Como Bluff And The Bone Wars

Como Bluff is a long ridge extending east-west, located between the towns of Rock River and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The ridge is an anticline, formed as a result of compressional geological folding. Three geological formations, the Sundance, the Morrison, and the Cloverly Formations, containing fossil remains from the Late Jurassic of the Mesozoic Era are exposed. 19th century paleontologists discovered many well-preserved specimens of dinosaurs, as well as mammals, turtles, crocodilians, and fish from the Morrison Formation. Because of this, Como Bluff is considered to be one of the major sites for the early discovery of dinosaur remains. Among the species discovered is the only known specimen of Coelurus. Significant discoveries were made in 22 different areas scattered along the entire length of the ridge. In the popular mind, Wyoming may be associated with Indian Wars, Range Wars, and Sheep Wars. Yet the Territory and Como Bluff was at the center of another war which gripped the public's attention during the last third of the 19th Century, a war which involved Indians, F. V. Hayden, John Wesley Powell, Yale University's Peabody Museum, the Philadelphia Acadamy of Natural Sciences, and the Smithsonian. Indeed, echoes of that war continue to reverberate today -- "The Bone Wars." In the 1860's paleontologists rarely collected their own specimens. It was common for collectors in the field to send fossils to a paleontologist for classification. Dr. Hayden's fossils were classified by Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897). Cope had been for a time a student of Joseph Leidy. Leidy, himself, about 1868, began receiving fossils from two of Judge Carter's sons-in-law, James Van Allen Carter and Joseph K. Corson. Carter, not related to Judge Carter, had married Judge Carter's daughter Anna and Corson married Ada. Corson was an assistant surgeon at Fort Fred Steele and later post surgeon at Fort Bridger. In 1872, Leidy visited Fort Bridger and was taken into the forbidding Washakie Basin by Carter and Corson. The Basin was described by Leidy as "an utter desert, a vast succession of treeless plains and buttes, with scarcely any vegetation and no signs of animal life." Indeed, he wrote, it was "undisturbed even by the hum of an insect." At the same time, Yale Professor Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1894) began a series of expeditions into the west to gather fossils. In 1877, Railroad workers discovered large bones near Como Bluff and notified Professor Marsh. Thus, it was discovered that while Wyoming may have been scarce in living fauna, it was rich in extinct life. The competition, like the competition for the last girls in a saloon before closing hour, was on between Marsh and Cope. Each had egos larger than the Uintatherium robustum discovered by Leidy. The uintatherium, named after the Uinta Mountains, was a eocene mammel looking much like a cross between a hippopotamus and an elephant. Cope, in fact, thought it to be related to the elephant and, thus, in a drawing put elephant ears on the animal. Both Cope and Marsh had more Uintatherium fragments than Leidy and, thus, both attacked Leidy and each other. Leidy, caught in the middle between the two, withdrew from further exploration in the West. In 1877 the Transcontinental Railroad was being built through a remote area of Wyoming. Marsh received letter from two men identifying themselves as Harlow and Edwards (their real names were Carlin and Reed), workers on the Union Pacific Railroad. The two men claimed they had found large numbers of fossils in Como Bluff, and warned that there were others in the area "looking for such things", which Marsh took to mean Cope. Williston, who had just wearily arrived in Kansas after the collapse of the Morrison mine, was quickly dispatched to Como Bluff by Marsh. His former student sent back a message, confirming the veracity of both large quantities of bones and that it was Cope's men snooping around the area. Wary of repeating the same mistakes he had made with Lakes, Marsh quickly sent money to the two new bone hunters and urged them to send additional fossils. Williston struck a preliminary bargain with Carlin and Reed (who had been unable to cash Marsh's check due to it being made out to their pseudonyms), but Carlin decided he would head to New Haven to deal with Marsh directly. Marsh drew up a contract calling for a set monthly fee, with additional cash bonuses to Carlin and Reed possible, depending on the importance of the finds. Marsh also reserved the right to send his own "superintendents" to supervise the digging if needed, and advised the men to try and keep Cope out of the region. Despite a face-to-face meeting, Carlin failed to negotiate better terms from Marsh. The paleontologist procured Carlin's and Reed's work for the stated terms, but seeds of discord and resentment were sown in the bone hunters as they felt Marsh had bullied them into the deal. Marsh's investment in the Como Bluff region soon produced rich results. While Marsh's own collectors headed east for the winter, Reed sent carloads of bones by rail to Marsh throughout 1877. Marsh described and named dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, and Diplodocus in the December 1877 issue of the American Journal of Science. Cope's and Marsh's discoveries were accompanied by sensational accusations of spying, stealing workers and fossils, and bribery. The two men were so protective of their digging sites that they would destroy smaller or damaged fossils to prevent them from falling into their rival's hands, or fill in their excavations with dirt and rock; while surveying his Como quarries in 1879, Marsh examined recent finds and marked several for destruction. On one occasion the scientists' rival teams fought each other by throwing stones. Things boiled over, however, in Wyoming. Both Cope and Marsh conducted expeditions to the Territory; Marsh using the military to provide protection against the Indians. Marsh used his influence interfered with Cope's ability to obtain accomodations or assistants at Fort Bridger and Cope was required to sleep in the Fort's hay yard. On Marsh's first expedition in 1870, Wm. F. Cody acted as a guide for the first leg of the journey. Cody remained a life-long friend of Marsh and would visit with him every time Cody's show would play in New Haven. In 1879, Cope showed up at the Como Bluff accusing Marsh of "trespassing" and stealing his fossils. Marsh directed that the dinosaur pits be dynamited rather than allow fossels to fall into the "wrong hands." On another occasion, Cope had a train load of Marsh's fossils diverted to Philadelphia. Marsh, in turn, would attempt to delay Cope's work by salting Cope's digs with odd pieces of bone fragments unrelated to the fossils from the period in question. The end result of the Bone Wars was that each exhausted their respective fortunes. Cope had to sell part of his collections. Marsh had to mortgage his house and beg Yale for a salary, the endowment from his uncle having been spent. Today, Cope is regarded as the more intellectual of the two, but is regarded as careless. Marsh is considered to be the better politician and was more careful in his work. Marsh has been accused of taking credit for the work of his students. Echoes of the Bone War reverberate today. Today great controversy exists among paleontologists as to whether birds are descended from dinosaurs. The theory was first proposed by Marsh in 1877.

Como Bluff And The Bone Wars

Como Bluff is a long ridge extending east-west, located between the towns of Rock River and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The ridge is an anticline, formed as a result of compressional geological folding. Three geological formations, the Sundance, the Morrison, and the Cloverly Formations, containing fossil remains from the Late Jurassic of the Mesozoic Era are exposed. 19th century paleontologists discovered many well-preserved specimens of dinosaurs, as well as mammals, turtles, crocodilians, and fish from the Morrison Formation. Because of this, Como Bluff is considered to be one of the major sites for the early discovery of dinosaur remains. Among the species discovered is the only known specimen of Coelurus. Significant discoveries were made in 22 different areas scattered along the entire length of the ridge.
In the popular mind, Wyoming may be associated with Indian Wars, Range Wars, and Sheep Wars. Yet the Territory and Como Bluff was at the center of another war which gripped the public's attention during the last third of the 19th Century, a war which involved Indians, F. V. Hayden, John Wesley Powell, Yale University's Peabody Museum, the Philadelphia Acadamy of Natural Sciences, and the Smithsonian. Indeed, echoes of that war continue to reverberate today -- "The Bone Wars."

   In the 1860's paleontologists rarely collected their own specimens. It was common for collectors in the field to send fossils to a paleontologist for classification. Dr. Hayden's fossils were classified by Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897). Cope had been for a time a student of Joseph Leidy. Leidy, himself, about 1868, began receiving fossils from two of Judge Carter's sons-in-law, James Van Allen Carter and Joseph K. Corson. Carter, not related to Judge Carter, had married Judge Carter's daughter Anna and Corson married Ada. Corson was an assistant surgeon at Fort Fred Steele and later post surgeon at Fort Bridger. In 1872, Leidy visited Fort Bridger and was taken into the forbidding Washakie Basin by Carter and Corson. The Basin was described by Leidy as "an utter desert, a vast succession of treeless plains and buttes, with scarcely any vegetation and no signs of animal life." Indeed, he wrote, it was "undisturbed even by the hum of an insect." At the same time, Yale Professor Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1894) began a series of expeditions into the west to gather fossils. In 1877, Railroad workers discovered large bones near Como Bluff and notified Professor Marsh. Thus, it was discovered that while Wyoming may have been scarce in living fauna, it was rich in extinct life. The competition, like the competition for the last girls in a saloon before closing hour, was on between Marsh and Cope. Each had egos larger than the Uintatherium robustum discovered by Leidy. The uintatherium, named after the Uinta Mountains, was a eocene mammel looking much like a cross between a hippopotamus and an elephant. Cope, in fact, thought it to be related to the elephant and, thus, in a drawing put elephant ears on the animal. Both Cope and Marsh had more Uintatherium fragments than Leidy and, thus, both attacked Leidy and each other. Leidy, caught in the middle between the two, withdrew from further exploration in the West.
   In 1877 the Transcontinental Railroad was being built through a remote area of Wyoming. Marsh received letter from two men identifying themselves as Harlow and Edwards (their real names were Carlin and Reed), workers on the Union Pacific Railroad. The two men claimed they had found large numbers of fossils in Como Bluff, and warned that there were others in the area "looking for such things", which Marsh took to mean Cope. Williston, who had just wearily arrived in Kansas after the collapse of the Morrison mine, was quickly dispatched to Como Bluff by Marsh. His former student sent back a message, confirming the veracity of both large quantities of bones and that it was Cope's men snooping around the area. Wary of repeating the same mistakes he had made with Lakes, Marsh quickly sent money to the two new bone hunters and urged them to send additional fossils. Williston struck a preliminary bargain with Carlin and Reed (who had been unable to cash Marsh's check due to it being made out to their pseudonyms), but Carlin decided he would head to New Haven to deal with Marsh directly. Marsh drew up a contract calling for a set monthly fee, with additional cash bonuses to Carlin and Reed possible, depending on the importance of the finds. Marsh also reserved the right to send his own "superintendents" to supervise the digging if needed, and advised the men to try and keep Cope out of the region. Despite a face-to-face meeting, Carlin failed to negotiate better terms from Marsh. The paleontologist procured Carlin's and Reed's work for the stated terms, but seeds of discord and resentment were sown in the bone hunters as they felt Marsh had bullied them into the deal. Marsh's investment in the Como Bluff region soon produced rich results. While Marsh's own collectors headed east for the winter, Reed sent carloads of bones by rail to Marsh throughout 1877. Marsh described and named dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, and Diplodocus in the December 1877 issue of the American Journal of Science.
   Cope's and Marsh's discoveries were accompanied by sensational accusations of spying, stealing workers and fossils, and bribery. The two men were so protective of their digging sites that they would destroy smaller or damaged fossils to prevent them from falling into their rival's hands, or fill in their excavations with dirt and rock; while surveying his Como quarries in 1879, Marsh examined recent finds and marked several for destruction. On one occasion the scientists' rival teams fought each other by throwing stones.
   Things boiled over, however, in Wyoming. Both Cope and Marsh conducted expeditions to the Territory; Marsh using the military to provide protection against the Indians. Marsh used his influence interfered with Cope's ability to obtain accomodations or assistants at Fort Bridger and Cope was required to sleep in the Fort's hay yard. On Marsh's first expedition in 1870, Wm. F. Cody acted as a guide for the first leg of the journey. Cody remained a life-long friend of Marsh and would visit with him every time Cody's show would play in New Haven. In 1879, Cope showed up at the Como Bluff accusing Marsh of "trespassing" and stealing his fossils. Marsh directed that the dinosaur pits be dynamited rather than allow fossels to fall into the "wrong hands." On another occasion, Cope had a train load of Marsh's fossils diverted to Philadelphia. Marsh, in turn, would attempt to delay Cope's work by salting Cope's digs with odd pieces of bone fragments unrelated to the fossils from the period in question.

The end result of the Bone Wars was that each exhausted their respective fortunes. Cope had to sell part of his collections. Marsh had to mortgage his house and beg Yale for a salary, the endowment from his uncle having been spent. Today, Cope is regarded as the more intellectual of the two, but is regarded as careless. Marsh is considered to be the better politician and was more careful in his work. Marsh has been accused of taking credit for the work of his students. Echoes of the Bone War reverberate today. Today great controversy exists among paleontologists as to whether birds are descended from dinosaurs. The theory was first proposed by Marsh in 1877.

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