page_title: Paleontology in Wyoming
section_title: Scientific research
hierarchical_section_title: Paleontology in Wyoming / History / Scientific research
caption_attribution_description: Uintatherium
context_page_description: Paleontology in Wyoming includes research into the prehistoric life of the U.S. state of Wyoming as well as investigations conducted by Wyomingite researchers and institutions into ancient life occurring elsewhere. The fossil record of the US state of Wyoming spans from the Precambrian to recent deposits. Many fossil sites are spread throughout the state. Wyoming is such a spectacular source of fossils that author Marian Murray noted in 1974 that "[e]ven today, it is the expected thing that any great museum will send its representatives to Wyoming as often as possible." Murray has also written that nearly every major vertebrate paleontologist in United States history has collected fossils in Wyoming. Wyoming is a major source of dinosaur fossils. Wyoming's dinosaur fossils are curated by museums located all over the planet.
  During the Precambrian, Wyoming was covered by a shallow sea inhabited by stromatolite-forming bacteria. This sea remained in place during the early Paleozoic era and would come to be inhabited by creatures like brachiopods, ostracoderms, and trilobites. During the Silurian, the sea withdrew from Wyoming and there is a gap in the local rock record.
context_section_description: One of the earliest fossil hunting excursions into Wyoming happened in 1870, when O. C. Marsh led an expedition into the state on behalf of Yale. However, the state's abundant dinosaur remains would not come to the attention of science until 1877. Three men played a pivotal early role in bringing scientific attention to the area's dinosaurs. These were Colorado School of Mines professor Arthur Lakes, teacher O. Lucas, and Union Pacific Railroad foreman William H. Reed. Lakes, Lucas, and Reed's preceded many expeditions into Wyoming for the collection of dinosaur fossils. In March 1877, Reed noticed fossil limbs and vertebrae at Como Bluff while returning to the railroad station after hunting. Reed was joined by the railroad station's agent, William E. Carlin. They spent the next several weeks collecting local fossils together but would not tell anyone else about their discovery for months. In July, O. C. Marsh was informed of Reed and Carlin's fossil discoveries at Como Bluff. Marsh hired both of them to acquire more local fossils for him. For the remainder of the year and into early 1878, Reed and Carlin worked on four local quarries. They uncovered several Camarasaurus specimens, one being a new species, Camarasaurus grandis. In May 1878 they discovered a new site for a fifth quarry. There they found the first Jurassic pterosaur known from North America, and a new genus and species of herbivorous dinosaur; Dryosaurus altus. Nearby they made another significant find, Dryolestes priscus, the first Jurassic mammal known from North America. From 1877 to 1878 Princeton also sent a massive expedition to Wyoming. Major participants included Henry Fairfield Osborn, W. E. Scott, and Thomas Speer. Also around this time, Samuel W. Williston began periodic excavations.
  Late in 1877, Marsh's scientific rival Edward Drinker Cope heard that fossils had been discovered at Como Bluff. He quickly dispatched his own fossil hunters into the area. Reed described his struggles to keep Cope's men away from his own hunting grounds in regular correspondence with Marsh. William Carlin quit working for Marsh and ended up joining Cope's efforts in the region. Since Carlin was in charge of the railway's station house he used his influence to keep Reed out. Paleontologist John Foster described Reed as "stuck boxing his material for shipment to Marsh outside in the cold." Marsh hired additional help for Reed, but none of his workers stayed on the job long term. Reed was essentially on his own by the spring of 1879, working hectically at excavating several quarries at once to recover the fossils before Cope's men. In the middle of May that same year Marsh directed Arthur Lakes to leave the Morrison, Colorado area and assist Reed at Como Bluff. The partnership would be fruitful that year and several major discoveries happened. They found a site for a seventh quarry and excavated a small ornithopod's skeleton. They found a ninth site early in July that would be one of the best sources of Jurassic mammal fossils anywhere on earth. In terms of absolute numbers Quarry 9 was the most productive of any fossil site in the Morrison Formation.
  In September, they made another major discovery. By the end of the month, they had discovered a new species of sauropod, Brontosaurus excelsus, that would end up mounted in the Yale Peabody Museum. This species has since been reclassified as Apatosaurus excelsus. In August William Reed's assistant, E. G. Ashley discovered a twelfth quarry site. They discovered the fossils of a new Stegosaurus species here, S. ungulatus. In September they discovered a thirteenth quarry that produced more dinosaur skeletons than any of the others. Camptosaurus and Stegosaurus were the most common. New dinosaurs discovered here included Camarasaurus lentus, Camptosaurus dispar, and Coelurus fragilis. During the next year Marsh's men focused on quarries thirteen and nine. Later in the year, Arthur Lakes quit. During the next year Reed's brother came to visit, but died while swimming in a nearby creek. After his brother's death Reed lost his 
caption: Uintatherium.
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