A Brief History of Vertebrate Fossil Collecting in Western Kansas

Abstract

Western Kansas has been known for 125 years for the collecting of vertebrate fossils. Numerous spectacular and important specimens have been collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Formation of Cretaceous age as well as from the younger Tertiary and Quaternary deposits. The early history of collecting was influenced by two factors, the building of army forts along the Smoky Hill Trail and the energy of Benjamin F. Mudge. There are two major repositories of vertebrate fossils in the State, the Sternberg Memorial Museum at Fort Hays State University, Hays and the Museum of Natural History at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. The Sternberg Museum can trace its development via George F. Sternberg through his father, Charles H, and uncle, George M., who was an army physician at one of the forts. The vertebrate fossil collections at the University of Kansas can trace their beginnings from H. T. Martin and S. W. Williston to Mudge. Other early giants of paleontology, such as E. D. Cope, O. C. Marsh, J. C. Leidy, and J. B. Hatcher, began their work or enhanced their reputations with research on Kansas fossils.