The evening times., 1899-10-28
FOSSIL HUNTERS RETURN
What the Wyoming Scientific Ex-
pediiion Discovered.
Six Carloads Of Bones of Prehistoric
Monsters Unearthed and shipped
to Various Colleges and Museums
A story of Giant Reptile That
Was Not Feund-DetniIs of the Trip

Prof. Charles Schuchert, Assistant Cura-
tor of stratagraphic Paleontology in the
National Museum, has returned from the
West, where ne spent several months with
the expedition that went into the fossil
fields of Wyoming last spring in search
of the bones Of prehistoric monsters.
This expedition was composed of men
from universities and museums in all parts
of the country. There were sixty-six
biologists, paleontologists, botanists and
photographers and nineteen teamsters in
the party. and numbers of interesting dis
eoyeries were made. More than six car
loads of bones were collected. The larg-
est part of the collection is composed of
the skeletons of animals of the Dinasaur
group. such as BroItosaurians and Stega-
saurians; but the expedition also secured
a number OF new species of invertebrates.
Two new leaf horizons were located in the
Fox Hills formation. Limestone with an
abundance of fossils was found in the Red
Beds. which are supposed to be of the
Triassic age, and another locality was dis
covered that abounds in fresh water Shells,
together with turtle and crocodile remains.
II was proven that the carboniferous fer
nations of Shirley Basin and the Grand
Canyon of the North Platte, are correlated
with the Madison limestone similar TO that
III Lnb 1tliONSlONt EdFh
One expedition TO this region some years
ago spent two months searching for prehis-
toric remains. and returned with only
few hundred pounds OF bones. In view of
such uncertainty in the work, the results
Of this expedition are exceptionally bounti-
full 1t has shipped bones to nearly all the
different museums and universities in the
country. The point from which they We're
shipped was Medicine Bow. town on the
Union Pacific railroad
The work of excavating for fossils was
attended by many hardships. Climbing the
hills in every direction was accompanied
by great danger. yet the members enthu-
siastically followed every sign that might
indicate bone lead" and were nearly al
ways rewarded for their exertions. After
a discovery, however, it was frequently
found that every bone of the animal was
cracked. and broken into small pieces.
These pieces were carefully collected. band
aged and set in plaster, and after harden
ing additional bandaging was done, until
the bones could be easily handled. In no
one place were complete skeletons found.
Sometimes a quarry yielded a number of
vertebrae or number of either hind or
fore limbs, or a general mixture Of parts
of animals OF different genera The prize
discovery of the party was the remains OF
a giant dinasaur. which will probably be
mounted in the National Museum here.
Among the notable men who were in the
party were: DIR. Collier Cobb, University of
North Carolina; Prof. Wilbur c. Knight,
of Wyoming; Chancellor w ].
Holland, University of Western Pennsyl
vania; DR.. Eugene A. Smith, State Geolo-
gst. Alabama; DR.. Erwin H. Barbour.
University Geologist, Kansas; DR.. ]. E.
Todd University of South Dakota: DIR. C.
Washington University, st. Lou
is; DR.. C. X. Beecher. Yale; Prof. Os-
borne. Columbia University; Prof. Schuc-
hert. National Museum, Washington; Prof.
Brown, University of Virginia, and Prof.
Larson, University of Colorado.
Many wild and weird stories have been
told concerning the findings of the party,
the most elaborate one being that of the
discovery of the complete skeleton of a
giant dinasaur. A member of the expedi-
ton. whose Investigations led him to dis
cover some bones in various places, at
once produced thrilling story of his find
of a giant dinasaur. This animal. he stat
ed. had been $50 feet long and had weighed
sixty tons. 1t had a neck thirty feet long
and a tail sixty feet in length. Its ribs
nine feet, and its body cavity
would have formed a hall or room thirty
four feet in length, sixteen feet in width,
and arched over twelve feet in height. A
round steak taken from the ham Of the
animal would have been at least twelve
feet in diameter A set of fours of cavalry
could easily have ridden abreast between
his front and hind legs. Every time he
put his foot down it covered more than
a square yard of ground, and must have
fairly shaken the earth
Upward of three hundred miles were
travelled during the forty days that the 4
party was actually in the field, and the trail
was through a barren wilderness.