Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-04-03
THE YALE EXPLORING EXPEDI-
TION OF 1871.
Fossil sea-serpents-A Curious SWIM
ming Riye1.

TION OF 1871.
Fossil sea-serpents-A Curious SWIM
ming Bird.
At a recent meeting of the Connecti-
cut Academy in the library of the Shef-
field Scientific School, in New Haven,
Professor Marsh gave sketch of the
Yale exploring expedition of 1871. The
New Haven Palladium gives the follow
ing summary of his remarks:
"The object of the expedition was to
ascertain the character of the three
great basins of the West; that of the
plains west of Fort Lawrence in Kan
sas, that of the Bridge Basin, just west
of the main range of the Rocky Noun
tains and north of the Winter Noun
tains, and of the basaltic region still
farther west, through which flows the
Snake river, and, farther to the north,
the Columbia The party was in the
Kansas basin in July, and worked there
five weeks The region is Parched,
barren country, covered with buffalo
grass, no trees, with but few streams,
and what there were very low at that
season of the year. The heat was in
tense, ranging from one hundred and
twenty degrees Fahrenheit The
method of work was to start about
sunrise and continue the examination
of the country until about ten o'clock,
and then keep perfectly quiet during
the heat of the day. Many of the
party were unable to endure the heat
the guide, an old army scout, was COM
pletely used up, and the professor con-
fessed that he never suffered so much
in all his life. There was constant
danger of sunstroke, and at every step
each man crept under his horse for
moments shelter. The results of
their work was most satisfactory.
Several tons of valuable fossils
were gathered They were mostly
remains of great reptiles, CORE
spending to the popular idea of the
sea-serpent. One they exhumed mea-
sured ninety feet in length. They
found also fossils of huge winged rep
tiles, one of which must have measured
at least twenty-four feet across the
wings. The largest found IN Europe
of equal perfection measures only
three or four feet. The most curious
of all their discoveries here was fossil
bird, five feet long, which is like nc tn
jrg ever seen before. It appears TO be
swimming bird, but has features
widely different from anything known.
| They also made some discoveries about
the extent of this great lake basin, and
fixed it's northern boundary. The next
region was the Bridge Basin in Wyo-
ming. Here they found another vast
bed of fossil remains that the professor
estimates at mile in depth. It is like
the eastern basin in it's deposits, but
the animal remains totally dis
tinct. The eastern has nothing but
tropical animals. The only reptile
no fishes, but large number of rumin-
ants. In the western basin, on the con-
trary, are nothing but reptiles. 1t
seems to have been an immense lagoon
swarming with reptile life. They found
five species of crocodiles, six of SER
pents, and many lizards. They dis
covered also mammals of the tapir
family. IT,. TT, every tenth layer of the
deposit hay be expected a different
series of animals. The deposit in
which they are found are mostly sand.
The scenery is very peculiar, as it is
| the region of canons The rivers have
cut it through in deep gorges, sub
dividing this deposit, and the tops of
the intervening masses have been
washed down, leaving a region of conf
cal hills, with deep valleys between.
He should say they found in that basin
at least fifty species Of animals entirely
new to science. 1t was much more in
teresting country, as regards its life,
than the plains, for there was plenty of
game. The scenery of the Winter
Mountains is very fine, the peaks
being very high, reaching $4,000 feet,
and the lowest pass is 11,000
the party went to Salt Lake, where they
level of the lake. The professor con
cluded that at one time it must have
had an outlet toward the Columbis
river, through the mountains that form
the northern rim of the Salt Lake
Going northward the country changes,
becoming a great basaltic plateau, ex
tending hundreds of miles. Here they
visited the great Shoshone Falls of the
Snake river. They are higher than Nj
agara, one fall being 210 feet, and the
gorge is much deeper and grander
There are two falls and stretch Of
fearful rapids. A curious feature o.
the scene is that the traveller perceives
no indication Of a river till he is close
upon the ravine. The country is a
land of desolation. The only vegeta
tion Is the sage brush, growing about
four feet high, and making travel diff
cult. The remains found in this coun
try were discovered IN the strata
of fine clay at the base of the
canons, and were all of fishes
From this country they proceeded
north to the Blue Mountains, a range
but little known, and which they hao
no time to explore, as it was already
the middle of November. From this
range they struck the head waters O.
the John Day River and followed it tt
the Columbia. The upper part of the
John Day valley abounded in fossil re
mains of horses. They were found O.
all sizes and all kinds, some three
toed, some like those now living. This
northern country is the grandest vol
canic region of modern times The
clay strata show the effects of volcani,
action, being tilted up in all directions
while in the Bridger and eastern valley
they are horizontal. They followed
down the Columbia River and crossed
the Cascade Mountains into tn
Pacific slope. The scener,
on the Columbia River h
thought to be the finest Of the kind in
the world. On reaching San Francisco
the party broke up, most of them com
ing home by rail. the rest, with Prof
Marsh: taking the Panama route. Il
Central America a large number of an
| tiquities were collected, including
full series of pottery, and some of tn
famous golden idols. In the explora
tions in the west, also, many valuabl
curiosities relating to the Indians wer
gathered for the new museum of arch
zoology. Prof. Marsh was listened t.
with the greatest interest, and left tn
impression that the expedition was on
of the greatest importance and advan
age to science. %