The Bone Wars and the U.S. Geological Survey

Nineteenth-century America—the setting of the Bone Wars—was all about expansion and discovery. Think: the Louisiana Purchase (a massive swath of land) and the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas (much larger than it is today) to the Union as its 28th state.

By the middle of the century, various states had established their own geological surveys to assess the geography and natural resources within their boundaries. In 1867, Congress sought consistency of objectives and minimization of expense by grouping the surveys under six larger surveys, divided among three government departments.

This is where the government surveys and the Bone Wars intersected.

Four of those surveys—led by Ferdinand Hayden, John Wesley Powell, Clarence King, and George Wheeler—were focused on the geography and geology of their appointee regions of the country. Therefore, men who specialized in these sciences accompanied the surveys’ annual expeditions. Paleontology was an emerging science, born of expertise in geology and biology. In various years, Edward Cope signed on with Hayden or Wheeler as survey geologist; in that way, he made many of his fossil discoveries. In fact, Cope shipped home numerous crates of amazing fossils—some of giant proportions!

And Marsh? Yale funded his expeditions to the West; but, suspiciously, he often crossed paths with survey crews—and Cope.