WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.399 --> 00:00:05.879 When I compare what I have lost with what I have gained, what I 2 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:12.359 have missed with what attained, little room do I find for pride? I 3 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:17.440 am aware how many days have been idly spent, how like an arrow, 4 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:23.640 the good intent has fallen short or been turned aside. But who shall dare 5 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:28.160 to measure loss and gain? In this wise? Defeat may be victory and 6 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:35.439 disguise. The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide. Loss and Gain 7 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:47.520 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. If you've ever visited Colorado, or if you're lucky 8 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:53.200 enough to live here, then you know it's an outdoor enthusiast's playground. Hiking, 9 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:58.439 biking, skiing, The list goes on and on. But there's another 10 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:03.880 side to the centennial state that most people will never see. It's a side 11 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:08.519 that's a little darker, a little more sinister, and a little bit strange. 12 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:23.400 Welcome to Strange Colorado. Months and months ago, I received an episode 13 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:27.879 suggestion from a man named Ryan. He informed me that he is a geologist 14 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:34.719 here in Colorado who specializes in front range geology, and he knew of a 15 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:44.159 story all about drama and intrigue in sabotage and infighting, everything a good reality 16 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:49.400 TV series would have, but it was all surrounding dinosaur bones. Of course, 17 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:55.280 I was intrigued, and I immediately got to work researching this topic and 18 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:00.760 soon discovered that it was a huge undertaking for some one who is not a 19 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:07.480 geologist or a paleontologist at all. So I have been procrastinating covering this story 20 00:02:07.080 --> 00:02:13.439 since I discovered it, But today I figured, what the heck I think 21 00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:15.919 we all know by now. I am not a scientist or an expert in 22 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:22.039 really anything. I'm just here to share the fun stories that I come across 23 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:24.039 in the best way I can, and that's what I'm going to try to 24 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:30.479 do today. This episode is all about what's known as the Bone Wars and 25 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:38.520 the other rush to Colorado that you probably haven't heard of. Now, much 26 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:44.879 of this story takes place in other parts of the US, but I promise 27 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:52.960 Colorado is featured heavily, so just hang in there. This is a story 28 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:59.759 worth our time. If there's one thing that gets mentioned most often on this 29 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:07.759 podcast, it's probably the gold Rush. Without the insatiable hunger that man has 30 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:14.520 for the yellow, shiny element that lies beneath our soil, Colorado would look 31 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:20.520 a lot different today, but there was another rush that Colorado experienced that most 32 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:23.840 of us probably have never heard of. So now, as we like to 33 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:30.199 do around here, we're going to take it way way back. I've mentioned 34 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:36.680 this on previous episodes, and I feel like it's probably a fairly obvious fact, 35 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:44.000 but prehistoric Colorado was a vastly different place than the Colorado we know today. 36 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:50.080 If you've ever been to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and taken 37 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:53.280 a stroll through the Prehistoric Journey exhibit that's up on the third level, which 38 00:03:53.879 --> 00:04:00.919 you should do, highly recommend. When you enter this exhibit, it you 39 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:06.159 start in a dark hallway that just has screens on the wall, and it 40 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:14.360 shows you the formation of the Earth. From here, you walk progressively through 41 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:21.399 each phase in our history as a planet, but specifically Colorado. It features 42 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:27.839 all of the life forms and plant life and animals that have existed on this 43 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:33.720 land before we got here. It's fascinating and immersive and really educational too. 44 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:41.720 I could go into detail about all of the different eras in Colorado history, 45 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:46.959 but a lot of you would probably shut this episode off if I did, 46 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:51.319 so, We're just going to kind of do a speed walk through some of 47 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.480 them. So, like I said in the exhibit, you start at the 48 00:04:56.519 --> 00:05:00.920 creation of the Earth and then you kind of fast forward to three hundred million 49 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.000 years ago in the Paleozoic, where we had mountains, but they were different 50 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:10.399 mountains than we do now. And we see trees as tall as one hundred 51 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:16.360 feet up rivers, streams, coastlines. We have millipedes that are five feet 52 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:23.160 long, and cockroaches as big as housecats. This is one era in history 53 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:29.639 I would never personally wish to visit. But the Earth continues to change and 54 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:34.199 grow and wobble around in space, and we see many different types of eras. 55 00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:41.480 We have a sandy tropical phase, a gooey shoreline era, and we've 56 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:46.519 even been completely submerged under an ocean. And then about one hundred and fifty 57 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:51.319 million years ago during the late Jurassic period, when Colorado is a tropical, 58 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:58.439 hot, marshy mass of plant life. This is when the dinosaurs are really 59 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:04.439 living their lives. And I mean big dinosaurs. We have apatosaurs, the 60 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:11.920 big long necked dinosaurs, and stegosaurs, we have t rexes, and they're 61 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:16.120 all here when they meet their doom. And even though it's still a contested 62 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:20.839 event. I'm just going to go ahead and say an asteroid's lammed into the 63 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:29.360 earth. Whatever happened, all of their bodies were able to be mass preserved 64 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:33.839 in the marshy wetlands here in our state, which we now call the Morrison 65 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:41.639 Formation. As the eons tick by, the bodies of these massive prehistoric creatures 66 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:48.120 decompose and the calcium in their bones converts to minerals through different natural processes, 67 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:57.279 and now we have fossils that are essentially rocks in the exact same shape as 68 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:01.759 the bones once were. Sometimes you even get an impression of the skin and 69 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:08.079 the texture of the skin and feathers around the fossils, so we can actually 70 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:14.000 see what these guys looked like on the outside too. There's also things like 71 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:20.920 footprints and petrified wood, plant impressions and insects that are similarly preserved in this 72 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:29.279 formation. In places like this, it's an incredible find for scientists because basically 73 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:36.240 what happens is you get an entire world of ancient life all preserved together in 74 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:46.240 one location. So we have this gorgeous deposit of ancient life just sitting in 75 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:51.639 Colorado in the middle of all of this rush for gold and silver and coal 76 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:58.519 and everything else that's going on. Meanwhile, a man by the name of 77 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:05.000 Arthur Lakes is born in eighteen forty four in the Channel Islands. He was 78 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:09.800 the son of an Episcopalian minister, and thus he kind of followed in his 79 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:16.279 father's footsteps, and in eighteen sixty three he attended Oxford University, that's nothing 80 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:22.920 to sniff at, where he studied theology and natural sciences. During this time, 81 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:28.639 especially in Europe, natural history was really becoming a fascination and a growing 82 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:35.399 field in science following the publication of Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The ideas of 83 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:39.600 survival of the fittest and all of the things that Darwin presented in this book 84 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:46.000 opened up a whole new vista of possibilities to the scientific community, and the 85 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:52.799 rush to find the evidence to prove and further this seri was on, especially 86 00:08:52.919 --> 00:09:01.240 given that just a few decades previously, the very first fossiles were actually identified 87 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:09.240 as having belonged to extinct ancient reptiles. In eighteen forty one, an anatomus 88 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:16.240 named Sir Richard Owen actually coined the term dinosauria, which means terrible lizard, 89 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:20.519 to cover the whole group of these massive fossils of reptiles that they were digging 90 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:26.360 up. Now, it's not like people had never found fossils before this, 91 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:33.120 but typically they were attributed to having belonged to an extinct race of giant humans, 92 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:39.039 or they were dragons and monsters. As Lakes is coming up in the 93 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:46.960 world and discovering and studying the natural sciences at Oxford University, he is essentially 94 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:52.679 getting a front row seat to the breaking news in the scientific world related to 95 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:56.720 what would become paleontology. Around this time as well, or a little bit 96 00:09:56.759 --> 00:10:03.360 before. In eighteen fifty four, a man named Ferdinand Hayden discovered fossils along 97 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:07.559 the Missouri River during his expedition of the Americas. And in case you're curious, 98 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:15.399 the fossils were actually teeth that had belonged to an iguanodon. So here's 99 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:22.480 Lakes studying and learning about all of this and seeing the growing intensity that surrounds 100 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:28.759 dinosaurs. And while the discovery of the fossils wasn't exactly at gold Rush level, 101 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:35.240 becoming immortalized in the annals of scientific history by making a discovery or naming 102 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:41.159 a dinosaur was its own kind of thrill that more and more men of science 103 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:46.879 were chasing, and Lakes had a nap for geology. He could read the 104 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.879 layers of the earth like a book. He could tell you where coal deposits 105 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:56.320 were, or where gold and silver would likely be. He was passionate about 106 00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:01.039 his interests, and he was very talented at them as well. In eighteen 107 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:05.799 sixty six, Lakes decided to make the trip over to New Brunswick, Canada, 108 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:09.159 because, like so many men of his day, he wanted to get 109 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:13.360 to the American wild West. So he worked his way there and finally arrived 110 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:18.720 to Colorado in January of eighteen sixty seven. Here he set up shop in 111 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:24.240 what is now Golden and helped establish the Calvary Episcopal Church there, being that 112 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:30.360 he was in ordained Episcopalian minister. He worked under Bishop George Randall, who 113 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:35.320 soon hired him to teach writing and drawing at the local prep school known as 114 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:39.559 Jarvis Hall. And if you're at all familiar with Colorado colleges, you know 115 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:43.240 that Jarvis Hall is now part of the Colorado School of Mines. This area 116 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:52.399 in Colorado was ideal for Arthur Lakes. He absolutely loved nothing more than being 117 00:11:52.440 --> 00:11:56.200 outside in all of the splendor that the Colorado Rockies had to offer, and 118 00:11:56.360 --> 00:12:03.799 just hiking all through the different exposed geological layers and sketching and drawing and mapping 119 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:11.840 everything out that he came across. His passions were teaching and sketching and writing, 120 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:15.600 and he was good at all of them. And luckily for Lakes, 121 00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:20.840 those three passions combined beautifully for what he was doing now. Of course, 122 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:24.919 as I said, Lakes was well aware of fossils and their potential existence in 123 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:31.120 Colorado. So in June of eighteen seventy four, Arthur was out hiking South 124 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:35.679 Table Mountain and he had a group of students with him, because one of 125 00:12:35.720 --> 00:12:39.960 his favorite things to do was to take his students out into the world to 126 00:12:39.080 --> 00:12:45.360 actually physically see and experience all of the things he was teaching. He would 127 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:50.360 have them sketch things and just really get a hands on experience in his class, 128 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:54.720 which sounds amazing. I mean, don't you just love it when teachers 129 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:56.879 are that way, they're the best ones. It was on one of these 130 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:03.559 hikes that one of his students, a kid named Peter Dotson, stumbled across 131 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:07.840 a massive tooth. They packed it up and brought it back to the School 132 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:11.919 of Mines, and the geologist there, Edward Berthoud, decided to wrap it 133 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.320 up and send it to a man named O. C. Marsh, who 134 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:22.000 was at the time the leader in paleontology and a professor at Yale. In 135 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:28.279 fact, he was the very first US professor of paleontology ever. But they 136 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:33.639 never heard anything from Marsh because you see, while all of this was going 137 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:39.320 on in Colorado and Arthur Lakes was busy minding his own business and thoroughly enjoying 138 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:41.960 his life that he had set up for himself, O. C. Marsh 139 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:48.759 was embroiled in a level of scientific drama that could rival any episode of The 140 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:54.559 Real Housewives. Now this is where the bone Wars come into play, and 141 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:58.799 we're gonna have to leave Colorado for just a few minutes because you're gonna want 142 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:03.519 to hear this. See, Marsh had a nemesis. We all usually have 143 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:09.000 someone we don't like or don't get along with, but very rarely do you 144 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:16.799 ever achieve the level of an actual nemesis, an enemy like Superman versus Lex 145 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:22.639 Luthor level hatred for someone in your life who was Marsha's Lex Luthor. You 146 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:28.120 might ask it was a man named Edward Cope. A little bit of backstory 147 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:33.919 on these two guys. Marsh was born in eighteen thirty one in New York 148 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:37.840 to a modest family of farmers. His mom died when he was just three 149 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:45.120 years old, and his father's ambitions for his son didn't extend past just handing 150 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:50.679 him the farm when he got old enough. But Marsh had ambition. He 151 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:54.879 was smart, and he had a passion for science, and luckily for him, 152 00:14:54.919 --> 00:15:00.639 he also had a very wealthy uncle who wanted to invest in that passion. 153 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:05.720 He saw Marsh creating a real future and making a big impact in the 154 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:11.200 scientific community with the right amount of funding, so he paid for his nephew 155 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:18.120 to attend Yale University, where he would graduate with his Masters. After graduation, 156 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:22.240 he traveled to Germany to study the new and growing field of paleontology. 157 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:28.039 It was here in Germany that he met the twenty three year old Edward Cope. 158 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:33.360 Cope was younger than Marsh by nine years, but he came from money. 159 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:39.320 His family was a very wealthy family from Pennsylvania, and in fact they 160 00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:45.000 were so wealthy the reason Cope was in Germany at all was because they didn't 161 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:48.200 want him to have to participate in a little thing called the Civil War, 162 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.120 So they got their son the heck out a dodge and sent him overseas. 163 00:15:52.919 --> 00:15:58.480 While these two men came from very different backgrounds, their love and passion for 164 00:15:58.519 --> 00:16:04.080 science and their interest in the new field of paleontology led them to becoming really 165 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:08.840 fast friends. After the conclusion of the Civil War and the dust had settled 166 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:14.159 enough for these men to return home, that's exactly what they did in eighteen 167 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:18.320 sixty four. They would keep in touch and maintain their friendship for a few 168 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:22.480 years after this. They even went on to name new species of dinosaurs that 169 00:16:22.519 --> 00:16:27.559 they had discovered after each other. But the more fossils and new species they 170 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:32.759 each discovered, and the more strides they were making in their field, the 171 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:37.679 more and more they started to recognize that they were competing with each other, 172 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:42.279 and, as men sometimes do, they lost their ever loving minds in the 173 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:48.440 spirit of competition. It's safe to say that at this point they went from 174 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:56.039 friends to phreenemies to just enemies in pretty quick succession. The first shot across 175 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:00.799 the Bow actually came from marsh himself. You see, Edward Cope had come 176 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:07.839 across a quarry filled with fossils, and it was located in New Jersey. 177 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:11.720 He invited marsh Up to come check it out, because who else could appreciate 178 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:18.599 it better than his paleontology bestie. Once marsh saw just how chock full of 179 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:25.000 a new species and fossils this quarry was, he secretly went behind Cope's back 180 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:30.200 and contacted the owner of the quarry and made a deal with him to make 181 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:36.319 sure that any new fossils that they found going forward would be secretly sent directly 182 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:41.960 to marsh and be kept from Cope's knowledge. That's dirty pool right there. 183 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:47.559 Cope would later describe this as the beginning of the end for their friendship. 184 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:52.559 In retaliation, Cope decided that he was going to hurry up and get his 185 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.480 findings of a brand new species of pleiosaur published. But in his hurry, 186 00:17:56.759 --> 00:18:02.640 he made a little bit of a mistake. When reconstructing the fossil to present 187 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:07.480 this new species of pleosaur to the world, he accidentally attached the head of 188 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:12.400 this pleiosaur to the end of its tail. Embarrassing. Yes, but it's 189 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:15.839 not like these mistakes didn't happen. I mean, if you've got the time, 190 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:22.680 google the Magdeburg Unicorn. That is a wild ride. But maybe the 191 00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:27.359 worst part of this embarrassing puzzle piece being put in the wrong location was that 192 00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:33.960 Cope was made aware of this mistake only when he revealed the fossil to the 193 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:41.119 world published his findings, and Marsh came in with a I think the head's 194 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:45.519 on the wrong end. It was a huge blow career wise to Cope, 195 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:51.599 and he was furious at Marsh. Cope hurriedly corrected his mistake and republished his 196 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:56.680 findings, and he even went so far as to attempt to purchase every single 197 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:03.160 copy of the American Philosophical Society Journal, where he had published the original findings 198 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:07.400 with the mistake, but it was too late. It was already out there. 199 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:11.319 Marsh actually wrote later saying that when he informed Cope of this mistake, 200 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:17.559 his vanity received a shock from which it had never recovered, and he has 201 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:22.200 since been my bitter enemy. Well, du Marsh. So it was all 202 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:26.480 out in the open then, and they pretty much just hated each other from 203 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:33.079 here on out. The rivalry was fierce, and it reached a fever pitch, 204 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:37.119 with one or the other sending spies to dig sites. One of them 205 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:44.079 even blew up a quarry filled with fossils just to keep the findings out of 206 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:48.400 the other's hands. The one thing that can be said from Marsh, though, 207 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:52.519 is that he really was very good in his field. He knew what 208 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:57.119 he was doing. He became the professor of paleontology at Yale, the first 209 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:03.519 one ever, and then he actually went on to be appointed as the chief 210 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:10.160 paleontologist for the US Geological Survey in Washington, O. C. Marsh was 211 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:15.160 paleontology in the US during this time, and even though Cope had gone so 212 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:22.160 far as to actually purchase and take over the American Naturalist Journal, which was 213 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:26.640 the premier publishing journal for all of the scientific discoveries, so that he could 214 00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:30.759 shove Marsh out and not let him publish anything. I mean, you can't 215 00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:36.119 go up against the actual government in this case. In the end, their 216 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:41.079 rivalries and exploding each other's dig sites would lead to both of them ending up 217 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:48.839 completely broke and destitute, out of work and dying alone. A classic case 218 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:56.480 of egos unleash and running rampant and running themselves right into the ground. But 219 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:04.519 it was thanks to this insane rivalry that the field of paleontology took huge strides 220 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:08.839 forward, the push to discover new species and get them published, and to 221 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:15.240 dig more into evolution and the different phases of the geological eras and the animals 222 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:22.400 that belonged in them experienced unprecedented growth and discovery during this time. So we 223 00:21:22.519 --> 00:21:26.680 do have them to thank for that. So let's take it back to Colorado 224 00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:32.200 and Lakes sends this tooth that he's found into O. C. Marsh at 225 00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:34.799 Yale at the time, and he doesn't hear back because Marsh is a little 226 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:40.920 bit preoccupied with his own issues that he's got going on. Had Marsh paid 227 00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:47.160 attention, he would have realized that this tooth was actually the first tooth ever 228 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:52.720 found belonging to a Tyrannosaurus rex. But we wouldn't know about that until the 229 00:21:52.799 --> 00:22:00.240 year two thousand, when a doctor Kenneth Carpenter at Yale rediscovered the tooth back 230 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.359 in storage somewhere and figured out the story behind it. I met that was 231 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:08.680 a good day for him. March twentieth, eighteen seventy seven years after this 232 00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:15.240 tooth gets sent into Yale, Lakes is again out and about collecting with a 233 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:19.680 friend named Henry Beckworth. He and a group of other local Golden Nights were 234 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:26.079 looking for fossilized plant life along the Dakota Hogback, which is what the Morrison 235 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:32.799 Formation here in Colorado is called. On this scouting expedition, rather than finding 236 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:37.640 a plant, they came upon a massive bone. This would be the first 237 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:45.920 of many bones found at this site, and Lakes sent the information once again 238 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:52.079 to OC Marsh at Yale, who once again ignored it. Since he didn't 239 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:56.799 hear back from Marsh on this one, he knew he had something major, 240 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:00.160 so he decided to reach out to the next best thing, and that was 241 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:07.920 Marsh's rival, Edward Cope. As soon as Marsh heard that Lakes was working 242 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:14.000 with Cope on a brand new massive discovery in Colorado, he immediately swooped in 243 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:18.799 and hired Lakes right out from under Cope's nose, and thus began the start 244 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:23.880 of what is known as the Dinosaur Bone Rush underneath the supervision of Arthur Lakes. 245 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:27.519 As they excavated the site over the next two years, they would find 246 00:23:27.720 --> 00:23:37.039 apatosaurs, Stegosaurus, diplodocus, small crocodiles, amongst many other species. It 247 00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:44.480 was a jackpot. Lakes actually traveled up and down the Morrison Formation uncovering more 248 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:48.680 and more species of dinosaur bones, even all the way up into Como, 249 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:53.400 Wyoming. As these excavations were taking place, Lakes would sit and paint the 250 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:57.920 scene or sketch the scene. He often used the medium of watercolors and pencils, 251 00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:03.039 and he was very detailed in his drawings and depictions of the sites, 252 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:08.480 so much so that different layers of the earth were identifiable. We know now 253 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:15.160 today how the sites were excavated thanks to these drawings, and even different workers 254 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:21.640 in the field are recognizable from his sketches. After basically becoming the dinosaur Guy 255 00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:26.480 of the wild West, in eighteen eighty Lakes was hired on as a full 256 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:30.720 time professor of geology at the Colorado School of Mines. For fifteen years, 257 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:37.359 Lakes continued to collect and store all sorts of fossils as he came upon them. 258 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:44.079 There were drawers and drawers filled with different fossils, and even today we 259 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:48.640 are still taking them out and cataloging them. He would also go on to 260 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:53.200 write a textbook called the Geology of Colorado or Deposits in eighteen eighty eight, 261 00:24:53.720 --> 00:25:00.359 and then the Geology of Colorado Coal Deposits. In these books, he apped 262 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:03.839 out and sketched all of the coal fields in the state. And this book 263 00:25:04.359 --> 00:25:11.039 was actually the foundation for the coal industry in Colorado for the next long, 264 00:25:11.079 --> 00:25:18.079 long while. He was a genius basically, and during this time he was 265 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:22.440 a really popular guy, not just for the dinosaur bones. If you remember, 266 00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:30.200 his forte is geology. So he was able to accurately pinpoint locations in 267 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:36.880 the state that would be likely to contain gold or silver or coal based on 268 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:41.400 the geologic formations he could see from the surface. This was huge. This 269 00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:45.200 made people lots of money. I actually went back and found an article from 270 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:51.920 July twenty fourth, eighteen ninety seven in The Indicator from Pueblo that detailed the 271 00:25:51.960 --> 00:25:57.279 findings of Professor Arthur Lakes about how productive he believed the Laplata District would be 272 00:25:57.400 --> 00:26:02.599 in terms of gold and silver or In the article, it stated that he 273 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:07.400 believed it looked as though the area could be very productive. Spoiler alert. 274 00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:12.759 He was absolutely right. Arthur Lakes was sort of one of those men who 275 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:19.440 lived his work, and it actually wasn't until eighteen eighty three when the thirty 276 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:26.480 nine year old bachelor finally married. Unfortunately for us, he married a sixteen 277 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:32.400 year old named Edith Slater, one of his students. You Arthur, but 278 00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:36.839 I mean, according to all reports they were relatively happy, I guess, 279 00:26:37.079 --> 00:26:41.519 and they had three children, boys named Arthur, Harold, and Walter. 280 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:47.079 But in eighteen ninety two, just eleven years later, Edith died after being 281 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:52.319 sick for a while. It was at this time that Lakes transferred to a 282 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:56.799 more lucrative job, working as the editor of the Colliery Engineer in Denver. 283 00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:03.480 In eighteen ninety eight, would experience another loss when astray bullet from a pellet 284 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:10.359 gun fired by Arthur Junior ricochet and hit his nine year old baby brother, 285 00:27:10.440 --> 00:27:14.880 Walter in the eye, killing him. They buried Walter next to Edith. 286 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:21.920 So aside from marrying a sixteen year old, he was a legend in geology 287 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:27.519 and paleontology and just the sciences in general. He was a dynamo in Colorado 288 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:33.480 history, as far as the formation of many of our programs and our coal 289 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:37.720 industry here. He's not a name that comes up often, but I think 290 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:44.079 it's mostly because he preferred to live a quiet life, being outside and sketching 291 00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:48.160 his sketches and writing his books and teaching. He didn't want fame and glory 292 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:52.240 and all of that. He just wanted to pursue his passions and be happy, 293 00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:59.240 and he did just that right up until November twentieth in nineteen seventeen, 294 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:04.039 when on one of his many travels documenting and learning and teaching and public speaking, 295 00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:08.599 he died unexpectedly, probably from heart failure. As I said, his 296 00:28:08.680 --> 00:28:15.279 works are still being combed through today. His catalogs and discoveries and boxes and 297 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:21.640 boxes of fossils and his sketches are some of the most important in regards to 298 00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:26.240 the history of paleontology and how they excavated sites. Many of them actually hang 299 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:32.440 in what is now known as the Arthur Lakes Library at the School of Mines. 300 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:37.319 Now, if you want the chance to really get a first hand look 301 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:44.480 at the types of locations that Arthur Lakes was discovering and working in here in 302 00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:51.279 Colorado, your best bet is to visit the amazingly preserved site of Dinosaur Ridge, 303 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:55.920 located off Alameda Parkway in Morris And, Colorado. I used to take 304 00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:59.039 my kids there all the time when they were little. You know, most 305 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:03.920 kids go through that dinosaur phase. I never really left mine, but it's 306 00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:08.079 an excellent opportunity to get outside for a really great walk. It is uphill, 307 00:29:08.599 --> 00:29:14.599 so just beware, but all along the walkway you'll see the preserved footprints 308 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:19.599 of different species of dinosaurs, You'll see bones, and the views are immaculate. 309 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:26.599 There's also a visitor center with all sorts of fun dinosaur related goodies and 310 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:30.279 trinkets and toys and bones that you can buy for yourself. And there's a 311 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:34.880 play area for kids that's dinosaur themed. They can dig up their own dinosaur 312 00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:41.400 bones out of the sand and climb around on dinosaurs. I highly highly recommend 313 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:45.400 it. It's actually one of the highest ranked track sites for dinosaurs in the 314 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:52.039 US and the world. And the best part is it's a nonprofit that is 315 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:57.039 dedicated to educating all of the visitors there about the science and the history of 316 00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:03.559 all of the fossils and the resource is located in and near Dinosaur Ridge, 317 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:08.519 and teaching people how to take care of and make sure we preserve important sites 318 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:14.039 like these in the future. And you can find all of this information as 319 00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:19.000 well as tickets and other helpful tips for planning a visit at Dino Ridge dot 320 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:27.279 org. So while marsh and Cope died broke and alone and ruined Lakes died 321 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:33.319 really fulfilled. So I guess the moral of this story is let's be a 322 00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:37.200 Lakes, not a marsh or Cope. And while this one doesn't really have 323 00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:41.319 any spooky aspects to it, maybe it's worth giving a ponder to the question 324 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:48.759 if we had dinosaurs here, why don't we have dinosaur ghosts? That would 325 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:55.119 be something. Sources for today's episode include Wikipedia, Colorado, Encyclopedia dot org, 326 00:30:55.359 --> 00:31:04.799 and Dino Ridge dot org. Thanks for listening, Please remember to rate, 327 00:31:04.920 --> 00:31:11.079 review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also find 328 00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:17.039 me on Facebook and Instagram at Strange Colorado Podcast. If you have a strange 329 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:22.119 story of your own or an episode suggestion, you can reach me at Strange 330 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:30.480 Colorado Podcast at gmail dot com.