1 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of iHeartRadio and 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: Grimm and Mild from Air and Manky. 3 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 2: The Victorian Age was a time of wonder. The people 4 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 2: were experiencing things that felt nothing short of magical. They 5 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 2: saw their cities light up with electricity. They sat for 6 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 2: new fangled cameras and took home images of themselves on 7 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:37,520 Speaker 2: silver plates. Cable lines carried their telegrams to loved ones 8 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 2: thousands of miles away. Their disembodied voices flowed through telephone receivers. 9 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 2: They also witnessed the invention of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs, of course, 10 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 2: lived and died far before anyone, let alone people of 11 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 2: the Victorian era, ever stepped foot on this planet. But 12 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 2: it was this generation when the dinosaur's story began again. 13 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 2: Humans had been unearthing strangely fossilized bones and other remains 14 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,400 Speaker 2: for centuries, but what were they, exactly where did they 15 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 2: come from? The debate had long been heated. Some believed 16 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,040 Speaker 2: they were left by the devil, others thought they were 17 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 2: remnants of Noah's flood. At the time in Europe, most 18 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 2: didn't realize that these were the remains of creatures who 19 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 2: had lived a very long time ago. The study of 20 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 2: these remnants began to codify in the seventeen hundreds, as 21 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 2: paleontology got its start. The term finds its origin in 22 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 2: the Greek words for ancient palaeo, being anto and study ology. 23 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 2: Curious minds began to classify and label these bits and 24 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 2: pieces of ancient beings, trying to make sense of what 25 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 2: they once were. Fossils supported the theories presented in Charles 26 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 2: Darwin's On the Origin of the Species, which to the 27 00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 2: Victorian mind was either hugely exciting or hugely blasphemed. In 28 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty one, Britain launched their Great Exhibition, a showing 29 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 2: of magnificent resources pillaged from their colonies. They hired a 30 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 2: man by the name of Joseph Paxton to design and 31 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 2: construct a showcase, and he did just that, building a 32 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 2: massive structure of steel and glass, naming it the Crystal Palace. 33 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 2: A British sculptor and natural history illustrator, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, 34 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 2: was hired to fill it up. Benjamin was taken by 35 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 2: the ideas of the natural world and had designs on 36 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 2: giving humanity something that had never seen before. He set 37 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 2: his sights on creating sculptures of all kinds of extinct 38 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 2: animals and placing them among greenery. He received advice from 39 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 2: famed paleontologist Sir Richard Owen, the fellow who had only 40 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 2: recently coined the word dinosaur, and so Benjamin got to work. 41 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 2: He looked at notes, diagrams, and the fossils themselves. He 42 00:02:57,840 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 2: had a lot of parts, but not a lot of 43 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 2: direction for how to assemble them. But he had his 44 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 2: artistic sensibility and a vague understanding of anatomy, and knew 45 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 2: how to take big swings. What was also true was 46 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 2: that no one was going to know if he was wrong. 47 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 2: Benjamin began constructing his hulking beasts with a combination of clay, brick, tiles, 48 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 2: and cement, all supported on iron columns. Some contained thirty 49 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 2: tons of clay. He built thirty three different creatures and 50 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 2: placed them in the palace's green gardens. These were the 51 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 2: first life sized models of dinosaurs ever constructed. Visitors could 52 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 2: walk right up to a creature that supposedly existed many 53 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 2: millions of years ago, something that seemed inconceivable to the 54 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 2: minds of so many The sculptures ended up being wildly 55 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 2: popular and are still on display in London today. In retrospect, 56 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 2: Benjamin statues are rife with error, and to our modern eye, 57 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 2: sometimes silly looking, but they represented some thing hugely important. 58 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 2: They've acted as touchstones by which we can measure scientific 59 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 2: progress and acknowledge our own evolutions in thought and theory. 60 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 2: If the Victorians thought they knew a lot, then it's 61 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 2: become more clear in contemporary times how much we simply 62 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 2: don't know. Today paleo illustrators are constantly updating what they 63 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 2: know about dinosaurs and trying to more accurately represent them. 64 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,160 Speaker 2: It's a tall order to try to perfectly recreate an 65 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 2: animal based only on its fossils. Even still, we feel 66 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 2: compelled to know who and what has walked before us. 67 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 2: And for some this question has turned into a fascination, 68 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 2: which then morphed into obsession. And where obsession arises, so 69 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 2: often does a good story. I'm Lauren Bogelbaum. Welcome to 70 00:04:52,960 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 2: American Shadows. When Andrew Carnegie unfolded his newspaper that morning 71 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 2: in eighteen ninety nine, he read the front page, headlined 72 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 2: exclaiming that the most colossal animal ever on Earth had 73 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 2: been discovered. He knew that it had to be his. 74 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 2: There was nothing that the richest man in the world 75 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 2: wanted that he couldn't have. Andrew Carnegie was a product 76 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 2: and poster boy of the Gilded Age. It was a 77 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 2: time of glitter and gold, of ostentatious wealth and opulence. 78 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 2: Author Mark Twain coined the term to characterize the new 79 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 2: American aristocracy that was on the rise in the period 80 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 2: after the Civil War. The country was hitting a growth spurt. 81 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 2: The railroads and laws benefiting industrial production infused the country 82 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:49,600 Speaker 2: with jobs and money, But underneath that guilt veneer there 83 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 2: was darkness and corruption. A new class of people were 84 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 2: forged at this moment. The industrialists the money largely lined 85 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 2: their pockets and created a system of social inequity unlike 86 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 2: anything America had ever seen before. They wielded power unmatched 87 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 2: by politicians and often made the rules by which others 88 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 2: had to play. The tycoons and lawmakers scratched each other's 89 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 2: backs and cut back room deals, amassing wealth while exploiting 90 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 2: the working class. Every major business, from railroads to timber, meatpacking, 91 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 2: to steel and oil to tobacco, came under the pull 92 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 2: of these captains of industry. That money needed to go somewhere, 93 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 2: a spending became almost a performance art, as the moneyed 94 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 2: class erected massive homes, through lavish parties and curated exquisite collections. 95 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,160 Speaker 2: Carnegie was able to purchase the dinosaur that he had 96 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 2: read about, but it fell short of his expectations. It 97 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 2: just wasn't grand enough not to be discouraged. He commissioned 98 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 2: his own fossil hunting team to find a dinosaur that 99 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 2: was going to be bigger and better than anything anyone 100 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 2: had ever seen, and they did just that, discovering a 101 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,359 Speaker 2: fossil in Wyoming that was over seventy feet long and 102 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 2: weighed more than fourteen tons. This new species was named 103 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 2: after him, the Diplodocus carnegie Eye. Andrew Carnegie was just 104 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 2: one of many who hopped on the prehistoric bandwagon. The 105 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 2: rich loved their dinosaurs. They were big, they were expensive 106 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 2: to find, they were rare, there were limited quantities of them. 107 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 2: These qualifications created a national hunger that many would go 108 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 2: to great lengths to satisfy. The moment leading up to 109 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 2: Carnegie's purchase was marked by a blazing period of intense excavation, 110 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 2: spearheaded by two men entangled in an intense rivalry off. 111 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 2: Neil Marsh, the first professor of paleontology in the United States, 112 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 2: and Edward Cope, a wealthy enthusiast, had long been a pair, 113 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 2: embattled and embittered, dueling for palaeontological supremacy, power, and fame. 114 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 2: These two men were different worlds. As individuals, they embodied 115 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 2: the social and economic differences of the Gilded Age. Marsh 116 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 2: was born on October twenty ninth of eighteen thirty one 117 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 2: in Lockport, New York, to a family with little money 118 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 2: in fewer connections. His father was a farmer and his 119 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 2: mother was soon dead. Marsh's mother had been the younger 120 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 2: sister of George Peabody, a wealthy banker and philanthropist. Marsh 121 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 2: might have gone on to become a farmer like his father, 122 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 2: but his uncle stepped in and paid for his education. 123 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 2: He eventually made his way to Yale, where he became 124 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 2: utterly taken by Darwin and his new ideas on evolution. 125 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 2: This would become his life's work, and he soon went 126 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 2: on to pursue an education at the University of Berlin. 127 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 2: It was there, in eighteen sixty three that he met 128 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:53,559 Speaker 2: a wealthy, fiery classmate named Edward Cope. They shared similar 129 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 2: interests and friends, though their approaches to life and study 130 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 2: were radically different. Marsh was studious and regimented a while 131 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 2: Cope took a more unconventional approach to his education, preferring travel, 132 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 2: on the job, training, and mentorship. The Cope saw Darwin's 133 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,440 Speaker 2: origin of the species as the key to unlocking the 134 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,439 Speaker 2: secrets of life on Earth, whereas Marsh harbored more conventional 135 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 2: religious beliefs and regarded life as a project and intentional 136 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:24,960 Speaker 2: gradual design. Even so, both remained in touch after they 137 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 2: returned to the United States and kicked off their palaeontological careers. 138 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,320 Speaker 2: In time, they would even name some new discoveries after 139 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:36,599 Speaker 2: each other. Cope and Marsh continued their relationship via correspondence, 140 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 2: sending manuscripts of papers they planned to write, along with 141 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 2: fossils and photos back and forth. They could have been 142 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 2: great collaborators, but instead, as it often does, greed got 143 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,559 Speaker 2: in their way. The road to success wouldn't be paved 144 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,680 Speaker 2: in bones for these two men, it was often paved 145 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 2: with sabotage. The Great dinosaur Rush was about to begin. 146 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 2: Cope and Marsh had a love hate relationship in frenemies. 147 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:16,199 Speaker 2: If you will. They respected each other's brilliance in verve, 148 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 2: but simmering under all of that were egos that needed 149 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 2: to be sated. Upon their returns from Berlin, Cope and 150 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 2: Marsh worked together on many digs, celebrating and squabbling in 151 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 2: equal measure. But one project in eighteen sixty eight would 152 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 2: set the stage for their greatest disagreement yet. Southern New 153 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 2: Jersey is home to a singular deposit of this strange, 154 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 2: beautiful green sand, leftover from a time millions of years 155 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:48,319 Speaker 2: ago when the place was underwater. It's rich in glauconite, 156 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,560 Speaker 2: a green mineral that characterizes the deposit, and also it 157 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 2: seems rich in fossils. A Cope wanted to dig there, 158 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 2: and he invited Marsh to come along. They set out 159 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 2: to New Jersey to make some discoveries, make some names, 160 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 2: and make some money. They knew that everything that could 161 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 2: be found there would be incredibly valuable, especially now that 162 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 2: more people were collecting fossils than ever before. They hired 163 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:17,679 Speaker 2: teams of people to help them. The dirty business of 164 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 2: digging up fossils required many hands and lots of organization, 165 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 2: so it was imperative that they find the right labor 166 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 2: to do the job. Scouts and site managers, operators and 167 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 2: diggers were soon on site for their part. Cope and 168 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 2: Marsh analyzed, cataloged, and then shipped these discoveries back to 169 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 2: their offices via hired railroad workers. And because this was 170 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 2: Cope's dig, anything that was discovered technically belonged to him. 171 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:48,839 Speaker 2: It's here in these silty green sands they unearthed all 172 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 2: kinds of beautiful creatures, including ancient turtles and crocodiles that 173 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 2: died over sixty six million years ago. They found dinosaur 174 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 2: bones and giant sea bound lizards. As they broke down 175 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 2: camp and parted ways, they shook hands amicably and wished 176 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 2: each other well. But what Cope didn't realize was that 177 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,240 Speaker 2: Marsh had bribed the laborers to siphon off some of 178 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 2: their fines back to his office in New Haven, Connecticut. 179 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 2: And when Cope soon learned about this, he felt utterly 180 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 2: betrayed and absolutely furious. This, however, didn't stop them from 181 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 2: continuing to work together. They admired each other intensely, bitterly, 182 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 2: and jealously. They each knew the other had connections, institutional resources, 183 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 2: and smarts, which further fanned the flames of their rivalry. 184 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 2: At times they were the best of frenemies. They would 185 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 2: do almost anything to get a leg up on the other. 186 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 2: Both had great personal wealth and were willing to throw 187 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 2: money at their problems. It didn't take them long to 188 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 2: start playing dirtier. Even though fossil hunting began on the 189 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 2: East coast, the situation soon became the Wheiled West, a 190 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 2: total free for all in the race for scientific glory 191 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 2: and the money that came with truly rare and unique fines. 192 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 2: In one instance, Marsh publicly humiliated Cope when he pointed 193 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:17,040 Speaker 2: out that his reconstruction of a water bound plesiosaur called 194 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 2: an elasmosaurus was incorrect because in his reconstruction, Cope had 195 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 2: put the head at the end of the short tail 196 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 2: instead of at the end of the long neck. After 197 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 2: they called in other experts to settle the dispute, a 198 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 2: Cope was horrified to realize that he and everything he 199 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:38,440 Speaker 2: had recently published about his discovery was indeed incorrect. The 200 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 2: whole field became a battleground for their squabbling as they 201 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,320 Speaker 2: rushed to both pull in other scientists and flood the 202 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:49,560 Speaker 2: field with their own publishing. As they rushed, they got sloppy, 203 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 2: Cope started pushing further west into Kansas and Wyoming, what 204 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 2: Marsh considered his territory for finding fossils. It was a 205 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,720 Speaker 2: gentleman's understand that each had their own turf, but Cope 206 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 2: decided he would no longer abide by these arbitrary rules. 207 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 2: Any kind of warmth between them chilled in eighteen seventy two. 208 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 2: As they pushed further and further west, they became desperate 209 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 2: to outdo each other, pumping more and more resources into 210 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 2: digging up the earth. They also weren't actually at the 211 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 2: pits that were being excavated. They relied solely young collectors 212 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 2: to get them what they wanted and to ship everything 213 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 2: back east. It was an exercise of trust, it seems, 214 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 2: and in the haze of paranoia around their own relationship 215 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 2: a Cope and Marsh failed to realize the secondary duplicity 216 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,080 Speaker 2: at hand. You see, the market for bones and other 217 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 2: fossils was prone to fraud. There was no established regulatory 218 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 2: framework for how to do all this, and these vines 219 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 2: often traveled great distances over large amounts of time. It 220 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 2: was hard to keep track of contracts and laborers. Whatever 221 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 2: arrived in crates was usually going to be what you got. 222 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 2: As the railroads moved further west and explorers and colonists followed, 223 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 2: plenty of lines were established and plenty of hands were 224 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,360 Speaker 2: willing to get paleontologists like Marsh and Cope what they wanted. 225 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 2: These folks were often paid well by their scientist bosses, 226 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 2: but the handsome pay didn't necessarily guarantee worker loyalty. Those 227 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 2: muscling the dirt knew that their labor and their fines 228 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 2: were in high demand, and their affections could be bought. 229 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 2: In eighteen seventy three, Marsh wrote publicly that he believed 230 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 2: half of his discoveries in the West were poached from 231 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 2: him in this way. In that same year, the scientific 232 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 2: journal The American Naturalist decided that it would stop publishing 233 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 2: any materials from either scientist, even though Cope later had 234 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 2: a huge ownership stake in the publication. There was one dig, though, 235 00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 2: that would prove to end all digs. It was discuss covered. 236 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 2: The Como Bluff, Wyoming, was home to one of the 237 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:13,080 Speaker 2: richest bone quarries ever discovered. The bones and other fossils 238 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 2: at Coma Bluff were discovered in eighteen seventy seven by 239 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 2: geologist Arthur Lakes. It was a veritable gold mine, one 240 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 2: of the richest deposits ever found. It would become known 241 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 2: as the Morrison Formation, a huge span of sediment that 242 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 2: reaches from New Mexico to Montana. It stretches back, encompassing 243 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 2: over two hundred million years, and would go on to 244 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 2: teach us much of what we know about the Jurassic Period. 245 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 2: At the time, though, all Lakes knew was that this 246 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 2: was a singular repository, and he quickly sent word back east. 247 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 2: He tried Marsh first, but Marsh was slow to respond. Impatient, 248 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 2: he sent some findings to Cope. When Marsh heard this, 249 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 2: he kicked into gear. Marsh was able to send out 250 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 2: his representatives first. They reported back that there were miles 251 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,119 Speaker 2: of bones right for the picking. He worked quickly to 252 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 2: secure the site for himself with all the labor his 253 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 2: good money could buy. He was eager to get his 254 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 2: hands on anything that was dug up and promptly started negotiating. 255 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 2: The specimens were enormous and numerous. Cope, for his part, 256 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,120 Speaker 2: thought nothing of Marsh's claim and refused to be deterred. 257 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 2: The race was once again on from Marsian Cope and 258 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 2: although neither was personally at the bluff, they sent workers, 259 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,840 Speaker 2: including former students. It didn't take long for Cope's men 260 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 2: to start encroaching on the territory that Marsh had staked out. 261 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 2: Marsh knew that this was where he needed to dig 262 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 2: to outpace Cope. In truth, Marsh might not have become 263 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,119 Speaker 2: involved with this dig's location at all if Cope hadn't 264 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,959 Speaker 2: sent the team. At that point in his career, Marsh 265 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 2: was far more interested in mammalion specimens than dinosaur bones, 266 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,360 Speaker 2: but once heard Cope's team had shown up, he refused 267 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 2: to be outshined. So there they were, warring factions on 268 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 2: a bluff under the sun, furiously digging and conducting shady dealings. 269 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,199 Speaker 2: Each scientist was determined to get the upper hand and 270 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,120 Speaker 2: started paying more money to their workers to keep them 271 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,399 Speaker 2: digging and keep them loyal. They worked tirelessly back east, 272 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,640 Speaker 2: intercepting huge wooden crates and publishing at a breakneck clip. 273 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 2: Efforts of other paleontologists who showed up paled in comparison 274 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 2: to these feverish and bitter operations. They planted fossils and 275 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 2: locations where they weren't discovered to confuse the other, they 276 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,880 Speaker 2: bribed quarry owners to pull fossils out before they could 277 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:48,000 Speaker 2: be observed and documented. Their rivalry had become an all 278 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:53,239 Speaker 2: out war, rife with bad blood and explosions. Literally, it 279 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:55,680 Speaker 2: was reported that they had ordered the dynamiting of their 280 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,959 Speaker 2: completed dig sites lest any yet to be discovered bones 281 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 2: fell into the world wrong hands. They continued to fight 282 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:07,160 Speaker 2: in the pages of academic journals and newspapers. They mutually 283 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 2: attempted to sabotage each other's funding in efforts to slow 284 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 2: down their respective careers and stardom. Their community was growing 285 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 2: tired of the very public performance of their spite and 286 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,640 Speaker 2: called into question their ability to even do their jobs. 287 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,399 Speaker 2: Their work was often sloppy, rife with careless errors, and 288 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 2: people knew about the shady dealings they were willing to 289 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 2: engage with in order to bolster their reputations. It's said 290 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 2: that competition breeds progress, and in one sense this rings true. 291 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 2: This period was one of the most productive in the 292 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 2: history of paleontology. Lay people were astounded and captivated by 293 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 2: their very public duelings and were often inspired by their discoveries. 294 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:55,919 Speaker 2: Marti and Kpe were able to uncover some of the 295 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 2: world's most famous dinosaurs that we know and love today 296 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:05,439 Speaker 2: include the Stegosaurus, the triceratops, the Alosaurus, and eventually one 297 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 2: of the most fearsome of all, the Tyrannosaurus wrecks. Without 298 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:13,240 Speaker 2: their flaring tempers and growing contempt for each other, it's 299 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 2: hard to say what we would know or not know 300 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 2: about dinosaurs today. But for all the progress that they made, 301 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 2: their rivalry ultimately destroyed Martian Cope. However, if we were 302 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,959 Speaker 2: asked to tally numbers for a winner and a loser 303 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:34,480 Speaker 2: in all of this, technically Marsh won their competition. He 304 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:38,760 Speaker 2: discovered and named eighty new species, compared with copes fifty six. 305 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 2: Even so, they never quite retired. The rivalry between the 306 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,240 Speaker 2: two men lasted until the day they died, when Cope 307 00:20:48,240 --> 00:21:02,359 Speaker 2: made one last bet. The decades long fight between Marsh 308 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 2: and Cope ended tragically for both of them after thirty 309 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:11,360 Speaker 2: years of public feuding. Cope lay dying surrounded by shelves 310 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 2: full of his beloved specimens to which he had devoted 311 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 2: his entire life. He had been sick for a long while, 312 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:22,159 Speaker 2: plagued by chronic illnesses. The nature of those were never determined, 313 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 2: but he had found ways to self medicate. He didn't 314 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 2: really trust doctors. Instead, he came up with an all 315 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 2: natural cure, belladonna. In small doses, it can help with 316 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,880 Speaker 2: all kinds of things, but he didn't take the right doses. 317 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,920 Speaker 2: He took it in small amounts, but too often this 318 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 2: ultimately would lead to his end. He worked right up 319 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:51,440 Speaker 2: until he died on April twelfth of eighteen ninety seven. However, 320 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,399 Speaker 2: Cope wasn't content to let the war go, and just 321 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 2: before he passed, he sent a challenge to Marsh. He 322 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 2: wrote in his will, I direct that after my funeral, 323 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 2: my body shall be presented to the Anthropometric Society, and 324 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 2: then an autopsy shall be performed on it. My brain 325 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 2: shall be preserved in their collection of brains for future study. 326 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 2: In effect, Cope wanted to see who had the bigger brain. 327 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 2: Marsh died on March eighteenth of eighteen ninety nine, effectively 328 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 2: bringing the Bone Wars to an end. He never did 329 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 2: turn over his brain to science, so we'll never know 330 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 2: who the winner of that final battle would have been. 331 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 2: There's more to this story. Stick around after this brief 332 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 2: sponsor break to hear all about it. After the Great 333 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,120 Speaker 2: Dinosaur Rush of what became known as the Bone Wars. 334 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 2: Fossil Hunting continued to be a favorite pastime among the 335 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 2: wealthy and educated for decades. In nineteen ten, a very 336 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 2: aristocrat and paleontologist by the name of Ernst freher Stromer 337 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 2: von Reichenbach set out for a dig in the Egyptian 338 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 2: desert outside of Cairo. He partnered up with Richard mcgroff, 339 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 2: an Austrian fossil hunter, and together they found a glorious 340 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 2: horde of all kinds of marine creatures. But it would 341 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,880 Speaker 2: be two years before their most spectacular discovery of all. 342 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 2: Sometime between sixty and one hundred million years ago, an 343 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 2: enormous predator died. It had long spines on its back, 344 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 2: a crocodile like jaw, and massive teeth. When Ernst came 345 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 2: upon its skeleton all of those years later, he was stunned. 346 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 2: In life, this creature was likely unmatched by any foe. 347 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 2: If it was such an astounding and terrifying proposition in death, 348 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,640 Speaker 2: imagine what it could have been in life. Ernst named 349 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:57,359 Speaker 2: it Spinosaurus egypticus, or the Egyptian spine lizard. Ernst removed 350 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 2: the skeleton, then brought it to Munich's Paleontological Museum, and 351 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 2: there it was proudly on display for many years, bringing 352 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 2: him great acclaim. It stayed there quietly as a new 353 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,719 Speaker 2: kind of terror rolled through Europe the Nazi Party. Ernst 354 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 2: was nervous. His sons were fighting on the front lines, 355 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 2: and he realized that the relentless bombing campaigns posed a 356 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,160 Speaker 2: threat not just to them, but to their treasured artifacts 357 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 2: as well. He begged the head of the museum to 358 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 2: move the fossil to safety, but the man was a 359 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 2: Nazi sympathizer and had long ago stopped listening to anything 360 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 2: Ernst had to say, political or otherwise. The spinosaurus was 361 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,639 Speaker 2: s mearily destroyed by Allied forces when they dropped a 362 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 2: bomb on Munich. It died a second death that day, 363 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,360 Speaker 2: living on only in notes and drawings and Ernst's memory. 364 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:52,880 Speaker 2: He was heartbroken by the magnitude of what the war 365 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,880 Speaker 2: did to his family, his country, and his career, and 366 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 2: he died soon after in nineteen fifty two. The spinosaurus 367 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,200 Speaker 2: was remembered in the paleontology community as something of a legend. 368 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,400 Speaker 2: There were so many unanswered questions about how and where 369 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,639 Speaker 2: it had lived, and the perfection of the fossil was 370 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 2: wholly unmatched. It suggested a new kind of dinosaur that 371 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,880 Speaker 2: scientists had never considered, a semi aquatic creatures that thrived 372 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 2: both on land and in the water. A fully constructed 373 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:28,320 Speaker 2: spinosaurus had never been discovered before, and there were questions 374 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 2: as to whether another one ever would. For about another century, 375 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:36,920 Speaker 2: the spinosaurus drifted into oblivion. That is, of course, until 376 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 2: a young doctoral student stepped onto the scene. In two 377 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 2: thousand and eight. Nazarre Ibrahim was conducting research on the 378 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:46,960 Speaker 2: border of Morocco and Algeria when he met a local 379 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,399 Speaker 2: Bedouin fossil hunter. Nazar took a close look at the 380 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 2: specimens he was offered and cataloged the findings in his memory. 381 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 2: It was a year later when he was shown a 382 00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:00,680 Speaker 2: newly discovered partial skeleton of a potential spinosaurus. Then he 383 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 2: noticed something some distinct purple and yellow sediment he recognized 384 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 2: from the year before. He was suddenly struck by the 385 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 2: idea that he might have accidentally run into two halves 386 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 2: of a whole dinosaurs. So he went back to Morocco, 387 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,880 Speaker 2: hoping to find his Bedouin friend, but with no cell 388 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 2: phone number or email address. He hoped for good luck. 389 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,239 Speaker 2: For days, he looked for him, asking all around and 390 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 2: searching the streets. It all seemed fruitless, until one day 391 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 2: he was at a cafe and the very same man 392 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 2: walked by. Nazarre jumped up and chased him down and 393 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 2: convinced him to bring him to the spot where the 394 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 2: bones he had initially seen were dug up from. He 395 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 2: got his wish, and here began the next stage of 396 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:51,439 Speaker 2: Nazar's life work and that of the Spinosaurus. With new 397 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 2: science and technology, Nazar has been hard at work putting 398 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 2: together the life story of the spinosaurus and picking up 399 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 2: where Ernst left off. We may never know the whole 400 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,879 Speaker 2: truth as to how these creatures lived and died, but 401 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,119 Speaker 2: science is allowing us to paint a more complete picture. 402 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,400 Speaker 2: The debates will long continue over these animals, and careers 403 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:17,199 Speaker 2: and reputations will be staked on who can make the 404 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:22,360 Speaker 2: more convincing and compelling argument. We may never know everything, 405 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 2: but that won't stop us from trying. 406 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:35,159 Speaker 1: American Shadows as hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was 407 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:39,080 Speaker 1: written by Robin Miniature, researched by Ali Steed, and produced 408 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:43,479 Speaker 1: by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey, 409 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,200 Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show, 410 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: visit grimminmile dot com. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 411 00:27:51,880 --> 00:28:05,120 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.