The Dinosaur Rush: Colorado's Bone Wars

The mountains of Colorado are rich with fossils and evidence of dinosaurs long since extinct. 

Paleontologists have learned so much about life on Earth through the discoveries made right here in the Rockies, and much of it is thanks to the ground-breaking (literally) work of two paleontologists during what's known as the Bone Wars of the 1870s and ‘80s. 

The Bone Wars, the Great Dinosaur Rush, the Fossil Feud, whatever you want to call it, was a race between two men to outdo each other, resulting in magnificent paleontological finds. 

If you live in our luxury Denver apartments, then you’re close to the epicenter of this fascinating battle for dinosaur bones!

The Bone Wars

Paleontology back then

Humans have been curious for as long as we’ve roamed the Earth, but the scientific study known as paleontology is a fairly recent development. 

Prior to the 1800s, fossils had been the subject of early thinkers’ examination since the 11th century. Chinese scientist Shen Kuo identified petrified bamboo in regions where none grew, leading him to believe that climate could change over long periods of time. Leonardo Da Vinci, the High Renaissance naturalist and scientist, saw how the presence of fossils could not only prove the existence of organisms from the ancient past, but also show evidence of past marine life on currently dry land. 

It was Georges Cuvier in the late 18th century whose studies on comparative methodology built the foundations of modern paleontology. The French scientist compared fossils to modern-day organisms and found that, as there were few if any similarities between the two specimens, it was possible for species to go extinct. From that understanding came the additional realization that one could combine the study of these extinct creatures with the study of geology to create a timeline of the Earth’s history and the history of living organisms. This became known as the fossil record. 

By the dawn of the 19th century, paleontology was becoming an increasingly popular scientific topic, especially with the emergence of geologic societies and museums to nurture public interest. At the same time, the oil, coal and railroad industries were picking up steam in the United States, meaning that earth-shattering discoveries were happening as the world was being reshaped by man.

Introducing the players

The Bone Wars were “fought” by two people in an almost never-ending feud, both of whom despised each other with such a passion that they ended up contributing more to the field of paleontology than they ever could have alone. 

Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel C. Marsh were both American paleontologists who were known in the scientific community to be rivals. In addition to supporting differing theories of evolution, Marsh’s personality was more of a methodical introvert, and Cope was a more of a spontaneous extrovert. The two did not get along. At all.

Their rivalry was more than just petty comments. When Cope received a shipment of Elasmosaurus bones from a teacher in Kansas, he accidently placed the head on the tail, rather than the neck. Marsh pointed this out in public and criticized Cope for his idiocy. 

Marsh also bribed workers at Cope’s dig site in Pennsylvania to direct any new discoveries to him rather than Cope. The dig site had already yielded the holotype fossil of Hadrosuaurus, and Marsh was eager to claim any additional finds. Cope found out and was, understandably, furious. 

Taking the fight to the West

The Bone Wars began in earnest after Marsh’s bribery at the Pennsylvania pits and Cope’s public humiliation of Marsh, and after that the two paleontologists were racing to outdo the other whenever, and wherever, possible.

In 1877, a school teacher named Arthur Lake contacted both Marsh and Cope regarding a potential dig site in Colorado where he had been hiking. According to Lake, he had been hiking around the construction area for the Transcontinental Railroad when he noticed evidence of fossils in the upturned rock. 

Both Marsh and Cope rushed their dig teams into Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming in a frantic attempt to find the most fossils. The two men regularly sabotaged each others’ dig sites by stealing fossils, throwing rocks and even destroying their own fossils so that the other couldn’t steal them. 

One particular incident in their very public rivalry resulted in an amazing find when two workers for the Union Pacific Railroad in Como Bluffs, Wyoming, took advantage of the scientists’ rivalry. The workers contacted Marsh about a group of fossils they had found. They said that if Marsh didn’t pay enough for these fossils, they would offer the findings to Cope instead. Of course, Marsh paid handsomely for the opportunity, and the fossils that headed his way became the first discoveries of the Stegosaurus, Allosaurus and Diplodocus dinosaurs. 

Revenge

Marsh’s success in finding fossils enraged Cope, so much so that Cope began stealing fossils from Marsh’s dig sites and bribing the railroad workers to direct finds to him instead. 

Marsh also enjoyed greater wealth and resources due in part to his wealthy uncle, George Peabody, whose name is on the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Marsh also sat at the head of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), giving him greater access to land. His success and reputation allowed him to undermine Cope’s research papers publicly without rebuke.

Cope grew increasingly frustrated and hateful toward Marsh, so when Congress launched an investigation into the USGS, Cope knew it was his time to strike. Cope had kept a detailed journal of all Marsh’s transgressions over the past two years, complete with accounts of bribery, theft, unfair wages and even outright felonies. The press seized on the journals, and Marsh responded with his own litany of Cope’s wrongdoings.

In the end, both men lost their positions in the scientific community and squandered their wealth on petty fights and subterfuge. Cope even requested that, after he died, his brain be examined to prove that it was bigger than Marsh’s. That never happened, and Cope’s cranium is still stored at the University of Pennsylvania, unexamined.

What it means for paleontology today

Marsh and Cope are by no means the pillars upon which we should base scientific decorum and healthy rivalry. They destroyed evidence solely to prevent the other from finding it, they bribed innocent bystanders and manipulated the press into defaming one another. However, one could argue that the scientific community wouldn’t have nearly the same amount of fossil evidence if it hadn’t been for the maniacal rivalry that spurred the two men to compete.

Marsh is credited with discovering around 80 new species and genera, and Cope is said to have discovered at least 56. In terms of paleontology, those discoveries were huge leaps forward! Much of what we know today is based on what these two men discovered during the heated Bone Wars. 

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/dmusicat