Native Americans were the first to encounter dinosaur bones and other fossils buried in the earth for eons and then exposed by wind and rain.  Long before the arrival of Europeans, American Natives had been the first to experience the thrill of discovering ancient bones which had been buried for thousands of years.  This resulted in fossil collectors taking specimens from the tribal lands since Western scientists discovered them in the United States in the mid-1800s.

The “Bone Wars,” also known as the “Great Dinosaur Rush,” was a period of intense and ruthlessly competitive fossil hunting and discovery in the last half of the 1800s.  It was marked by a heated rivalry between Edward D. Cope (of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia) and Othniel C. Marsh (of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale).

Each of the two paleontologists used underhanded methods to try to outdo the other in the field, resorting to bribery, theft, and the destruction of bones.  Each scientist also sought to ruin his rival’s reputation and cut off his funding.

Their search for fossils led them west to the rich fossil beds of Western Dakota.  From 1875 to 1892, both paleontologists used their wealth and influence to finance their own expeditions and to procure services and dinosaur bones from fossil hunters.  By the end of the “Bone Wars,” both men had exhausted their funds in the pursuit of paleontological supremacy.

The Yankton Daily Press and Dakotaian of July 20, 1875 printed a lengthy article and letter that had been written to President Grant by Prof. Othniel C. Marsh.

“Following is a portion of the letter,” the article began, “of Prof. Marsh of Yale College, to the president in relation to the pending charges of fraud and mismanagement of Indian affairs by the interior department of the United States Government:  Sir: — In November last, while on a geological expedition to explore the ‘Bad Lands’ south of the Black Hills, I was obliged to pass near Red Cloud Agency, and was detained there several days by the opposition of the Sioux Indians.”

“In endeavoring to appease the Indians, and obtain their permission to proceed with my party, I had several councils with Red Cloud and his principal chiefs, saw the issue of annuity goods, and provisions, and had other opportunities of seeing actual state of affairs at this important agency.  I found the Indians in want of food and clothing, greatly dissatisfied with their agent, J. J. Saville, and strong in their belief that they were systematically defrauded of the goods and supplies sent them by the government.”

“In one council attended by nearly all the prominent chiefs, Red Cloud made specific charges of fraud, against the agent and contractors, and urged me to make known to the great father, and to carry to him samples of the rations the Indians were then receiving.  Mainly to gain consent for my expedition to proceed, I made Red Cloud the promise he desired.  Soon after, he gave me samples of flour, sugar, coffee and tobacco, to show to you, assuring me that they were the rations he himself was using, and fair samples of those lately issued to his people.”

As a result of the promise made to Red Cloud and his associates, their opposition to the Prof. Marsh explorations of the “Bad Lands” ceased and he was able to search for dinosaur bones in 1875.

Before his leaving South Dakota, Prof. Marsh once more visited the Red Cloud Agency to confirm what he had learned earlier.  He soon found out that he had reason to believe that their statements of mis-management and fraud were true.  The information that he received from Army officers and other trustworthy observers indicated that affairs at the agency had long been in the same condition.

In an 1887 letter to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, General R. Nicholson explained that he was a member of the Yale College expedition which Prof. O. O. Marsh took across the plains.  It included the exploration and study of fossils in the “Bad Lands” south of the Black Hills.  He wrote:  “One peculiarity of the professor was that he was a very nervous and rather timid horseman.  He was continually talking to his horse . . . .  After we had been out a couple of months we fell in with some friendly Indians, one of whom we hired as a guide.”

“The professor,” Nicholson continued, “had a great ambition to impress these children of the wilderness, and we knew that nothing would please him so much as to receive some name from them indicative of the character of his pursuit.  The Indians certainly were impressed by him, but not in the way he expected and desired.”

One day a member of the Marsh party came to the professor and said:  “Prof. Marsh, Indian Jim has given you a name.”  Marsh drew himself up, and, with a good deal of expressed eagerness, asked what it was.  He was expecting to hear something like “White Chief” or “Big Medicine Bone Man,” referring to his search of fossils.

Those who had ridden with Marsh in the past all agreed that the new name given him by the Native Americans was appropriate.  This new name was based on how he rode, the way he managed his horse, and the constant conversation he had with the critter.  The name they gave him was not anything like the title he expected.

To the Native Americans who knew him, he was known as “Heap Whoa Man.”

 

Author Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on November 6, 2024