1885 Marsh and Felch Letters

Synopsis of Letters (1885)

1885 contains only two letters from Marsh. Presumably, the missing letters were lost when a gust of wind blew the Marsh to Felch letters out of a tent in Utah Sarah was living in. Sarah managed to collect the rest of the letters and brought them to a man by the name of Earl Douglas of the United States Geological Survey circa 1925 (Story of Marsh to Felch Letters). This story explains the letters' path to preservation responsible for more and more people coming to know them.

Early in 1885 there were problems surrounding shipping the fossils to Marsh (1/10/1885), the delay of work due to a lack of financial support (2/13/1885), and a neighbor/prior quarry worker (a man named Walter Weld) taking a claim out on the quarry itself (2/13/1885 & 3/4&16/1885). At one point, Felch received $200.00 for putting a claim on a certain part of the land that holds the quarry (3/30/1885). Later, he told Marsh to deduct the amount from his pay (6/25/1885). It was in this year that the anterior end ("headward" end of a vertebrate body) of the stegosaur known as "Roadkill" was uncovered. The fossil skeleton now resides at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Some specimens excavated, partially, or otherwise in full:

  • Skeleton 7, NMNH 4734: Allosaurus fragilis skull and skeleton described by Gilmore, on display at the NMNH, SI
  • Skeleton 9: "Brontosaurus" (Apatosaurus) still in the original blocks unprepared
  • Skeleton 10: Supposed crocodilian skull, lost
  • Skeleton 11, NMNH 4934: Stegosaurus stenops skull and skeleton described by Gilmore, on display at the NMNH, SI (the "Roadkill")

Other letters of note

1/6/1885: Much of the early part of each of the years Felch corresponded with Marsh, Felch was philosophical. This letter demonstrates some of Felch's ideas on his life and work in the quarry up to this point.

3/16/1885: Felch was sick and holds back little. He appears grumpy. He mentions the Homestead Act and "Tellers rulings" and the annoyance it is to have a prior worker (Weld) being so greedy in placing a claim on what is protected under the Homestead Act. Felch even went to see a lawyer for the first time in his life.

7/25/1885: This letter is an example of how it could be frustrating to supervise the help Felch had in the quarry. He mentions that the men are not interested in anything smaller than a barn door.

9/7/1885: A humerus had been vandalized by curious town folk. Felch contacted a lawyer (again) and the fossil was returned. He is visited by a man named Dr. White from the United States Geological Survey. Dr. White studied fossil invertebrates. Felch cut his left leg that later became infected.

9/16/1885: Felch defined what he called a "run," which is all the rock between two seams made in the rock. The "run" is what contained the fossils.

9/26/1885: In this letter, Felch described pulling the fossils out in blocks from the "runs" he had created. Once they were out, he used a glue (perhaps water glass or gum Arabic) to harden the parts of the blocks that contained the fossils.

11/15/1885: Showing some humor, Felch described, with some sarcasm, the difficulty of taking out the fossils that were all jumbled together in the paragraph beginning with "The proximal ends…"

11/16/1885: Felch was writing to Marsh to say that he had not yet received the remittance for October which he needed. He had to borrow money to cover expenses.

11/22/1885: Felch wrote to say since he had vandals the passed September he had to keep a man at the quarry on Sundays. He wanted to put barbed wire up. There were already "keep out" notices on the property. They were also getting ready to ship out the fossils excavated that year. The end of each of the years was always busy with all work and no play.

12/9/1885: Felch and his best and main helper/neighbor tried to come up with an idea about how the dermal plates fit onto stegosaurus.

12/27/1885: Felch ended the year in doubt about continuing in the quarry.