Utah (Quarry), 1914-1918

File — Box: 7, Volume: 32

Identifier: II

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Douglass worked at the dinosaur quarry in Jensen, Utah. The entries in this diary are concerned primarily with the work at the quarry.

2 October 1914--"Where the bones begin they are piled up almost like a dam. In some places they must be 5 or 6 ft. thick."
7 October 1914--"It would be a great triumph if we could get a skeleton of Allosaurus."
14 October 1914--"Things opening up in good shape and a quite a number of separate bones out. No large blocks yet."
19 October 1914--"As one great object is to find a skull articulated we do not wish to miss any chance of getting one."
26 October 1914--"This [journal] is intended as a record of work at the quarry and in connection with fossil-hunting. It may be very useful as a record at some future times yet I had intended it to be mostly for my own reference. . . .
"Though he, the director [of Carnegie Museum] sometimes seems only partly appreciative of the work done and the difficulties which have to be overcome, yet it is his interest and enthusiasm, first, and that of one or two others secondarily, which furnish the worker force for this undertaking.
"The management of the work here is left pretty much in my hands. I want to do the best it is possible to do. It is to my interest to do so at present.
"The work is interesting. Few have had the privilege of turning out so many big treasures as we are getting out and we should appreciate this fact.....
"I have good men under me. I think they all have an interest in the work outside of the money they get. . . .
"I cannot put in a full day at manual labor at the quarry and do all the planning, writing ordering and /or/ other things. That is out of the question, and if I am expected to be a mule and a manager at the same time I'd better get out, for I cant stand it and will not try. . . .
"I have served the museum a good many years with the hope of rising in the work--getting a share of honor due, and a living salary. Though I think I have done as much as any outside the director and Mr. Hatcher to increase the growth and fame of the museum, I have not gotten the things I hoped nor is there any prospect near that I will get them. I see very well that the policy which governs does not include independence honor or comfort for me, and I would be less a man than I should be if when I see a chance for me and mine if I do not improve it. I have interests of my own. If I had naught, I could gloriously look forward to dependence, not independence.
"It is true that Mr. Carnegie was pleased with my fortunate discovery and out of his uncounted millions gave me a few thousand, and I feel I owe him an undying debt of gratitude for as I do not get a living salary I needed it. . . .
"But if I can for some time yet serve the museum in the field, in natures fascinating realm away from human parasites and blood suckers who draw their life from others I shall be glad to do so. But no more of the degenerating blight of cities for me.
"I have got to look out for myself and mine, and though the salary comes [in] handy, and I want to earn it, I probably could manage to live without the help of the museum."
9 November 1914--"We first found jaws of Allosaurus or some other carnivorous Dinosaur and hope yet to find the skull."
18 November 1914--"The space which contains the bones is not so great but they are so piled on one another and interlocked that it is mostly a matter of continual pecking away with small tools.
"It will be slow work in a way yet we probably will get as many bones for the amount of labor as we ever did, and bones with less matrix. . . .
"We have forward limbs and lower jaws of a carnivorous dinosaur, the lower jaw of Brontosaurus (Marsh), a skull associated with the neck, of Diplodocus (the first time such a thing has been known), a neck one Centrum and cervical rib of which are almost 8 ft long. A huge cervical which probably belongs to Brontosaurus or something larger, a series of dorsals with the ribs attached etc. And almost every day there are surprises or something new or unknown coming to light.
"As long as we are getting such wonderfully interesting things it would be almost a crime to have to suspend work when we are at the climax of successful discovery, and I think it will not be suspended when we are making history so rapidly and we are at the harvest of our success. When the harvest is growing richer and more golden stores just ahead it would not be wise to suspend operations, especially when he have the expenses reduced to a minimum."
25 November 1914--"Thus far if there is no mistake we have found two skulls with mandibles and the mandible of Brontosaurus and with lots of hope for the future."
30 November 1914--"I have found part of the spinal column of the carnivorous dinosaur--something we have been looking for a long time. I believe as I have hoped for a long time, that we will get a mountable skeleton. This is a triumph."
9 December 1914--"After I saw how things were coming--how bones were built up in the quarry etc., I saw that it would take until February, then March, then April, then May, etc.
"But this is not all. It seems almost certain that some of the best skeletons will go below the track. In fact it looks now as if the line of the bottom of the cut--the track--would go through the best of the quarry."
29 December 1914--"The work of getting out bones is slow--a good deal of it on account of the hardness of the rock and their being piled up so thickly at the main focus of our work. But the way we are getting them out will shorten work in [the] laboratory and save freight."
12 January 1915--"We are still busily pecking away at the quarry. . .
"It seems that the bones are in some way the cause of the hardening of the rock. There is a good chemical study here. I must look it up but I think some of the mineral matter of the bone enters into some kind of a combination with the mineral matter in the percolating waters."
22 March 1915--"There were two things which we especially desired to get [from the quarry] which we have not gotten. We have no skull of Brontosaurus (Marsh) although we have mandulla of what Marsh referred to Brontosaurus.
"I have again been trying to estimate the length of skeleton .... the new data I have .... would make our animal about 140 ft long. I wonder if he was!!"
3 April 1915--"It seems that where the bones are the thickest and piled up most is in a rather narrow channel which we can now trace in the rock when the bone has been removed. . . .
"It seems that there is every reason (unless there be one--lack of funds) for pushing on the work here now if more work is going to be done here. . . .
"Everything is moving along smoothly and at minimum expense."
28 August 1915--"I have received the confirmed decision of the--well the office of the secretary of the Interior has turned down our mining claim so we [Carnegie], after expending thousands of dollars here have no more legal right to it than anyone else."
20 March 1916--"About Oct. 6 the eighty acres on which the quarry is located had been made into a National Monument. I did not understand the matter but thought Dr. Holland did and thought that he would be able to make arrangements so we could work it. As nothing was written to me concerning the matter from the office I at last telegraphed to Dr. Holland and wrote him a letter. He then made application to the Secretary of the interior for [a] permit to excavate and to remove specimens. This was granted after a time."
19 May 1916--"There is a growing sentiment in favor of providing a skeleton for Utah."
18 July 1916--"I am working with pick and shovel when I can do so to advantage. Then I have business, visitors, planning, etc to do and look after odds and ends to keep things running.
"During my spare time I wish to prepare a few charts explanations etc. explaining things I have to say over and over every time anyone comes."
29 July 1916--"Found tooth of 'Brontosaurus' yesterday. Good indication of what we want most--a skull. It strengthens hope that we will find it."
9 August 1916--"Yesterday . . . was a day which we hope will be worthy to be remembered. It was the day in which we discovered one of the two great things for which we are searching. . . . a skull!"
17 August 1916--"We started the practice too of having a turkey and a skull feast whenever we found a skull. . . .
"The quarry has never seriously disappointed us in but one thing [finding a skull] and now it seems it is in the long run, not disappointing us in that."
9 October 1916--"I think we ought to make application for permit to work quarry at least another year. . . .
"If we do not make application others undoubtedly will. There seems to be a release on the way now to get some specimens for the state museums of this state--the Deseret Museum and the Museum of the state university."
26 October 1916--"Others are wishing to get into the quarry and efforts are being made to secure one or more skeletons for the state of Utah, and I think they are awaiting the time when we get thru[?]."
7 February 1917--"I have long wished to find the preserved remains of the vegetation which flourished at the time the Dinosaurs lived. Have believed that some time we might find a place where the plants, especially the delicate ones are preserved."

Dates

1914-1918

Language of Materials

From the Collection: Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.