1897
- Huerfano Expedition. In 1888 Prof. R. C. Mills of Denver announced his important discovery of
Middle Eocene beds in the valley of the Huerfano River in CO. H.F. Osborn and Dr. Wortman proceeded
by rail to a point near the Huerfano Canyon and entered the basin on May 25th. We followed up the
Huerfano and Muddy for about 25 miles to the entrance of Poison Canyon, exploring first the 3 large
buttes to the E. of this point and the whole region to the north. Prof. Hill's collector had made a thorough
gathering of the surface, but we managed to make an important collection. Hay Spring Expedition.
Early in April Dr. Wortman with Mr. Granger left the museum for western NE with the intention of
making additional collections of the Pleistocene or Equus Beds in Sheridan Co., NE. The fossils occur
along the banks of Niobrara River at the extreme western skirts of the "Sand Hills" The outfit that had
wintered in the Black Hills was brought to Hay Springs by Albert Thomson, who was engaged as cook
and teamster for the party. The camp was pitched in the fossil beds near Grayson, a small post office 20
miles E of Hay Springs and work began April 14th. Dr. Wortman left to join Prof. Osborn in Denver,
leaving Mr. Granger in charge with A. Thomson to help removing fossils. This was finished towards the
end of July. Expedition into the Jurassic of Wyoming. The expedition had 2 objects: (1) to reopen the
famous mammal quarry near Lake Como, WY and (2) the exploration of the neighboring exposures for
the remains of large dinosaurian reptiles. The expedition was temporarily placed in charge of Mr.
Barnum Brown, a grad student at Kansas Univ., who with his assistant, Mr. H. W. Menke also of
Kansas left early in May for Aurora, a small station on the Union Pacific R.R. near Lake Como . There
they purchased a suitable outfit and equipment. The early part of the season was spent in opening up
the mammal quarry which had been accurately located through the kind assistance of Prof. Wilbur C.
Knight and Mr. William Reid of the Wyoming University. Later in the season, during a visit by Prof.
Osborn, a skeleton of a large reptile was discovered by Osborn and Brown near the mammal quarry.
Work began on excavating this skeleton and had progressed well when toward the end of June Dr.
Wortman arrived and took charge of the party. Several weeks later a second skeleton was discovered by
Wortman and Prof. Knight a short distance from the first specimen. More people were needed to
excavate these enormous skeletons, so Mr.'s Granger and Thomson were instructed to close up Hay
Springs quarry in NE and start up with the outfit in their possession to join the main party in Aurora. In
Aug. Dr. Matthew, who had completed his work in the Chalk beds of KS, visited the camp. He
remained in the camp for 2 weeks and helped in the removal of the large reptilian skeletons. Towards
the end of August the 2 skeletons and the mammalian dirt had been all removed and were loaded and
shipped to the museum. Because of the difficulties of dealing with the large, heavy and fractured
dinosaur bones, new techniques were developed, which had not been used before, such as the use of
burlap, plaster and boards, making a rigid jacket which could be handled without fear of breakage.
Kansas expedition for mosasaurs and flying reptiles. The exploration this year was mainly on several
small streams coming into the Smoky Hill River from the southwest between Elkader and Monument
Rock on the old Pike's Peak trail, especially Beaver Creek and Hell Creek in Logan Co. and Gove Co.
Mr. Martin commenced work on June 1st, assisted by Mr. F. Baber, as teamster and cook. They worked
up Beaver Creek as far as the area known locality as the "Black Hills". Here he was joined by Dr.
Matthew on June 21st. Work continued for 2 weeks and a good number of specimens were found. On
July 6th the party moved to Hell Creek, working down this stream nearly to its mouth, finding a
pterosaur skeleton, a complete mosasaur skull and other specimens. Dr. Matthew left the party on July
16th. Mr. Baber stayed on until Aug. 10th, then left for home in Washington Co., KS. Mr. Martin
continued to work for the museum till the first days of September. The expedition found a large and a
smaller pterosaur, a nearly complete skeleton of a Clidastes and many fragments of larger specimens, a
large turtle skeleton and fragments specimens of smaller turtles besides many specimens of fish. An
unique skull of a shark was found by Mr. Baber. Mr. Martin's ranch at the mouth of Beaver Creek
served as headquarters for the expedition. There was a purchase of a complete skeleton of a Liodon
from western Kansas; purchased from the collector, W. C. Bourne for $100.
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