Othniel Charles Marsh. 409 



Rocky Mountain regions, and thenceforth his energies were 

 mainly devoted to their exploration. Scientific expeditions to 

 the western country were undertakings of considerable magni- 

 tude in those early days. There, was but one railroad in the 

 United States across a region measuring fifteen hundred miles 

 square. White settlements were sparse and remote. Most of 

 the country was unmapped, and with the exception of a few 

 transcontinental trails, almost the whole western half of the 

 continent, save the regions bordering the Pacific, was a 

 boundless expanse of unknown arid plains, mountains, and 

 valleys. Added to these conditions were the indigenous tribes 

 of war-loving Indians, hostile to the whites. Under such cir- 

 cumstances, travel was slow, difficult, and dangerous. It was 

 necessary to have an escort of soldiers and guides, experienced 

 in western life and Indian warfare. 



The first Yale Scientific Expedition was organized and engi- 

 neered by Marsh in 1870. The party consisted of thirteen 

 persons besides the officers and men of the military detach- 

 ments who escorted them from various military posts along 

 the route.* They explored the Pliocene deposits of Nebraska 

 and the Miocene of northern Colorado, then crossing into 

 Wyoming they made collections in the Eocene (Bridger Basin), 

 and passing south discovered a new Eocene basin in Utah 

 (Uinta Basin). At each of these places many important finds 

 were made. The party next visited California, where minor 

 collections were obtained from the Pliocene. Returning, they 



* Members of the Tale party were 0. C. Marsh, C. T. Ballard, C. W. Betts j 

 A. H. Ewirjg, G. B. Grinnellj J. W. Griswold, J. R. Nicholson, C. McC. Reeve, 

 J. M. Russell, H. B. Sargent, J. W. Wadsworth, E. Whitney, Jr., and H. D. 

 Ziegler. The escorts consisted of: — 



From Fori McPherson, Nebraska. — Commanding officer, Gen. Eugene A. Carr. 

 Lieuts. Bernard Reilly, Jr., and Earl D. Thomas, in command of escort, 5th Cav- 

 alry; Buffalo Bill and Major Frank North, guides; and two Pawnee Indian 

 scouts ("Lahurasoc" and "Tuckatelous "). 



From Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming. — Commanding officer, Gen. John H. King. 

 Capt. Robert H. Montgomery and Lieut James McB. Stembel, in command of 

 escort, 5th Cavalry. 



From Fort Bridger, Wyoming. — Commanding officer, Major R. S. LaMotte. 

 Lieut. W. N. Wann, in command of escort, 13th Infantry; Mexican guide ("Joe 

 Talemans "). 



From Fort Wallace, Kansas —Commanding officer, Gen. Henry C. Bankhead. 

 Ed. Lane, guide ; Lieut. Charles Braden, in command of rescue troop. 



