1899
  • Gifts received during the year: The Cope Collection (this seems to be a second part) and the Pampean Collection (this was purchase by Cope in France). Dr. Wortman resigned this year. Dr. W. D. Matthew was promoted to 1st Assistant Curator and Dr. O. P. Hay from Washington was hired as 2nd Assistant Curator. J. W. Gidley, a Princeton graduate was also hired. 3rd Expedition for Dinosaurs. At the close of the previous season, Mr. Kaisen was left in charge of Bone Cabin Quarry with instructions to keep trespassers off and strip as much as possible from the quarry. Due to the severe winter not much stripping was possible. Mr. Granger left the museum April 25th and went directly to Medicine Bow, headquarters of the expedition and joined Mr. Kaisen. Prof. Richard S. Lull, a volunteer, arrived May 20th. Mr. F. A. Schneider reached camp from the museum early in May and Mr. Thomson, cook, drove through from Long Pine with part of the museum's outfit, reaching camp May 17th. Dr. W. D. Matthew arrived from the museum late in June. Paul Miller was paid $1.00 a day for 3 weeks work. Dr. Matthew and Prof. Lull left before the end of the season, which was Oct. 1st. Active operations began in the Bone Cabin Quarry upon the arrival of Mr. Granger and continued until the last week of September. On June 20th a quarry containing an incomplete Brontosaurus skeleton was opened up near Nine Mile Crossing of Little Medicine Creek and about 5 miles SW of Bone Cabin Quarry. The locality was called Nine Mile Quarry. Dr. Matthew, Prof. Lull, Mr. Kaisen and Mr. Kaisen and Mr. Granger spent nearly 5 weeks working out this specimen. 2 freight cars were loaded and sent to the museum with Jurassic dinosaur specimens, a fossil crocodylian and a more or less complete Baptanodon taken from marine beds in the vicinity of Bone Cabin Quarry. Expedition to the Llano Estacado or Staked Plains of Texas. J. W. Gidley left New York June 8th going first to Archer City where he met Mr. W. F. Cummins. Here he visited the Permian beds of this area obtained a few fossils. He then traveled to Clarendon, near the eastern escarpment of the Staked Plains, where Mr. Alban Stewart of Kansas Univ. met him. Here they outfitted and Alfred Brown joined them as cook. On July 1st they left Clarendon and went to camp about 12 mi. to the north on Barton Creek, a tributary to the Salt Fork of the Red River. The Loup Fork is abundantly exposed and mostly barren in this area. Along the divide between Barton Creek and Salt Fork are exposures of clay and sand that seem to mark the course of an ancient river. These clays contain numerous fossil remains of mammals, but are mostly fragmentary. The party did find a few well preserved specimens, most important was a complete skull and most of the skeleton of a mastodon. From here went back to Clarendon then NW about 25 miles to the head of Mulberry Canyon, nearly due W. from Mr. Goodnight's ranch. From here the party went south with poor results. The party decided to explore the eastern escarpment of the plains from the mouth of Mulberry canyon to the mouth of Tule canyon and then explore the exposures along the south of Tule canyon. They took the "old Silverton trail" to the top of the plains and crossed to the head of Rock Creek, a 3 mile long tributary into Tule canyon. Although the entire length of the south side of the canyon was explored, it was at the head of Rock Creek that most of the fossil were found. The exposures are mostly true Sheridan beds and contain numerous remains of elephants, camels and horses (Equus). We returned to Clarendon, where the horses were left with Mr. Frank Kendall, a rancher. On the 18th of October Gidley left Texas for Mancos, CO. The fossil reptile bones proved to be of little value, but did obtain some knowledge of that country, which may be of some value in the future.
18981900