The Granger Report, January 13, 2009

8/14/2019 The Granger Report, January 13, 2009

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THE GRANGER REPORT (http://users.rcn.com/granger.nh.ultranet/news.html)Update - 13 January 2009

A. - Fact Sheet #1 for Kids (and Adults):

1. Walter Granger's first expedition to the American West was in 1894. Heaccompanied Jacob Wortman's fossil hunting party which included Olaf Peterson andAlbert Thomson.

2. In 1896, Granger replaced Peterson and, with Wortman and others, visited famedamateur archaeologist Richard Wetherill at the newly discovered, now famousAnazasi site at Chaco Canyon (New Mexico). From there the fossil hunters headeddeep into the San Juan Basin.

3. The famous dinosaur locality now known as Bone Cabin Quarry near Medicine Bow,Wyoming, was discovered by Walter Granger in late August of 1897. Excavation ofthe site began in 1898. Some sources incorrectly associate Barnum Brown and/orothers with this discovery. Not so. Barnum Brown and/or others had nothing to dowith Bone Cabin Quarry's discovery or its subsequent excavation. The key playersin the excavation of Bone Cabin Quarry following Granger's discovery of it wereGranger, Jacob Wortman, Albert Thomson, Harold Menke and Peter Kaisen. Wortman was

gone by 1899, leaving Granger in charge.

4. Walter Granger was the first US paleontologist to collect on a non-Americancontinent. It was in the Fayum of Egypt in 1907. George Olsen assisted him, as didEgyptian workers.

5. Walter Granger was the first paleontologist to collect in the Yangtze Riverbasin. He was assisted by Buckshot (Kan Chuen Pao), Chow (Chao Hui Lu), Liu (LiuTa Ling) and others.

6. Walter Granger was the first paleontologist to collect in Inner and OuterMongolia. In 1922, the Mongolia expedition party was a small reconnaissance partylimited to a paleontologist, two geologists, a zoologist and a cinemaphotographer.

It was much the same in 1923, except that three assistants in paleontology wereadded and the cinemaphotographer was dropped. It was not until the 1925 party thatother scientific disciplines were added, such as archaeology, topography, andpaleobotany. The cinemaphotographer was brought back, as well.

George Olsen assisted Granger on two Mongolia expeditions (1923 and 1925) andduring winters in the laboratory in Peking (1923-25), as did Chinese and Mongolianworkers. Buckshot, Chow, and Liu served throughout. Peter Kaisen assisted inMongolia for one summer (1923) and Albert Thomson served there for two (1928 and1930).

7. The first find of whole dinosaur eggs was by George Olsen at Flaming Cliffs inOuter Mongolia on July 10, 1923. This was not the first discovery of dinosaur

eggs. In 1869, the French claimed to find a dinosaur eggshell fragment in thePyrenees. However, this claim remained in doubt. The first scientifically acceptedfind of a dinosaur egg was an eggshell fragment found by Walter Granger onSeptember 2, 1922, at Flaming Cliffs, the same place Olsen made his discovery ofwhole dinosaur eggs and their nest a year later. Some sources mistakenly cite thedate for Olsen's find as July 13, 1923. Not so. It was made on July 10, 1923.

Olsen promptly notified Granger of his find. Roy Chapman Andrews, however, did notbecome aware of it for nearly another two weeks. (Anyone know why? Hint: location,location, location--what was Andrews doing when Olsen found the eggs?)


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8. The scientific fieldwork of the Central Asiatic Expeditions (CAE) wascoordinated by Walter Granger who was the CAE's chief paleontologist and second-in-command.

9. Roy Andrews, by his own admission in his own publications, was not apaleontologist or a competent fossil collector.

10. Like a number of US civilians living in key areas abroad during the time, Roy

Andrews served the US Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) as a paid civilianinformant for a few months during 1918-1919. He operated under cover of hiscuratorship with the American Museum of Natural History. He even had a code name.(Anyone know what it was?) He was not, however, a trained spy. Nor was he a memberof the US military. And he did not actually serve for a WWI purpose--his use wasfor post-WWI purposes. His term of service, however was briefer than the year hesigned up for. He inked the deal in Washington, DC, in June of 1918, returned toPeking with his wife Yvette and son George a few weeks later and, after settlingin, began snooping around in China and Mongolia. In April, 1919, however, the ONIabruptly terminated his service. (Anyone know why? Hint: peeping eyes--couldYvette have had anything to do with it?)

By the way, three of Andrews' sponsors for the ONI job were heads of major

American scientific institutions. (Anyone know who and which?)

And, while Walter Granger interacted with various members of the British andAmerican navy Yangtze River gunboat patrols in China during the early 1920s anddid exchange information with them, there is no record that he operated as a paidcivilian informant.

11. Walter Granger spent significantly more time in the field during the CentralAsiatic Expeditions than did any other member. His Chinese assistants Chow andBuckshot were the next in accumulated field time. They served with Granger inChina and Mongolia. From 1921 to 1930, Granger made one four-day expedition toZhoukoudian, four winter-long expeditions to the Yangtze basin (Sichuan andYunnan), and five summer-long expeditions to the Gobi basin (Inner and Outer

Mongolia, as they were then known). He also returned to the States three times.

Only one other CAE westerner served both on China (1925-26 and 1926-27) andMongolia (1925) expeditions. He was CAE archaeologist Nels C. Nelson.

Anna Granger, Walter's wife, and Ethelyn Nelson, Nels' wife, were the only womento serve on the CAE's China expeditions. Anna attended three (1922-23, 1925-26,1926-27) and Ethelyn attended two (1925-26, 1926-27). They were considered adjunctmembers of the CAE. These were the most dangerous expeditions by the CAE anywhere.

Yvette Andrews, Roy's wife, briefly accompanied the 1922 CAE Mongolia party fromKalgan to Urga and then returned to Peking. She never went into the field again.

12. Walter Granger's favorite baseball team was the Brooklyn Dodgers. His favoritestate was Vermont. His next favorite state was Wyoming. And although George Olsenand Albert Thomson were among his very best friends and field companions, hethought Nels Nelson was the best camp mate he had ever known.

B. - Fact Sheet #2 for Kids (and Adults):

1. The first known Mongolia-Gobi transit by motorcar was:a. Roy Chapman Andrews et al. in 1918-1919b. Roy Chapman Andrews et al. in 1922


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c. Walter Granger et al. in 1921d. Prince Scipione Borghese et al. in 1907e. Vladimir Obruchev in 1892-1894

Answer: d. Italian Prince Scipione Luigi Marcantanio Francesco Rodolfo Borgheseand his driver/mechanic Ettore Guizzardi drove an Itala 35/45 across the Gobi-Mongolia along the ancient camel caravan route from Kalgan at the Great Wallnorthwest to Urga near the Russian border and into Siberia and beyond during the

famed 1907 motorcar race from Peking to Paris. The Italian journalist LuigiBarzini accompanied them stuffed in a makeshift back seat wedged between two extragas tanks mounted over the rear fenders. Barzini recorded the event and reportedon it whenever possible to a rapt world audience via the telegraph stations thatdotted the route along the way. Yes, there was a telegraph line from China toRussia strung across the Gobi-Mongolia in 1907. They served as Borghese'sguideposts over the Mongolian plains and Gobi desert.

Four other cars competed in the 1907 Peking to Paris race, although Borghese ledall the way. Since all but one of them made it to Urga, there really are fourrecorded motorcar crossings of the Gobi-Mongolia in 1907. Many such crossingswould follow thereafter, of course, since the race's purpose was to prove thatfeasibility. By the time of the Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic

Expeditions in 1922, auto traffic between Kalgan and Urga was commonplace.

So, how, in 1907, did Borghese and his fellow competitors manage to make it allthe way across a rather primitive Gobi-Mongolia in open, two-seater cars withlimited carrying capacity? There were no fuel stations or auto supply and repairshops or rest stations. The cars couldn't possibly carry all the fuel, oil, water,supplies and spares needed to negotiate the 800 miles from Kalgan to Urga. Infact, these were cached in advance: all requisite items and spares weretransported up the route by camel caravan and dropped off at predeterminedlocations along the way. Yes, that was in 1907, a full fifteen years ahead of theCentral Asiatic Expeditions which adopted the same method!

2. Which of the following was a member of the Freemasons?

a. Theodore Rooseveltb. Lowell Thomasc. James B. Shackelford (CAE cinema photographer)d. Walter Grangere. Al Jolson

Answer: all of the above.

3. Who wrote the following and when?"In Mongolia, and in the desert of Gobi, we were to find ourselves able to get upspeed only in crossing virgin land. There are plains over which the best road forthe automobile is where no road is marked! A few years ago we could not haverisked ourselves without a guide over the endless Mongolian prairies and over the

desert. Now there is an invaluable guide along the camel road: it is thetelegraph. You blindly follow the lines of the telegraph poles for about eighthundred miles, and you reach Urga. In those distant regions, over the endlesssolitude of Central Asia, the nearness of the telegraph, meant for us a nearnessto our own world, and this was a further reason for the choice we made."

a. Roy Chapman Andrews, 1922b. Walter Granger, 1922c. Luigi Barzini, 1908d. Vladimir Obruchev, 1895e. Yvette Borup Andrews, 1919


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Answer: c. Luigi Barzini in Peking to Paris (1908) at p. 62.

4. Who wrote the following and when?"The geology of this part of the world is occupying more and more commercialattention and I believe the work which Professors Berkey and Morris can do willnot only be of great value scientifically but also make our Expedition of directeconomic importance."

a. U.S. President Warren G. Harding, 1922b. Walter Granger, 1922c. Henry Fairfield Osborn, 1922d. Roy Chapman Andrews, 1922e. Yvette Borup Andrews, 1922

Answer: d. Roy Chapman Andrews in a letter written in 1922 to Henry FairfieldOsborn.

5. To facilitate their exit from a warlord battle at Wanhsien (Wanxian) on theUpper Yangtze in March, 1923, Anna Granger departed the city aboard the Americangunboat USS Palos (II) while Walter departed aboard a rented junk which also

carried his men as well as expedition equipment and fossils. The junk sailed underthe protective guard of the Palos (II).

6. The 'Central Asiatic Expeditions' began as the 'Third Asiatic Expedition' sinceit followed Andrews' First and Second Zoological Asiatic Expeditions. It wasrenamed 'Central Asiatic Expeditions' by American Museum of Natural Historypresident Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1926 "because," Granger wrote his father, "thepublic never seemed to understand that this was all the Third Asiatic Expeditionregardless of how many years we took to do it. Personally I much preferred to keepthe old name regardless and it will still be used on scientific labels, etc."***I'm always happy to assist, chat and/or drop hints. You may contact me at:[email protected]

--Vin Morgan

The Granger Papers Project is an independent research, editing and writing projectfeaturing the personal expedition diaries and letters of American paleontologistand explorer Walter Granger (1872-1941) and his wife Anna (1874-1952). In severalsignificant respects, this is the first treatment of Walter Granger's era based ona significantly more complete documentary record. In addition to paleontology, thestudy of evolution, and Granger's pioneering fieldwork in the Fayum of Egypt in1907, in China and Mongolia from 1921 to 1930 (Central Asiatic Expeditions), andin the American West throughout his life, research topics include: Americanforeign policy; western civilian, missionary, and military interests in Asia; theFirst and Second Asiatic Expeditions; The Explorers Club; the American Museum ofNatural History; and previously published accounts of, by, or about the aforesaid.

Address interest or inquiry to us at [email protected].

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The Granger Report, January 13, 2009