MKRRI AM. | 



foltii Day Basin, 



273 



occurrence. Condon immediately concluded that an important field 

 for palaeontological research had been discovered and made use of 

 the first possible opportunity of visiting the beds. Early in the next 

 year he was allowed to go with a company of soldiers taking sup- 

 plies across to Harney Valley. On the road out, he passed 

 through the Crooked River country and obtained a few fossils 

 there. On the return trip, made by the way of Camp Watson, he 

 discovered the large exposures at Bridge Creek and supposed 

 them to be of the same system as the Crooked River beds. 



In passing through the John Day country on his return jour- 

 ney, Condon met Sam Snook, a resident of the region who had 

 already taken some notice of the fossd bones, and engaged his 

 service as a collector. 



The following summer, 1863, found Condon again collecting 

 and exploring at Bridge Creek and along the John Day. 



In 1864, probably in company with Snook, he first saw the 

 large exposures of John Day strata in what he has named Turtle 

 Cove. 



In [870 or '71, some specimens of teeth from the John Day 

 beds were sent by Condon to Prof. O. C. Marsh. Almost imme- 

 diately he received a request from Marsh to guide an expedition 

 from Yale into the new field. Marsh came out with a party 

 of fifteen or sixteen persons in the fall of 1871, and under Condon's 

 guidance visited some of the most important localities. A small 

 amount of collecting was done in what are now known as the John 

 Day and Mascall beds, but the work was chiefly reconnaisance. 

 While in the field Marsh engaged several collectors to carry on 

 the work for him. Systematic collecting began in the following 

 spring and was continued practically without interruption till 1877. 

 Most of the work during this period was done by L. S. Davis and 

 William Day, wno explored practically all of the exposures in the 

 region. 



Early in the winter of 1871, shortly after Marsh's visit to the 

 field, Lord Walsingham, William de Gray, while on a hunting 

 expedition, passed through the fossil fields and obtained some 

 valuable specimens at Turtle Cove and on Bridge Creek. His 

 small collection was presented to the British Museum and furnished 



