot sent to ,munich1 and vice versa4 ,on the nineteenth1 ,i found the nearly perfect skull of a new species1 and on the twentieth1 another very fine skull near the locality from which ,i had secured the many fragments a day or two before4 ,it was a skull of the great salamander1 ,eryops megacephalus ,cope4 ,there were six pairs of large teeth in the roof of the mouth1 and a single row of various sizes in the mandibles4 ,some of the points had been broken off and were lost4 ,the skull is over twenty inches long4 ,all the bones are beautifully sculptured on the external surface4 ,a few years before ,i had found a nearly complete skeleton of this creature1 some twelve feet in length1 lying at right angles to the ,chisholm ,trail4 ,it was preserved in hard concretions1 and had weathered out on the slope of a hill4 ,the feet of countless cattle1 just starting out on their weary journey for ,kansas and the ,north1 had worn away the solid siliceous envelope to the bones4 ,how the salamander tribe has degenerated since the days of these powerful creatures6 ,supplied with both gills and lungs1 they dominated land and water1 and increasing and multiplying in the tropical atmosphere1 filled the swamps and bayous of this region4 ,to-day we pull from some well or spring a weak creature called a mud puppy1 and it is hard to realize that its ancestors1 twelve million years ago1 were strong and mighty1 the monarchs of creation4 ,to return to ,mr4 ,craddock's pasture2 on ,july twentieth my notes read3 8,i am suffering from the heat1 my tongue badly coated4 ,however1 ,i have got some splendid material4 ,if ,i succumb to the awful heat and die1 my discoveries will have done much toward enriching the collection at ,munich40 ,on ,july twenty-first1 ,i continue3 8,it is fearfully hot to-day1 and ,i cannot work the beds without great suffering4 ,i found a little skull40 ,the hot weather continued1 and ,i went out to the cabin on ,coffee ,creek4 ,pet1 our four-year-old1 got away1 and when ,george took her from a herd of horses1 he found a big hole in her shoulder4 8,both horses are failing fast10 my notes read4 8,have to send ,george in for feed4 ,it is hard on the team to have to haul a load this weather through dust knee-deep1 with no water fit to drink40 ,on the twenty-sixth1 ,i was left alone1 and went a mile north to the bone bed and began to dig into the face of a hard greenish layer of clay-stone1 near a place where ,i had found some fragments in former years4 ,i was delighted to find a pocket with two good skulls in situ1 and the next day ,george returned with his load1 and ,i had some fresh water1 which soon1 however1 grew lukewarm4 ,we found two more skulls in the pocket referred to1 one of which was the ,labidosaurus hamatus ,cope1 one of the earliest of reptiles4 ,another was that of a new genus and species which ,i found later1 when we went back to ,grey ,creek to get a camp ready to receive ,dr4 ,broili4 ,he was to come directly from ,munich to my camp in the red beds4 ,on the first of ,august1 as we were out of provisions1 we went into town4 ,i rented a large room over a store building1 and made tables and unpacked specimens for ,dr4 ,broili's inspection4 ,while ,i was working there1 a storm of grasshoppers struck the building1 beating against it like hailstones2 and the next morning the ground was covered with them4 ,on the fifth1 we drove out to our old camp on ,grey ,creek1 and pitched two tents with the fly stretched between4 ,the walls were elevated1 and we were able to make a shade against the rays of the relentless sun4 ,i went a couple of miles north1 over the table mountain above camp1 and found two extremely beautiful skulls of the long-horned amphibian1#b ,diplocaulus magnicornis ,cope1 a strange animal of which ,i have already spoken4 ,i found also a specimen of the gar-pike1 that ancient fish which has left its enameled scales in the rocks of many formations1 whose descendants are still living in our rivers4 ,footnote #b3 ,see ,fig4 #cd4 ,on the eighth of ,august1 in spite of the debilitating heat1 ,i started on a long trip to the head of ,brushy ,creek1 on horseback4 ,i climbed ,table ,mountain1 which was1 perhaps1 three hundred feet above the camp1 and struck west along the divide between the two creeks4 ,i frequently left the horse tied to a fence1 while ,i plunged down into the gorges on either side4 ,at last1 about three miles northwest of camp1 at the bend of a branch of ,brushy ,creek1 ,i noticed a denuded tract of the kind of bed ,i have already described1 to which an abundance of bog iron lent a metallic luster2 the very place to look for fossils4 ,the first thing ,i found was the perfect skull1 six inches long1 of a batrachian 7,diplocaulus copei ,broili72 then1 lying on the surface1 another beautiful skull 7,varanosaurus acutirostris ,broili71 with many of the bones of the skeleton1 from which the hard red matrix had been washed off clean4 ,the upper and lower jaws were locked together1 and the long row of glistening teeth shone in the fierce light4 ,the eyes were set far back1 and the nose openings were near the front4 ,it was so different from anything ,i had ever seen before that ,i was sure it must be new4 ,dr4 ,broili1 in describing it1 speaks of it as the most perfect specimen ever found in these beds4 ,nearly all the other skulls ,i had secured are compressed vertically1 while this was compressed laterally4 ,i found in this bed hundreds of fragments of rock filled with the glittering scales of fishes1 as brilliant now as in the days when they covered the bodies of these old fish4 ,here1 also1 ,i discovered a huge specimen of the long-horned species 7,diplocaulus magnicornis871 and others much smaller1 which proved to be the new ,diplocaulus copei4 8,this10 my notes say1 8promises to be one of the finest localities ,i have found1 and pays for the days of search under trying conditions40 ,when ,i reached camp1 ,i found that ,george also had had a red-letter day1 and had found a bone bed of minute animals on some brakes of ,grey ,creek under the roots of the grass in a washout4 ,he brought in a skull1 the smallest ,i had ever collected1 with a great many broken bones and teeth4 ,one specimen1 which ,dr4 ,broili named in my honor ,cardicephalus sternbergi1 was not over half an inch long4 ,i secured here six skulls of the new ,diplocaulus copei1 also4 ,on ,monday1 the twelfth of ,august1 ,dr4 ,broili reached ,seymour1 and ,george and ,i met him at the station4 ,a tall1 strong1 fine-looking ,german1 with a full beard1 he impressed me very favorably4 ,the great difficulty was that1 owing to my deaf ear1 it was very hard for me to understand his broken ,english1 and unfortunately ,i could not speak a word of ,german4 ,i judged that he had learned his ,english from an ,englishman and not from an ,american1 as he used a peculiar brogue with which ,i was not familiar4 ,george learned to understand him better1 and they became the best of friends4 ,we went back to camp1 where we had the pleasure of ,dr4 ,broili's company for two weeks1 during which ,i formed a friendship which ,i have always deeply appreciated4 ,he was delighted with my work and the material we had secured1 but1 as he says in the introduction to his great work describing my material1 he could not stand the heat4 ,he describes part of my material in his splendid work on the ,permian ,stegocephala and reptiles1 published in ,stuttgart1 with one hundred and twenty pages of text and thirteen fine plates4 ,he says on p4 #a3 8,the excellent results of the expedition of ,mr4 ,sternberg in the spring of #aija to ,texas1 which brought many very valuable specimens of ,eryops1 ,dimetredon1 and ,labidosaurus to the ,paleontological ,museum's collection1 caused the conservator of the ,royal ,paleontological ,collection1 ,councillor von ,zittel1 to send out in the year of #aija a second expedition to the ,permian beds of the same territory1 he being again successful in securing ,mr4 ,charles ,sternberg1 the excellent collector from ,lawrence1 ,kansas4 ,already in ,june of the same year he was in the midst of his sphere of activity in the ,wichita ,permian beds1 near the small town of ,seymour1 ,baylor ,county1 located on a branch of the ,fort ,worth and ,denver ,railroad4 ,on my arrival in the camp1 through the assistance of the ,royal ,bavarian ,academy of ,science1 it was made possible for me to take part in the collection from the beginning to the end of ,august4 ,i found already a very good collection of very rich materials1 which1 besides parts of ,dimetredon1 ,labidosaurus1 ,pariotichus1 and other ,theromorphs1 included an excellent collection of different examples of ,diplocaulus1 of which some still possessed the greater part of the vertebr4 ,during my stay in that territory1 our work principally consisted in making collections from our camp4 ,we were compelled1 on account of scarcity of water from the great heat1 to keep near ,seymour40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cf4--;,,dr4 ,,karl ,,von ,,zittel4 ,born ,september #be1 #ahci4 ,died ,january #e1 #aijd4 7,after ,pampeckj47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cg4--,,shell ,,of ,toxochelys bauri8 ,discovered by ,charles ,sternberg in ,gove ,co41 ,kansas4 7,after ,weiland47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ch4--,,niobrara ,,group1 ,,cretaceous ,,chalk ,,with ,,cap ,,rock ,,of ,,loup ,,fork ,,tertiary1 ,,known ,,as ,,castle ,,rock1 ,,gove ,,co41 ,,kansas4 7,photo1 by ,mc,clung47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ci4--;,,chalk ,,of ,,kansas1 ,,known ,,as ,,the ,,coffee ,,mill4 ,,hell ,,creek4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dj4--;,,bones ,,of ,platecarpus coryphus4 ,as found by ,charles ,sternberg4 ,sent for mounting to ,tbingen ,university4 ,i am a patriot1 and it would have pleased me to see all these splendid examples of ancient life enrich our home museums2 but ,germany is my fatherland1 at least it was the fatherland of my fathers1 and ,i am glad to have been able to build up there the best collection of ,kansas and ,texas forms in ,europe4 ,one of the greatest prizes of the ,munich ,collection is a skeleton of ,labidosaurus1 now mounted there and collected by myself4 ,labidosaurus is important because it belongs to a very ancient and primitive group of reptiles1 which1 according to ,prof4 ,h4 ,f4 ,osborn and other authorities1 were the ancestors of all the later forms of reptiles4 ,after ,dr4 ,broili left to return to ,munich1 ,i continued my work1 camping on east ,coffee ,creek4 ,here again our search was rewarded4 ,i found another bone bed of very small lizards1 some of them1 ,i think1 not over six inches long4 ,the skulls ranged in size from less than half an inch to an inch in length4 ,cope has given them the name ,lysorophus tricarinatus4 ,drs4 ,broili and ,case in their valuable papers have shown that this ,lysorophus is one of the most interesting genera of all this wonderful fauna1 since in the structure of the skull it is a veritable 8missing link0 between the batrachia and reptilia4 ,the deposit in which ,i found the ,lysorophus was large1 containing thousands of bones and many fine skulls4 ,i am convinced that these creatures must have hibernated1 as many of them were coiled in a circle in an envelope of hardened mud1 and appear to have lain down never to wake again1 each tiny reptile and its nest having been preserved through all the ages since4 ,the flesh1 of course1 decayed soon after death1 but by the process of petrification the bones have been replaced by stone4 ,now ,i have always wanted to explain to a popular audience what this process of petrification really is4 ,the word petrification should be dropped from our vocabulary1 because it signifies an impossibility4 ,i remember1 as a boy1 translating from the ,latin a sentence like this--8,his bones became stone10 that is1 turned to stone1 and one often hears the expression petrified wood as meaning wood which has turned to stone2 as if there were a process in nature by which one substance could be turned into another1 as the philosopher's stone would have changed iron to gold4 ,as a matter of fact1 the process denoted by the word petrification is a process of replacement1 not of transmutation4 ,after the death of these ancient animals and the decay of their flesh1 the water that passed through the bones carried from the cells of which they were made up the organic contents which decay1 and left in their place deposits of the silica or lime which it held in solution4 ,the same process continued when the lagoon bed was elevated above the water as solid rock4 ,the rain-water1 seeping down through rock and fossil alike1 left in the bone cells the mineral matter it was carrying1 until they were filled with it4 ,then1 in process of time1 the cell walls are broken down and rebuilt with silica or lime1 and complete fossilization1 or petrifaction as it is called1 takes place1 as in the case of the fossil bones in the ,texas ,permian4 ,i found one specimen of the ladder-spined reptile in which the bones had been entirely replaced by iron ore1 and others made up of silica4 ,how long does it take for the mineral matter to replace entirely the original bones8 ,ages upon ages4 ,i found on the plains of ,kansas a quarry of elephant bones1 from which ,i took over two hundred teeth of the ,columbian mammoth1 some of the larger ones weighing fourteen pounds each4 ,the broken bones were scattered by the ton through the matrix4 ,i had them analyzed by ,dr4 ,bailey1 the head of the chemical department of ,kansas ,state ,university1 and he found only ten per cent4 of silicified matter in them2 that is1 they were only ten per cent4 less rich in phosphate of lime than ,armour's ground bone meal4 ,this great elephant lived about the time of the ,ohio mastodon1 whose bones have been found in such a position as to indicate that they were buried when ,niagara ,falls were six miles below their present site4 ,so if we knew how long it has taken the river to dig six miles of its big ditch1 we could tell how long it has taken to impregnate the bones of the mammoths in central ,kansas with ten per cent4 of silica4 ,how foolish1 then1 to speak of completely petrified men1 when man had probably not made his appearance in ,america at the time of the mammoths4 ,the rocks of the ,texas ,permian1 as ,i have already mentioned1 are of red clay filled with concretions of every conceivable form4 ,i remember once rounding a butte and seeing before me hundreds of cocoanuts1 some whole and others with the brownish shells broken1 showing the white meat within4 ,absent-mindedly1 ,i sprang from my horse to feast upon them1 to find that they were concretions which had so closely imitated cocoanuts in shape and color that even ,i1 an experienced collector1 had been momentarily deceived4 ,i knew1 too1 of a man who exhibited a collection of large concretions as fossil ,hubbard squashes1 and ,i heard no one doubting that they were all that their labels claimed4 ,there are two distinct formations in the ,permian of this part of ,texas which give character to the surface of the country4 ,they are as different as if separated by hundreds of miles4 ,i visited one locality on ,pony ,creek1 where the red beds lay on top of the gray beds conformably4 ,looking to the west1 a vast panorama1 desolate and forlorn1 of crumbling and denuded bluffs1 narrow valleys1 and beetling crags1 spread out before me1 with the usual red color dominant everywhere1 its monotony relieved only here and there by the green of some stunted mesquite or patch of grass4 ,to the east stretched the narrow valley of ,pony ,creek1 whose topography is the same as that which is so familiar to the residents of eastern ,kansas--a ledge of gray sandstone forming a narrow escarpment on either side and following the trend of the hills around the ravines1 with grass coming down in gentle swells to meet it or rising to it from the bottom lands below4 ,the greatest thickness of this sandstone1 as ,i observed it1 was at the head of a narrow gulch near my camp in the creek bottom1 eight miles north of ,seymour4 ,i made a section there and sent samples of the rock to ,munich4 ,i observed this rock under peculiar circumstances1 and found that it solved an interesting problem--that of the water supply of the red beds4 ,i discovered why the water that falls where these beds only are exposed runs off soon after a shower1 except when caught in natural or artificial tanks1 so that there are no wells or springs in the red beds1 while in the gray beds there are always springs and streams of running water4 ,in the ,september of my #aija expedition1 the heaviest rain since ,may fell in torrents for an hour and a half2 water lay everywhere on the surface of the ground4 ,but soon after the rain stopped1 it had all disappeared4 ,my son had discovered across the creek a locality which was rich in fossil invertebrates1 consisting chiefly of straight and coiled nautilus-like shells2 and shortly after the downpour ,i went over to set to work collecting them1 as ,dr4 ,broili had told me that the ,munich ,museum was anxious to secure such a collection4 ,i had not been long at work before ,george shouted to me that if ,i did not want to swim ,i would better cross the creek again at once4 ,i followed his advice so hastily that ,i left my tools behind4 ,instantly1 a raging1 boiling flood of water covered the rocks in the bed of the creek1 over which ,i had just crossed dry-shod1 and rapidly rose to a height of eight feet1 threatening to submerge my camp4 ,looking for a good place to work on my side of the creek1 the west1 ,i found the gulch which ,i have referred to above4 ,there was a level floor1 formed by the first stratum of the gray beds1 extending about five hundred yards to a ledge of red sandstone1 eight feet thick4 ,the floor was covered with debris washed from the red beds4 ,to my astonishment1 although the surface was dry1 a flood of water was rushing out from under the upper deposits and tumbling in a miniature waterfall over the gray ledge1 which was nearly five feet thick1 into the ravine below4 ,the rock ,i found to be composed of four layers of sandstone4 ,the upper layer1 eight inches thick1 is composed of fine-grained sand1 which seems to have been ground to an impalpable powder by the beating of the waves4 ,it is very compact and heavy1 and upon exposure1 breaks into rectangular blocks1 so perfect in shape that they can be used for building purposes without being touched by hammer or chisel4 ,the second layer breaks into large blocks of many tons' weight4 ,it is coarser grained than ,no4 #a1 and is about twenty inches thick4 ,it contains a few casts of invertebrate fossils4 ,no4 #c is twelve inches thick1 and is of the same general character as the other layers4 ,it is literally packed with casts of straight and coiled shells related to our living nautilus4 ,they are mingled in great confusion4 ,i believe some of the coiled shells are a foot in diameter4 ,this stratum is not so compact as the others1 and seems to contain more lime4 ,no4 #d is a very solid gray sandstone1 eight inches thick1 its upper surface crossed at various angles by elevated ridges of harder material4 ,from these observations1 ,i am led to the conclusion that the pervious nature of the red beds1 which in the valley of the ,wichita are about three hundred feet thick1 allows the water to sink rapidly down through them until it reaches the impenetrable gray sandstone2 from which it runs off at whatever angle the rocks may be tilted4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,conclusion ,i may begin this closing chapter by mentioning some other specimens which ,i have discovered1 or which my sons have1 for1 thank ,god1 ,i have raised up a race of fossil hunters4 ,my second son1 ,charles ,m4 ,sternberg1 has in his person recently fulfilled a dream of forty years of my own1 by discovering the most complete skeleton known of ,professor ,marsh's great toothed-bird1 ,hesperornis regalis1 the ,royal ,bird of the ,west4 ,unfortunately the skull is missing1 otherwise the nearly complete skeleton is present1 and strange to say in normal position1 showing that ,dr4 ,f4 ,a4 ,lucas is right in his restoration of the ,martin specimen as mounted in the ,national ,museum1 i4 e41 as a loon1 a diver instead of a wader1 as had been supposed4 ,our specimen1 however1 shows a much longer neck than he had imagined4 ,strange indeed was this long-necked diver with its tarsus at right angles with the body and its powerful web-footed feet4 ,the body was narrow1 a little over four inches wide1 with a backbone like the keel of a boat4 ,the head was ten inches long and armed with sharp teeth4 ,by keeping the body horizontal it could explore a column of water six feet high and wide1 for any unfortunate fish within the zone of its activity4 ,i would name this great loon the ,snake-,bird of the ,niobrara ,group4 ,this specimen ,i longed to find for so many years1 but was glad to give the credit to my son4 ,it is to be mounted in the ,american ,museum1 and ,i picture it as it left my laboratories 7,fig4 #da74 ,a word also about that great flying machine of the ,cretaceous1 the flying lizard ,pteranodon4 ,the skeleton and a very fine skull1 which my son found on ,hackberry ,creek in #aijf1 is now mounted in the ,british ,museum1 where my warm friend ,dr4 ,a4 ,smith ,woodward assures me 8my specimens are greatly admired40 ,especially have ,i been fortunate in the ,kansas ,chalk where my son1 ,george ,fryer1 has charge as ,i write these lines of my twentieth expedition to those beds1 and where he has discovered1 and safely collected and shipped to my laboratory1 a great plate of the beautiful stemless ,crinoid ,uintacrinus socialis4 ,i sent one section to ,professor ,m4 ,boule1 of the ,national ,natural ,history ,museum of ,france1 at ,paris4 ,hundreds of these rare animals are represented in this slab 7,fig4 #db74 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #da4--,,skeleton ,,of ,hesperornis regalis1 ,,the ,,giant ,,toothed-,,bird ,,of ,,the ,,kansas ,,cretaceous4 ,discovered by ,charles ,m4 ,sternberg4 ,in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #db4--,,slab ,,of ,,fossil ,,crinoids1 ,unitacrinus socialis1 ,,containing #afj ,,calyces1 ,,covering ,,four ,,by ,,seven ,,feet4 ,before these pages go to press1 and a year after ,i began work on them1 ,i am pleased to be able to tell my readers of two noble specimens of the ,pleistocene ,age ,i have just secured from the plains of ,kansas1 that great treasure house of the animals of the past4 ,one is a majestic ,bison1 whose head towering above that of his fellows supported a pair of horn cores measuring six feet from tip to tip4 ,along the curve the distance is eight feet4 ,the length of the head is two feet1 the distance between the horns sixteen inches1 and from the center of the orbits1 one foot4 ,these splendid horn cores were uncovered through a fortunate chance4 ,it seems that the ,missouri ,pacific ,railway1 wishing to shorten the creek in the vicinity of ,hoxie1 ,sheridan ,county1 ,kansas1 cut a new right-of-way for it across a bend4 ,their excavation came within two feet of the bones buried below1 thirty-five feet from the surface of the earth2 a friendly freshet washed them out1 and they were discovered by ,mr4 ,frank ,lee and ,harley ,henderson1 of ,hoxie1 ,kansas1 ,june #ae1 #aijb4 ,i was so fortunate as to secure them in ,june1 #aijh4 ,i have filled them with white shellac1 and they are now in condition to be preserved always1 a specimen of the grand old bison of the ,pleistocene time4 ,now their burial places are three thousand feet nearer the stars than the day they were buried there1 as then the climate was semi-tropical and the land they roamed over near sea level4 ,the largest pair of horn cores of a similar bison are preserved in the ,cincinnati ,natural ,history ,museum4 ,i copy from one of their records3 8,the most conspicuous figure on ,plate ,,ix1 with immense horn cores1 is of the long extinct broad-fronted bison4 ,this specimen1 by far the finest of its kind in existence1 is the greatest prize in the ,cincinnati ,museum4 ,it was found in #ahfi on ,brush ,creek1 ,brown ,county1 ,ohio1 and through the efforts of ,dr4 ,o4 ,d4 ,norton it was acquired by the ,museum in #ahge40 ,it gives me great pleasure to show my readers a photograph of the ,kansas form that measures along the curve of the horn cores a foot and a half more than the famous ,ohio specimen4 7,fig4 #dc47 ,the great ,columbian ,elephant1 whose jaw ,i illustrate and have still in my possession1 represents one of the largest1 or the largest1 of its kind ever discovered4 ,it was found near the town of ,ness ,city1 in ,ness ,county1 ,kansas4 ,this giant lived at the same time the great ,bison existed4 ,the last molars have pushed out the worn premolars and the other two molars1 and occupy the entire jaw1 having a grinding surface of #e #i inches4 ,the lower parts of the teeth flare out like a fan1 and measure twenty inches along the top of the roots4 ,the greatest circumference of the jaws is #bf inches1 and the length #cb inches4 ,unfortunately1 the articulations are worn away1 likely by rolling in some river bed4 ,i secured this noble representative of ,american ,elephants in ,june1 #aijh 7,fig4 #dd74 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dc4--,,skull ,,and ,,horns ,,of ,,giant ,,bison ,,from ,,hoxie1 ,,kansas4 ,spread of horn cores six feet1 one inch2 length along curve1 eight feet4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dd4--;,,jaw ,,of ,,columbian ,,mammoth1 ,elephas columbi4 ,discovered in ,ness ,county1 ,kansas4 ,how rich are the strata that compose the earth's crust only a fossil hunter can fully realize4 ,take1 for instance1 western ,kansas1 where the soil beneath our feet is one vast cemetery4 ,i know of a ravine in ,logan ,county which cuts through four great formations4 ,the lower levels1 of reddish and blue chalk1 are filled with the remains of swimming lizards1 with the wonderful ,pteranodonts1 the most perfect flying machines ever known1 with the toothed bird ,hesperornis1 the royal bird of the ,west1 and the fish-bird ,ichthyornis1 with fish-like biconcave vertebr1 with fishes small and great 7one form over sixteen feet long71 and huge sea-tortoises4 ,above are the black shales of the ,fort ,pierre ,cretaceous1 thousands of feet of which are exposed in the bad lands of the upper ,missouri4 ,in this formation the dinosaurs reign supreme4 ,still higher are the mortar beds of the ,loup ,fork ,tertiary1 where the dominant type changes from reptiles to mammals4 ,here1 in western ,kansas1 are found great numbers of the short-limbed rhinoceros1 the large land-turtle1 ,testudo orthopygia1 several inferior tusked mastodons1 the saber-toothed tiger1 the three-toed horse1 and a deer only about eighteen inches high4 ,higher still1 where the grass roots shoot down to feed on the bones1 are the ,columbian mammoth1 the one-toed horse1 like our species of to-day1 a camel like our ,south ,american llama1 and a bison far larger than the present species4 ,the living bison has become almost extinct itself1 through the agency of man4 ,and in the layer of soil which covers all these formations1 an old arrowhead and the crumbling bones of a modern buffalo give an object lesson in the manner in which these relics of the earlier world have been preserved4 ,so races of animals1 as of men1 reach their highest state of development1 retrograde1 and give place to other races1 which1 living in the same regions1 obey the same laws of progress4 ,my readers will be pleased1 ,i am sure1 to know that just before these pages go to press ,i am permitted to tell the story of our last great hunt in ,converse ,county1 ,wyoming1 during ,july1 ,august1 and ,september1 #aijh1 for the largest skull of any known vertebrate1 the great three-horned dinosaur1 ,triceratops 7,fig4 #de74 ,only thirteen good specimens are known to ,american museums1 #g of which are in ,yale ,university ,museum1 and were collected1 ,i believe1 by ,j4 ,b4 ,hatcher4 ,from his field notes ,mr4 ,hatcher has made a map of this region with crosses to indicate the localities in which skulls have been found1 and #cj are so indicated1 but ,i soon learned that he noted broken and poor material1 as well as the more perfect4 ,with my three sons ,i entered the region with enthusiasm on the hunt for one of these skulls for the ,british ,museum of ,natural ,history4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #de4--,,three-,,horned ,,dinosaur1 ,triceratops sp4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight4 7,from painting in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #df4--;,,duck-,,billed ,,dinosaur1 ,trachodon mirabilis4 ,restoration by ,osborn and ,knight4 7,from painting in ,american ,museum of ,natural ,history47 ,i was not employed by that institution1 but the agreement was1 in case ,i secured a good specimen1 it was to go to them4 ,i must acknowledge ,i felt rather dubious when ,dr4 ,osborn of the ,american ,museum wrote me that he had had parties in these beds four years1 searching without success for a specimen4 ,for weeks and weeks we four examined every bit of exposed rock in vain4 ,the rock consisted of clay and sandstone1 the latter both massive and cross-bedded4 ,scattered through the great deposits of sandstone were peculiar-shaped masses of very hard flinty rock1 with the same physical characteristics but with superior hardness4 ,these added strange forms to the land sculptury4 ,almost every form the mind can imagine is found here1 from colonies of giant mushrooms1 to human faces so startling as to secure instant attention from the observer4 7,figs4 #ch and #ci47 ,a general view of the country from an elevated butte shows many cone-like mounds1 resembling table mountains or even haystacks in the hazy distance6 ,as the rocks1 and even the flint-like material1 readily disintegrate1 the creeks that run east into the ,cheyenne ,river soon radiate like the rays of a fan and deeply scar the narrow divides into rather deep canyons and narrow ravines4 ,perhaps a thousand feet of these fresh-water beds1 are laid down in a basin surrounded1 on all sides1 by the marine1 ,fort ,pierre1 and ,fox ,hills ,cretaceous4 ,buck ,creek on the south1 ,cheyenne ,river on north and east1 and a line through the mouth of ,lightning ,creek would roughly give the area of the ,laramie ,beds we explored4 ,they cover about a thousand square miles4 ,here in a country given up entirely to cattle and sheep ranges with but little of the country fenced1 meeting no one but now and then a lonely sheep herder1 my tribe of fossil hunters entered with bounding hope that we might find some of these famous dinosaurs4 ,here is the border land between the ,age of ,reptiles and of ,mammals1 where mammals first appear as small marsupials4 ,we secured several teeth of these early mammals4 ,day after day hoping against hope we struggled bravely on4 ,every night the boys gave answer to my anxious inquiry1 ,what have you found8 ,nothing4 ,often we ran out of palatable food1 as we were #fe miles from our base1 and did not always realize how our appetites would be sharpened by our miles of tramping over the rough hills and ravines4 ,one day in ,august1 ,levi and ,i started in our one-horse buggy to a camp we had made near the cedar hills on ,schneider ,creek4 ,as we passed a small exposure which ,i had not gone over1 ,i left him to drive and went over the beds of reddish shale1 the remnant of an old peat-bog4 ,i found the end of a horn core of ,triceratops1 and further excavation showed ,i had stumbled upon the burial place of one of these rare dinosaurs4 ,how thankful we were that after so much useless labor we had at last secured the great object of our hunt4 ,it will prove a beautiful skull when prepared and mounted under the direction of ,dr4 ,smith ,woodward1 ,keeper of ,geology in the ,british ,museum1 where so many of my discoveries have gone4 ,unfortunately the skull was somewhat broken up1 and one horn core is missing4 ,but one side of the face with the large horn core1 the back of the head1 and the great posterior crest1 seems entire1 as well as large pieces of the other side of the face1 and a fine specimen will be made of it4 ,the total length of the skull is #f feet #f inches4 ,the horn core over the eye is #b feet #d inches high2 while the circumference in the middle is #b feet #h inches1 and it is #ae inches in diameter at the base4 ,this was a fully matured animal4 ,as the bony ossicles of the head armature are co-ossified with the margin and remain as undulations more or less sharply defined1 ,i am inclined to believe that they are ornaments4 ,they might assist a little in defense but not offense4 ,in the mean time my oldest son1 ,george1 told me of a region he had explored a half-mile from our camp near the head of a ravine4 ,here we had found a natural cistern full of rain-water1 protected from the sun and cattle by a couple of great concretion-like masses of rock that covered it4 ,over the divide where ,i had found the great skull1 between ,boggy and the breaks of ,schneider near its mouth in ,cheyenne ,river1 ,george took ,levi and myself4 ,the evening before1 ,i took the skull in to ,lusk for shipment4 ,george pointed out a locality in which he had found a bone-bed1 where we later secured many teeth of reptiles and fishes1 scales of ganoid fishes1 bones of small dinosaurs and crocodiles and the beautifully sculptured shells of turtles1 ,trionyx1 etc4 ,as there was still a tract of a few hundred yards to be explored the two boys started to go over it1 while ,i went to the bone-bed4 ,they soon joined me with the information that they had found some bones sticking out of a high escarpment of sandstone4 ,george had found part of the specimen in one place and ,levi another part soon afterwards4 ,i requested ,george to carefully uncover the floor on which the bones lay4 ,while we were taking in our skull1 ,george and ,levi ran nearly out of provisions1 and the last day of our absence lived on boiled potatoes4 ,but in spite of this they had removed a mass of sandstone #ab feet wide1 #ae feet deep1 and #aj feet high4 ,shall ,i ever experience such joy as when ,i stood in the quarry for the first time1 and beheld lying in state the most complete skeleton of an extinct animal ,i have ever seen1 after forty years of experience as a collector6 ,the crowning specimen of my life work6 ,a great duck-billed dinosaur1 a relative of ,trachodon mirabilis1 lay on its back with front limbs stretched out as if imploring aid1 while the hind limbs in a convulsive effort were drawn up and folded against the walls of the abdomen4 ,the head lay under the right shoulder4 ,one theory might be that he had fallen on his back into a morass1 and either broken his neck or had been unable to withdraw his head from under his body1 and had choked to death or drowned4 ,if this was so the antiseptic character of the peat-bog had preserved the flesh until1 through decay1 the contents of the viscera had been replaced with sand4 ,it lay there with expanded ribs as in life1 wrapped in the impressions of the skin whose beautiful patterns of octagonal plates marked the fine sandstone above the bones4 ,george had cut away the rock1 leaving enough to give the impression that even the flesh was replaced by sandstone1 giving an exact picture of him1 as he breathed his last some five million of years ago4 ,a more probable explanation1 judging from the shape of the skin outline which covers the abdomen and is sunken into the body cavity at least a foot1 is that the great creature died in the water4 ,the gases forming in the body floated the carcass1 which was then carried by currents to the final burial place4 ,when the gases escaped1 the skin collapsed and occupied their place2 the carcass sank head first and feet upward1 the former dragging under the shoulder as the body came to rest on the mud of the bottom4 ,quite different indeed is this grand example of extinct life from the one restored and of which an ideal picture is given in this book 7,fig4 #df74 ,in the first place1 in the specimen we discovered the ribs are expanded1 the great chest cavity measuring #ah inches deep1 #bd inches long1 and #cj inches wide4 ,i have no doubt but that with lungs expanded to their full capacity1 he often swam across streams of water in the tropical jungle in which he lived and died4 ,further1 the front limbs are not mere arms1 that never touched the ground1 but were used in locomotion1 as there are toes with hoof-bones1 not so large as those of the hind feet but with the same pattern1 and a divergent thumb1 that had a round bone for its ungual4 ,consequently the animal could use the front feet as clumsy hands to hold down the limb of a tree from which he was cropping the tender foliage1 or banners of moss4 ,there were three powerful hoofs on each hind foot4 ,i do not question1 in the presence of this individual1 which is complete excepting the hind feet1 tail and left tibia and fibula1 but that the reptile often stood erect1 supporting his ponderous weight while feeding on the leaves of the forest4 ,but when it walked it used its front limbs as well4 ,a remarkable character are the countless rods of solid bone that lay along the backbone in the flesh1 and appear like ossified tendons similar to those in the leg of a turkey4 ,hundreds of ossified rods appeared1 row after row1 shaped like ,indian beads1 as thick as a lead pencil in the center and beveled off to a small round point4 ,it has occurred to me that these were for defense2 that when a great ,tyrannosaurus rex leaped on his back1 his powerful claws found no lodgment in the flesh on account of these bony rods that could not be penetrated4 ,thus our dinosaur would shake off his enemy4 99 99 99 99 99 ,how wonderful are the works of an ,almighty hand6 ,the life that now is1 how small a fraction of the life that has been6 ,miles of strata1 mountain high1 are but the stony sepulchers of the life of the past4 ,how rapidly has the field expanded which ,i entered as a pioneer some forty years ago6 ,in #ahfg ,i knew only five paleontologists--,agassiz1 ,lesquereux1 ,marsh1 ,cope1 and ,leidy1 with but few followers2 while to-day1 ,harvard1 ,princeton1 the ,american1 the ,carnegie1 the ,field1 and the ,national ,museums have all built up great collections of the animals and plants of the past1 and the number of publications on fossil animals has reached an enormous total4 ,i had the pleasure of attending the meeting of the ,american ,association for the ,advancement of ,science that met in the ,american ,museum in ,new ,york at the mid-winter session in #aijf4 ,professor ,osborn introduced me to his splendid ,head ,preparator1 ,mr4 ,hermann1 who has mounted the skeletons of the great ,brontosaurus1 ,allosaurus1 and so many other examples of extinct animals4 ,mr4 ,hermann was requested by the ,professor to devote all his spare time to showing me anything the exhibition and storerooms contained1 prepared or unprepared1 and to do all in his power to make my visit pleasant4 ,i certainly felt at home in that paradise of ancient animals1 many of which ,i had collected for science on my own explorations4 ,the magnificent halls in which they are exhibited are a wonderful tribute paid by the wealth and intelligence of the citizen of ,greater ,new ,york to science4 ,how admirable that ,mr4 ,jesup should use his private fortune as the means to take from the obscurity of the private dwelling of the late ,professor ,cope his great collection1 to which ,i was a contributor for eight years2 and he has placed it under ,professor ,henry ,f4 ,osborn1 who with the assistance of ,drs4 ,j4 ,l4 ,wortman1 ,w4 ,d4 ,matthew1 and others1 has brought order out of chaos and presented in intelligible shape not only that collection but many others from the fossil fields of the ,west4 ,it is a glorious thought to me that ,i have lived to see my wildest dreams come true1 that ,i have seen stately halls rise to be graced with many of the animals of the past that lived in countless thousands1 and that ,i have had the pleasure of securing some of the treasures1 in the shape of complete skeletons1 which now adorn those halls4 ,i stood on ,columbia ,heights that same year of #aijf1 and my heart swelled with pride when ,i looked down on that teeming metropolis and remembered that ,i too was a native of the ,empire ,state4 ,then ,i thought of my distant prairie state of ,kansas1 and gloried in the thought that the best years of my life had been spent in her ancient ocean and lake beds1 those old cemeteries of creation4 ,that past life1 at least a very small fraction of it1 ,i have sought to bring before my readers with pen pictures4 ,we have men among us who can put their conceptions of the ancient inhabitants of land and sea and air on canvas1 and among them are ,mr4 ,charles ,r4 ,knight1 of the ,american ,museum1 and ,mr4 ,sidney ,prentice1 of the ,carnegie ,museum4 ,mr4 ,prentice ,i knew as a boy1 and he has done me the honor to assure me that my words of counsel have done something at least toward assisting him to make the choice of following the work not only of an artist in a paleontological museum1 but in portraying with pencil and brush the ideal pictures of the early denizens of earth as in life4 ,his success is shown in his restorations of ,clidastes4 ,the results of ,mr4 ,knight's restorations of many of the extinct animals brighten my pages1 thanks to my friend ,professor ,henry ,f4 ,osborn1 so if ,i have failed in my pen pictures to take my readers into the misty past1 these brilliant restorations will certainly have the desired effect4 ,i cannot hope in this short space to have given more than a passing glance at the life of a fossil hunter4 ,it has been one of joy to me2 ,i should not like to have missed making the discoveries ,i have made1 and ,i would willingly undergo the same hardships to accomplish the same results4 ,and if my story does anything to interest people in fossils1 ,i shall feel that ,i have not written in vain4 ,when ,i requested ,professor ,william ,k4 ,gregory of ,columbia ,university to be the final reader of the manuscript of this book1 8,the ,life of a ,fossil ,hunter10 shall ,i ever forget his kind words8 8,i hope you will not feel that you are under any personal obligations whatever1 because this slight service is simply laid upon me by the necessities of the case1 i4 e41 by the fact that your whole life and work have placed all paleontologists under lasting obligations to you40 ,surely 8my cup runneth over2 ,i have a goodly heritage40 ,greater than their obligations to me1 are mine to the men of science who have described1 published1 but1 above all1 have prepared and exhibited the noble monuments of creative genius which ,i have been so fortunate as to discover and make known to the civilized world4 ,my own body will crumble in dust1 my soul return to ,god who gave it1 but the works of ,his hands1 those animals of other days1 will give joy and pleasure 8to generations yet unborn40 ,,finis ,,index ,adocus1 #gg ,amphibian1 ,long-horned1 #bec ,anderson1 ,a4 ,e41 #eh ,anseres1 ,fossil1 #afj ,aphelops megalodus1 #abc ,archlurus debilis1 #ahi ,aspidophyllum trilobatum1 #ai ,bad ,lands1 ,expedition to1 #fa-ih ,bailey1 ,dr41 #bfj ,baird1 ,letter from ,spencer ,f41 #bj ,basin1 ,john ,day1 #agc1 #aij ,batrachians1 ,fossil1 #afa ,beds1 ,laramie1 #bgb ,benton1 ,fort1 #gi1 #ig1 #ih ,betulites westii1 #cj ,bison1 ,giant ,fossil1 #bfg1 #bfh ,blackbird1 ,fossil1 #afa ,bourne1 ,w4 ,o41 #eh ,broili1 ,dr4 ,f41 #aab1 #bcd1 #bec1 #bed1 #bee1 #beh ,bromfield1 ,corporal1 #bbf1 #bbg ,brontosaurus1 #gh ,brouse1 ,a4 ,w41 #aja1 #aba1 #ada ,button1 ,mr4 ,lee1 #aeg1 #afh1 #afi ,camel1 ,fossil1 #ahg1 #ahh1 #bdb ,carboniferous1 ,upper1 #ace ,cardicephalus sternbergi1 #bee ,chalk1 ,expedition to ,kansas1 #cb-fj ,further ,work in ,kansas1 #ii-aai ,clidastes1 #ec1 #ace1 #bhj tortor1 #dd velox1 #ea1 #ec westi1 #ace ,college1 ,vassar1 #ec ,condon1 ,prof41 #afj1 #afa ,coots1 ,fossil1 #afa ,cope1 ,prof4 ,e4 ,d41 ,characteristics of1 #de1 #fi1 #gd1 #ge1 #hc1 #hd1 #hi1 #ij1 #ia1 #ib1 #ic1 #ie1 #bci1 #bdb1 #bdc ,expedition to ,bad ,lands with1 #fa-hi ,horned ,dinosaurs ,discovered by1 #hg ,letter from1 #cc1 #adb ,news of ,death of1 #bda ,speech ,given by1 #de 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,elephant1 ,columbian1 #bfh ,elephas primigenius1 #afj ,elotherium humerosum1 #ahf1 #ahg ,enhydrocyon stenocephalus1 #ahi ,eryops1 #bag1 #bbg1 #bef megacephalus1 #bea ,ficus1 #bc ,flamingo1 ,fossil1 #afa ,flora1 ,tertiary1 #agb ,fossils1 ,formation of1 #beh-bfj ,method of ,excavating1 #da1 #db1 #hh1 #aji1 #aaj1 #acj ,galyean1 ,frank1 #bcj1 #bca1 #bcb ,gar-pike1 #bec ,gorge1 ,picture1 #agc ,grebes1 ,fossil1 #afj ,gregory1 ,prof4 ,william ,k41 #bhj ,group1 ,fort ,pierre1 #gj1 #ace ,loup ,fork1 #abj ,niobrara1 #ej1 #abb ,grouse1 ,fossil1 #afa ,gulls1 ,fossil1 #afj ,hamman1 ,george1 #bjg1 #bji ,haploscapha grandis1 #ajh ,hatcher1 ,prof4 ,j4 ,b41 #gj1 #abc1 #acc1 #bgj ,hayden1 ,dr41 #gh1 #bje ,henry1 ,major1 #bbi ,hermann1 ,adam1 #eh1 #bgh ,heron1 ,fossil1 #afa ,hesperornis regalis1 #bfe1 #bff ,hill1 ,mr4 ,russell1 #aja1 #ada ,hill1 ,smoky1 #aji1 #aac ,holland1 ,dr4 ,w4 ,j41 #aae ,hollick1 ,dr4 ,a41 #ba1 #bb1 #bf ,horse1 ,three-toed1 #abf1 #ahh ,howard1 ,general1 #aia1 #aif1 #aig ,hoxie1 #bfg ,huff1 ,joe1 #agj1 #agg ,ichthyornis1 #bfi ,inoceramus1 #ace ,isaac1 ,j4 ,c41 #dg1 #dh1 #fa1 #fe1 #gd1 #gi1 #hj1 #ha1 #hc1 #hf1 #ic1 #id1 #ih ,island1 ,cow1 #gi1 #hg1 #hi1 #ia1 #ih ,long1 #acb1 #acd ,klamath1 ,fort1 #adb1 #adf ,knight1 ,charles ,r41 #bgi1 #bhj ,knowlton1 ,dr4 ,f4 ,h41 #bd ,labidosaurus1 #bef1 #beg hamatus1 #bec ,lacoe1 ,r4 ,d41 #bd ,lake1 ,fossil1 #aeh ,silver1 #adh1 #adi1 #aed ,leaves1 ,formation of ,fossil1 #bh1 #bi ,preparation of ,fossil1 #be1 #bf ,lesquereux1 ,dr41 #ai1 #ba1 #bb1 #bc1 #bd ,lizard1 ,fin-backed1 #bbg1 #bcd ,flying1 #bff ,loosely1 ,george1 #adh1 #aeb1 #aeh ,loup ,fork ,beds1 ,discovery of the1 #abj-adc ,lucas1 ,dr4 ,f4 ,a41 #bfe ,lynx1 ,canadian1 #baa ,lysorophus tricarinatus1 #beh ,macbride1 ,letter from ,prof4 ,t4 ,k41 #bg ,mammoth1 ,columbian1 #bfj ,teeth of ,columbian1 #acd ,skull of ,hairy1 #afj ,marsh1 ,prof4 ,o4 ,c41 #cb1 #gg1 #hg1 #abi1 #acc1 #agc ,marsupials1 #bgb ,martin1 ,h4 ,t41 #aab ,mascall1 ,mr41 #agh1 #agi1 #aij1 #aia1 #aic ,mastodon1 #abc1 #abe1 #abg ,jaws of1 #abd1 #abe ,matthew1 ,w4 ,d41 #bgi ,menette1 ,major ,j4 ,f41 #bbb ,merriam1 ,j4 ,c41 #afe ,miocene1 ,upper1 #aca ,monoclonius1 #hg crassus1 #hg sphenocerus1 #hg ,mosasaur1 #bg1 #ej1 #bjd ,mountains1 ,bear ,paw1 #ig ,judith ,river1 #he ,mudge1 ,prof4 ,b4 ,f41 #cb ,museum1 ,american1 #eg1 #gh1 #ahg1 #ahh1 #ahi1 #bcd1 #bdc1 #bej1 #bff1 #bgh1 #bgi ,british1 #ea1 #abe1 #bfg1 #bga1 #bgc ,cambridge1 #abc ,carnegie1 #ec1 #ed1 #ei1 #aae1 #aag1 #acc ,french1 #bff ,harvard1 #acg ,munich1 #aab1 #bcd1 #bdd1 #bfb ,national1 #acd1 #bfe ,princeton1 #acc ,roemer1 #ea ,senckenberg1 #aah ,yale1 #acc ,myledaphus bipartitus1 #gh ,mylodon1 #afa ,naosaurus1 #bbg1 #bcd1 #bce1 #bcf ,ness ,city1 #bfh ,newberry1 ,dr4 ,j4 ,s41 #ba ,oreodon1 #agg1 #ahi ,osborn1 ,prof4 ,h4 ,f41 #ea1 #eg1 #aab1 #aae1 #bdc1 #beg1 #bga1 #bgh1 #bgi1 #bhj ,osborn and ,lambe1 #gg1 #gh ,otoclus1 #bdb ,overton1 ,mr41 #abh1 #abi ,owl1 ,fossil1 ,great ,horned1 #afa ,paratylopus sternbergi1 #ahh ,pariotichus1 #beg ,peccary1 ,fossil1 #ahi ,permian1 ,expeditions in the ,texas1 #bcj-bdc ,phnicopterus copei1 #afa ,platecarpus1 #df1 #ea1 #eb1 #ec coryphus1 #ej1 #bjd ,pogonodon platycopis1 #bjb ,portheus molossus1 #ed1 #eg1 #eh ,collecting a ,specimen of1 #ee1 #ef1 #eg ,description of1 #ei1 #fj ,prentice1 ,sidney1 #ec1 #bgi ,protophyllum sternbergi1 #ah ,protostega gigas1 #aad1 #aae1 #aaf1 #aag ,pteranodon1 #bff ,pythonomorpha1 #dd ,quarry1 ,the ,sternberg1 #abe1 #abf1 #aca ,theory of ,presence of ,fossil ,animals in1 #aca1 #acb ,rattlesnake1 #baj ,raven1 ,fossil1 #afa ,rhinoceros1 #abc1 #acc1 #acd ,bones of1 #abg1 #abh1 #ach ,skull of1 #ahi ,river1 ,expedition to the ,john ,day1 #agj-bjd ,loup ,fork1 #abj ,soloman1 #cd1 #aba ,sprague1 #adi1 #aea ,rocks1 ,monument1 #cf1 #df1 #aaf ,russ1 ,will1 #abi ,salamander1 ,great1 #bag1 #bbg1 #bea ,fossil1 #bdj ,sandstone1 ,concretions of1 #ae ,sassafras dissectum1 #ai ,sassafras1 ,fossil ,leaves of1 #ah ,seymour1 #bdi ,shark1 ,cretaceous1 #aac ,shufeldt1 ,dr41 #afj1 #afa1 #afb ,sill1 ,fort1 #bbj1 #bbf ,sloth1 ,fossil1 #afa ,snow1 ,prof41 #ajd ,springer1 ,mr4 ,frank1 #aag1 #aah ,sternberg1 ,charles ,h41 ,adventure on a ,cliff1 #ahb-ahd ,adventure with a ,norther1 #bad ,buffalo ,hunting1 #f-i ,dangerous ,ride1 #if ,discovery of the ,texas ,permian1 #bcj-bcc ,experience with a ,cyclone1 #aba ,finding a ,fossil ,lake1 #aeh ,narrow ,escape from ,death1 #gb1 #gc ,setting a ,dislocation1 #adj1 #ada ,wild ,ride through ,bad ,lands1 #hi-ib ,writing 8,pliocene ,man10 #aei ,sternberg1 ,charles ,m41 #bfc ,sternberg1 ,george1 #aji-aaa1 #aah1 #aga1 #bdf1 #beb1 #bee1 #bef1 #bfb1 #bgc1 #bgd ,sternberg1 ,levi1 #bgb1 #bgd ,swan1 ,fossil1 #afj ,teleoceras fossiger1 #acd ,testudo orthopygia1 #abb1 #ach1 #bfi ,texas1 ,expedition to ,permian of1 #bje-bbi ,in the ,red ,beds of1 #bdd-bfd ,tiger1 ,saber-toothed1 #acg1 #bjb ,tortoise1 ,sea1 #aad ,trachodon1 #gg mirabilis1 #bge-bgg ,triceratops1 #bgj1 #bgc ,trilophodon campester1 #abc1 #abd ,trionyx1 #gg ,turtle1 ,land1 #aba ,sea1 #gg ,tylosaurus1 #ea ,ram-nosed1 #di ,tyrannosaurus rex1 #bgg ,uintacrinus1 #aah1 #aai socialis1 #aag1 #bff ,university1 ,california1 #afe ,harvard1 #bje ,iowa ,state1 #ej ,kansas ,state1 #ea1 #aaa1 #ace1 #aab ,oregon ,state1 #afj ,yale1 #gg ,valley1 ,sican1 #aea1 #aec ,varanosaurus acutirostris1 #bed ,village1 ,deserted ,indian1 #afc-afe ,von ,zittel1 ,dr4 ,carl1 #aac1 #bdd ,letter from1 #bdg1 #bdh ,walla ,walla1 ,fort1 #agj ,water1 ,alkali1 #da ,desert1 #baa-bac ,west1 ,judge ,e4 ,p41 #cj1 #ace ,whelan1 ,pat1 #bad ,whitaker1 ,governor1 #afj1 #afb ,wichita1 ,big1 #bji1 #bab1 #bbg1 #bcj ,williston1 ,dr4 ,s4 ,w41 #di1 #ej1 #ec1 #aaa1 #aab1 #aac1 #add ,woodward1 ,dr4 ,a4 ,smith1 #bff1 #bgc ,wortman1 ,dr4 ,j4 ,l41 #acd1 #aga1 #ahh1 #bgi ,wright1 ,mr41 #adj1 #bah ,zeuglodon1 #eg ,e4 ,,ray ,,lankester',s ,,extinct ,,animals ,by ,prof4 ,e4 ,,ray ,,lankester1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,keeper of the ,natural ,history ,department of the ,british ,museum1 ,author of 8,the ,advancement of ,science0 and 8,a ,treatise of ,zology40 ,with numerous illustrations4 #a4ge net2 by mail1 #a4ic4 ,an interesting book by a high authority1 based on a course of his successful1 popular lectures4 ,his narrative is well unified and developed1 and his style so simple that children as well as older folk may enjoy the work4 ,the illustrations are unusually effective4 ,n4 ,y4 ,sun3--,a charming book 444 showing that the greatest learning can be combined with the utmost simplicity of expression 444 a book of intense interest 444 the pictures are skilfully arranged to elucidate the text4 ,n4 ,y4 ,globe3--,a great deal more lively than it sounds4444 ,huxley himself could not have talked more instructively in such simple language4 ,n4 ,y4 ,tribune3--,opens up a world of new interest1 popular rather than technical4 ,e4 ,,ray ,,lankester',s ,,the ,,kingdom ,,of ,,man 8,nature's ,insurgent ,son02 8,the ,advance of ,science--#ahha-aijf02 8,nature's ,revenges--,the ,sleeping ,sickness40 #a4dj net2 by mail1 #a4eb4 ,a readable and pictorial survey1 brief but nevertheless accurate1 of the recent progress in the many branches of science--all leading towards the realization of man's kingdom--the conquest and control of nature4 ,h4 ,i4 ,brock in a three-column notice in the ,new ,york ,times ,saturday ,review4--,an impressive statement of human progress in knowledge and power by a conservative scientist who believes man soon able to eliminate disease 444 exceedingly interesting 444 it gathers into a very small compass and presents sharply to the layman an immensely impressive set of facts and ideas4 99 99 99 99 99 ,if the reader will send his name and address1 the publishers will send1 from time to time1 information regarding their new books4 ,,henry ,,holt ,,and ,,company #cd ,,west #cc;d ,,street ,,new ,,york ,,the ,,american ,,nature ,,series ,in the hope of doing something toward furnishing a series where the nature-lover can surely find a readable book of high authority1 the publishers of the ,american ,science ,series have begun the publication of the ,american ,nature ,series4 ,it is the intention that in its own way1 the new series shall stand on a par with its famous predecessor4 ,the primary object of the new series is to answer questions which the contemplation of ,nature is constantly arousing in the mind of the unscientific intelligent person4 ,but a collateral object will be to give some intelligent notion of the 8causes of things40 ,while the coperation of foreign scholars will not be declined1 the books will be under the guarantee of ,american experts1 and generally from the ,american point of view2 and where material crowds space1 preference will be given to ,american facts over others of not more than equal interest4 ,the series will be in six divisions3 ,i4 ,,natural ,,history ,this division will consist of two sections4 ,section ,a4 ,a large popular ,natural ,history in several volumes1 with the topics treated in due proportion1 by authors of unquestioned authority4 #hvo4 #g #aj in4 ,the books so far publisht in this section are3 ,,fishes1 by ,,david ,,starr ,,jordan1 ,president of the ,leland ,stanford ,junior ,university4 #f4jj net2 carriage extra4 ,,american ,,insects1 by ,,vernon ,l4 ,,kellogg1 ,professor in the ,leland ,stanford ,junior ,university4 #e4jj net2 carriage extra4 ,arranged for are3 ,,seedless ,,plants1 by ,,george ,t4 ,,moore1 ,head of ,department of ,botany1 ,marine ,biological ,laboratory1 assisted by other specialists4 ,,wild ,,mammals ,,of ,,north ,,america1 by ,c4 ,,hart ,,merriam1 ,chief of the ,united ,states ,biological ,survey4 ,,birds ,,of ,,the ,,world4 ,a popular account by ,,frank ,h4 ,,knowlton1 ,m4,s41 ,ph4,d41 ,member ,american ,ornithologists ,union1 ,president ,biological ,society of ,washington1 etc41 etc4 with ,chapter on ,anatomy of ,birds by ,,frederic ,a4 ,,lucas1 ,chief ,curator ,brooklyn ,museum of ,arts and ,sciences1 and edited by ,,robert ,,ridgway1 ,curator of ,birds1 ,u4 ,s4 ,national ,museum4 ,,reptiles ,,and ,,batrachians1 by ,,leonhard ,,steineger1 ,curator of ,reptiles1 ,u4 ,s4 ,national ,museum4 ,section ,b4 ,a ,shorter ,natural ,history1 mainly by the ,authors of ,section ,a1 preserving its popular character1 its proportional treatment1 and its authority so far as that can be preserved without its fullness4 ,size not yet determined4 ,,ii4 ,,classification ,,of ,,nature #a4 ,library ,series1 very full descriptions4 #hvo4 #g #aj in4 ,already publisht3 ,,north ,,american ,,trees1 by ,n4 ,l4 ,,britton1 ,director of the ,new ,york ,botanical ,garden4 #g4jj net2 carriage extra4 ,,ferns1 by ,,campbell ,e4 ,,waters1 of ,johns ,hopkins ,university #hvo1 pp4 xi #cfb4 #c4jj net2 by mail1 #c4cj4 #b4 ,pocket ,series1 ,identification ,books--8,how to ,know10 brief and in portable shape4 ,,iii4 ,,functions ,,of ,,nature ,these books will treat of the relation of facts to causes and effects--of heredity and the relations of organism to environment4 #hvo4 #f #h in4 ,already publisht3 ,,the ,,bird3 ,,its ,,form ,,and ,,function1 by ,c4 ,w4 ,,beebe1 ,curator of ,birds in the ,new ,york ,zoological ,park4 #hvo1 #dif pp4 #c4ej net2 by mail1 #c4hj4 ,arranged for3 ,,the ,,insect3 ,,its ,,form ,,and ,,function1 by ,,vernon ,l4 ,,kellogg1 ,professor in the ,leland ,stanford ,junior ,university4 ,,the ,,fish3 ,,its ,,form ,,and ,,function1 by ,h4 ,m4 ,,smith1 of the ,u4 ,s4 ,bureau of ,fisheries4 ,,iv4 ,,working ,,with ,,nature ,how to propagate1 develop1 care for and depict the plants and animals4 ,the volumes in this group cover such a range of subjects that it is impracticable to make them of uniform size4 ,already publisht3 ,,nature ,,and ,,health1 by ,,edward ,,curtis1 ,professor ,emeritus in the ,college of ,physicians and ,surgeons4 #abmo4 #a4ie net2 by mail1 #a4cg4 ,,the ,,freshwater ,,aquarium ,,and ,,its ,,inhabitants4 ,a ,guide for the ,amateur ,aquarist1 by ,,otto ,,eggeling and ,,frederick ,,ehrenberg4 ,large #abmo4 #i4jj net2 by mail1 #b4ai4 ,,the ,,life ,,of ,a ,,fossil ,,hunter1 by ,,charles ,h4 ,,sternberg4 ,arranged for3 ,,photographing ,,nature1 by ,e4 ,r4 ,,sanborn1 ,photographer of the ,new ,york ,zoological ,park4 ,,the ,,shellfish ,,industries1 by ,,james ,l4 ,,kellogg1 ,professor in ,williams ,college4 ,,chemistry ,,of ,,daily ,,life1 by ,,henry ,p4 ,,talbot1 ,professor of ,chemistry in the ,massachusetts ,institute of ,technology4 ,,domestic ,,animals1 by ,,william ,h4 ,,brewer1 ,professor ,emeritus in ,yale ,university4 ,,the ,,care ,,of ,,trees ,,in ,,lawn1 ,,street ,,and ,,park1 by ,b4 ,e4 ,,fernow1 ,professor of ,forestry1 ,university of ,toronto4 ,v4 ,,diversions ,,from ,,nature ,this division will include a wide range of writings not rigidly systematic or formal1 but written only by authorities of standing4 ,large #abmo4 #e #h in4 ,already publisht3 ,,insect ,,stories1 by ,,vernon ,l4 ,,kellogg4 #a4ej net2 by mail1 #a4fi ,,fish ,,stories1 by ,,charles ,f4 ,,holder and ,,david ,,starr ,,jordan4 ,arranged for3 ,,horse ,,talk1 by ,,william ,h4 ,,brewer4 ,,bird ,,notes1 by ,c4 ,w4 ,,beebe4 ,,vi4 ,,the ,,philosophy ,,of ,,nature ,a ,series of volumes by ,president ,,jordan1 of ,stanford ,university1 and ,professors ,,brooks of ,johns ,hopkins1 ,,lull of ,yale1 ,,thomson of ,aberdeen1 ,,pasibram of ,austria1 ,,zur ,,strassen of ,germany1 and others4 ,edited by ,professor ,,kellogg of ,leland ,stanford1 #abmo4 #e #g in4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,henry ,,holt ,,and ,,company1 ,,new ,,york ,january1 '#ji4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,transcriber',s ,,notes #a4 ,silently corrected typographical errors4 #b4 ,retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed4 #c4 ,enclosed italics font in underscores4