THE 



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Vol. XI DECEMBER, 1900 No. 12 



THE WYOMING FOSSIL FIELDS EXPEDITION OF JULY, 1899 



By Wilbur C. Knight, 

 Professor of Mining and Geology in the University of Wyoming 



There has recentl}'' been a renewal of activit}'' in collecting fossil 

 remains in Wyoming. For a number of years, during the '70s and 

 '80s, Wyoming was the most attractive field in the world for the 

 student of vertebrate remains, and the collections then made include 

 some of the rarest and most valuable known to science. From 1890 

 to 1895 little was done, but a revival occurred in 1897. Owing to 

 the success of the American Museum of Natural Histor}' and the 

 University of Wyoming in collecting remains of dinosaurs, Mr E. L. 

 Lomax, general passenger and ticket agent of the Union Pacific 

 Railroad Com|)any, concluded that he could render a valuable service 

 to the scientific world by organizing an expedition on a large scale 

 for the purpose of collecting fossils and studying geolog3^ 



Mr Lomax began with the publication of an illustrated pam,)hlet, 

 which gave in a brief way some information pertaining to the fossil 

 fields and the restoration of some of the important animals that, 

 long prior to the existence of man, inhabited what is now Wyoming. 

 This pamphlet, together with an invitation to join the expedition, 

 was sent in the spring of 1899 to every university, college, and mu- 

 seum of im|)()rtance in the United States. The invitation included 

 free transportation from Chicago to I-aramie, Wyoming, and return, 

 and allowed each institution one professor and one or two assistants. 

 Unfortunately many scientific men had already plnnncMJ tluiir sum- 

 nier's work and were consequently uuivblc to accept the invitation. 

 Nearly one hundred men, however, availed th(Mns(;lv(!s of this oppor- 

 tunity for study in the Rocky Mountains, and ;irriv<M| at I>arainie, as 

 designated, on July 19. 



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