Benjamin Franklin Mudge
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Franklin Mudge (August 11, 1817 – November 21, 1879) was an American
lawyer
, geologist
and teacher
. Briefly the mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts
, he later moved to Kansas
where he was appointed the first State Geologist
. He led the first geological survey
of the state in 1864, and published the first book on the geology of Kansas. He lectured extensively, and was department chair at the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC, now Kansas State University
).
He also avidly collected fossil
s, and was one of the first to systematically explore the Permian
and Mesozoic
biota
in the geologic formation
s of Kansas and the American West, including the Niobrara Chalk, the Morrison Formation
, and the Dakota Sandstone
. While not formally trained in paleontology
, he kept extensive and accurate field notes and sent most of his fossils East to be described by some of the most noted paleontologists of his time, including the rivals Othniel Charles Marsh
and Edward Drinker Cope
.
His discoveries included at least 80 new species
of extinct animals and plants, and are found in the collections of some of the most prestigious U.S. institutions of natural history
, including the Smithsonian and Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History. One of his most notable finds is the holotype
of the first recognized "bird
with teeth", Ichthyornis
. While working for Marsh, he also discovered the type species
of the sauropod dinosaur
Diplodocus
, and the theropod dinosaur Allosaurus
, with his protege Samuel Wendell Williston
.
to James and Ruth Mudge on August 11, 1817, and moved with his family to Lynn, Massachusetts
in 1818. He helped support three older brothers enrolled in the Methodist Episcopal Conference by working as a shoemaker for 6 years, before attending Wesleyan University
. Unlike his brothers who all became clergy
, Benjamin studied science and the classics before graduating in 1840. He acquired his Master of Arts
several years later from the same institution, and passed the bar
and began practicing as a lawyer
in 1842. On September 16, 1842 he married Mary E. Beckford; he continued his practice, and was elected mayor
of Lynn in 1852 on a temperance
platform.
In 1859 he moved to Cloverport, Kentucky
where he briefly worked as a chemist
at Breckinridge Coal and Oil Company, a local oil refinery
.
in 1861, Mudge moved to Quindaro (now part of Kansas City) where he took a job teaching public school in Kansas City
. He lectured around the state, and in 1964 delivered a series on "Scientific and Economical Geology" to the legislature in Topeka while the bill to establish the first state geological survey
was being debated in the House
. The Topeka Tribune wrote:
After Watson Foster withdrew due to opposition, and George C. Swallow was accused of disloyalty, Mudge was appointed as the stage geologist and the director of the first Kansas Geological Survey
by Governor Thomas Carney
. He reluctantly accepted, writing the following note at the bottom of the Senate nomination: "This petition was started without my knowledge or consent. I am in favor of the appointment of Prof. W. Foster".
Mudge was responsible for surveying 212,000 km² (82,000 mi²) of mineral and soil resources by the end of the year, with a budget of US$
3,500 and a staff of five. In the 1860s, there were no railroads and very few towns west of Topeka, and the area had seen a resurgence of "Indian
trouble". Mudge moved to Manhattan, Kansas
, and despite not being able to visit all the areas of the state, he submitted Geology of Kansas by the November 30, 1864 deadline, the first book on the geology of Kansas. The document covered stratigraphy
but primarily focused on exploitable economic resources, particularly coal
and salt
. Mudge resigned at the end of his term, but the position was renewed and Swallow was appointed to head the 1865 survey with a larger budget and staff, and completed a more extensive survey. Due to funding problems, both the 1864 and 1865 reports were not published until 1866. After the two surveys, the Kansas Geologic Survey went into abeyance until 1895, when it was permanently established at the University of Kansas
.
After his term as stage geologist, Mudge became the chair of Natural Sciences at the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC, now Kansas State University
) and started teaching in 1865. He left KSAC in 1873 after a dispute with the administration. over back pay.
near Junction City
in 1865, and invertebrates and Late Cretaceous
deciduous leaves near Ellsworth
in 1866, and more plants and a saurian in 1869 from the Republican River
near the northern state line. His expedition in 1870 was near Fort Wallace
and saw the discovery of numerous plesiosaurs and fish from the Saurodontidae family. 1871 saw plants, molluscs, vertebrates, and the bird Hesperornis
from western Kansas. In 1872 more vertebrates and plants were discovered in Smith County
, while in 1873 new species were discovered in Trego
and Ellis Counties
, and plesiosaurs were found in 1874 in Jewell
and Gove Counties
.
While he maintained a small collection as KSAC, the majority of his finds were sent to Eastern paleontologists to be described. He initially corresponded in this fashion with Fielding Bradford Meek
at the Smithsonian (primarily concerning molluscs), Leo Lesquereux
(plants), Edward Drinker Cope
at the Academy of Natural Sciences
in Philadelphia (vertebrate
s), Othniel Charles Marsh
at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale, Louis Agassiz
at Harvard, and James Dwight Dana
at Yale
. In turn, Cope visited Mudge in 1871, and Cope, Marsh, and Lesquerenx all visited in 1872. Cope and Lesquerenx published most of Mudge's discoveries from this period.
Mudge discovered Ichthyornis in 1872. While he initially planned to ship the specimen to Cope, he heard of Othniel Charles Marsh
's interest and sent it instead to his former acquaintance from Connecticut
. Marsh first described the bird in 1872, but misidentified the toothed jaw as belonging to a type of lizard
. Marsh associated the jaw with the avian postcranial elements and published the new data the next year. An analysis in 1952 concluded the jaw actually belonged to a mosasaur, but a reevaluation in 1967 and new specimens confirmed Marsh's assessment.
This was the first bird described with teeth; Richard Owen
's original description of the London Specimen of Archaeopteryx
in 1861 did not recognize its associated teeth, and assumed the bird had a beak. This was also the start of Mudge's association with Marsh, as the rivalry between Cope and Marsh (known as the "Bone Wars
") heated up.
Marsh hired Mudge to lead fossil hunting expeditions. He was assisted on his 1874 expedition by Samuel Wendell Williston
, who started leading his own expeditions in 1877. Mudge primarily focused on the Kansas Chalk from 1874 to 1876, but from 1876 to 1879 he expanded into Colorado discovering some of the first Jurassic dinosaurs in the American West. According to Blackmar, "in one year he shipped over three tons of fossils, etc., to New Haven"
Marsh's rival Cope in turn had Oramel Lucas and Charles Hazelius Sternberg
seeking out new finds. In 1877, Cope's team was making remarkable finds at Como Bluff
, Wyoming near Cañon City, Colorado
, and Marsh sent Mudge to establish a quarry near the location. While quarry was eventually abandoned because the bones were too fragile to transport, Mudge and Williston discovered the holotype specimens of Allosaurus
(A. fragilis) in 1877 and Diplodocus (D. longus) in 1878 before the quarry was closed, and both species were named by Marsh the same year.
), Mudge founded the Kansas Natural History Society in 1867 (which became the Kansas Academy of Science in 1871). He was elected its first president, and published many of his scientific papers in its Transactions., and he became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
in 1878. He died outside his home of a "stroke of apoplexy
" on November 21, 1879 and was buried two days later on Cemetery Hill.
Three species were named in his honor. Cope named a mosasaur species Liodon mudgei in 1871; though it is now considered to be a specimen of Platecarpus
tympaniticus, Liodon remains as a junior synonym. The jaw of the Ichthyornis that Marsh originally believed belonged to a sauria
n was named Colonosaurus mudgei. Lesquerenx also a named a species of oak
Quercus mudgeii in 1872. Mudge himself named the Fort Hays member of the Niobrara Formation
in 1876.
During his career, he discovered specimens of mosasaur
s and plesiosaur
s; late Cretaceous
leaves; various sauria
n and pythonomorpha
n reptiles; many genera of fish including Xiphactinus
, Ichthyodectes
, Erisichthe, Protosphyraena
, and Saurocephalus
; molluscs; and trace fossil
s including gastrolith
s and Pennsylvanian
footprints. In addition to more than 80 species, his finds are in the collections of major museums, including more than 300 specimens in the collection of the Peabody Museum at Yale.
He had a keen interest in natural history. His protege Williston wrote in 1898:
Mudge had a systematic approach, and kept excellent records of both the locality of his discoveries and the actual specimens. From Dale Russell's 1967 Systematics and Morphology of American Mosasaurs:
(Reprinted in 1895 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 1: pp. 50–53.) (Reprinted in 1895 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 1: pp. 37–39.) (Excerpts from Mudge, 1866.) (Reprinted in 1896 as 2: pp. 71–74.) (Reprinted in 1896 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 3: pp. 113–117.) (Reprinted in 1896 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 3: pp. 121–122.) (Reprinted in 1896 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 3: pp. 101–102.) (Reprinted in 1906 as 5: pp. 4–5.) (Reprinted in 1906 as p. 10.) (Reprinted in 1906.) (Reprinted in 1906 as pp. 11–13.)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
. Briefly the mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
, he later moved to Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
where he was appointed the first State Geologist
Kansas Geological Survey
The Kansas Geological Survey, operated by The University of Kansas in connection with its research and service program, is to conduct geological studies and research and to collect, correlate, preserve, and disseminate information leading to a better understanding of the geology of Kansas, with...
. He led the first geological survey
Geological survey
The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information....
of the state in 1864, and published the first book on the geology of Kansas. He lectured extensively, and was department chair at the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC, now Kansas State University
Kansas State University
Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
).
He also avidly collected fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s, and was one of the first to systematically explore the Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
and Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
biota
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
in the geologic formation
Geologic formation
A formation or geological formation is the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy. A formation consists of a certain number of rock strata that have a comparable lithology, facies or other similar properties...
s of Kansas and the American West, including the Niobrara Chalk, the Morrison Formation
Morrison Formation
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone and limestone and is light grey, greenish...
, and the Dakota Sandstone
Dakota Sandstone
The Dakota Sandstone is a general term for an ill-defined early Cretaceous formation of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. It consists of sandy, shallow-marine deposits with intermittent mud flat sediments, and occasional stream deposits...
. While not formally trained in paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, he kept extensive and accurate field notes and sent most of his fossils East to be described by some of the most noted paleontologists of his time, including the rivals Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh was an American paleontologist. Marsh was one of the preeminent scientists in the field; the discovery or description of dozens of news species and theories on the origins of birds are among his legacies.Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education...
and Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
.
His discoveries included at least 80 new species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of extinct animals and plants, and are found in the collections of some of the most prestigious U.S. institutions of natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, including the Smithsonian and Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History. One of his most notable finds is the holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
of the first recognized "bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
with teeth", Ichthyornis
Ichthyornis
Ichthyornis is a genus of toothed seabirds from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Its fossil remains are known from the chalks of Alberta, Alabama, Kansas, New Mexico, Saskatchewan, and Texas, in strata that were laid down in the Western Interior Seaway during the Turonian-Campanian ages,...
. While working for Marsh, he also discovered the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
of the sauropod dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
Diplodocus
Diplodocus
Diplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
, and the theropod dinosaur Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
, with his protege Samuel Wendell Williston
Samuel Wendell Williston
Samuel Wendell Williston was an American educator and paleontologist who was the first to propose that birds developed flight cursorially , rather than arboreally . He was also an entomologist, specialising in Diptera.-Early life:Williston was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Samuel Williston and...
.
Early life
Mudge was born in Orrington, MaineOrrington, Maine
Orrington is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,526 at the 2000 census.-History:Orrington was originally part of Condustiegg Plantation, which also included the present-day cities of Bangor and Brewer. Orrington was incorporated as a town in 1788 with its major...
to James and Ruth Mudge on August 11, 1817, and moved with his family to Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
in 1818. He helped support three older brothers enrolled in the Methodist Episcopal Conference by working as a shoemaker for 6 years, before attending Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
. Unlike his brothers who all became clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
, Benjamin studied science and the classics before graduating in 1840. He acquired his Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
several years later from the same institution, and passed the bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
and began practicing as a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
in 1842. On September 16, 1842 he married Mary E. Beckford; he continued his practice, and was elected mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Lynn in 1852 on a temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
platform.
In 1859 he moved to Cloverport, Kentucky
Cloverport, Kentucky
Cloverport is a city in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, United States, on the banks of the Ohio River. The population was 1,256 at the 2000 census. Under Kentucky state law, it is a fifth class city.-History:...
where he briefly worked as a chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
at Breckinridge Coal and Oil Company, a local oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
.
Educator and state geologist
With the start of the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in 1861, Mudge moved to Quindaro (now part of Kansas City) where he took a job teaching public school in Kansas City
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
. He lectured around the state, and in 1964 delivered a series on "Scientific and Economical Geology" to the legislature in Topeka while the bill to establish the first state geological survey
Geological survey
The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information....
was being debated in the House
Kansas House of Representatives
The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kansas Legislature, the legislative body of the U.S. State of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for crafting and voting on...
. The Topeka Tribune wrote:
After Watson Foster withdrew due to opposition, and George C. Swallow was accused of disloyalty, Mudge was appointed as the stage geologist and the director of the first Kansas Geological Survey
Kansas Geological Survey
The Kansas Geological Survey, operated by The University of Kansas in connection with its research and service program, is to conduct geological studies and research and to collect, correlate, preserve, and disseminate information leading to a better understanding of the geology of Kansas, with...
by Governor Thomas Carney
Thomas Carney
Thomas Carney was the second Governor of Kansas.Carney was born in Delaware County, Ohio to James and Sarah Carney. James died in 1828, and Thomas remained at home farming with his mother until age 19...
. He reluctantly accepted, writing the following note at the bottom of the Senate nomination: "This petition was started without my knowledge or consent. I am in favor of the appointment of Prof. W. Foster".
Mudge was responsible for surveying 212,000 km² (82,000 mi²) of mineral and soil resources by the end of the year, with a budget of US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3,500 and a staff of five. In the 1860s, there were no railroads and very few towns west of Topeka, and the area had seen a resurgence of "Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
trouble". Mudge moved to Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan is a city located in the northeastern part of the state of Kansas in the United States, at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. It is the county seat of Riley County and the city extends into Pottawatomie County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 52,281...
, and despite not being able to visit all the areas of the state, he submitted Geology of Kansas by the November 30, 1864 deadline, the first book on the geology of Kansas. The document covered stratigraphy
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
but primarily focused on exploitable economic resources, particularly coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
. Mudge resigned at the end of his term, but the position was renewed and Swallow was appointed to head the 1865 survey with a larger budget and staff, and completed a more extensive survey. Due to funding problems, both the 1864 and 1865 reports were not published until 1866. After the two surveys, the Kansas Geologic Survey went into abeyance until 1895, when it was permanently established at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
.
After his term as stage geologist, Mudge became the chair of Natural Sciences at the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC, now Kansas State University
Kansas State University
Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
) and started teaching in 1865. He left KSAC in 1873 after a dispute with the administration. over back pay.
First discoveries
Mudge began geological and paleontological field expeditions in 1865, while still employed at KSAC. He collected footprintsTrace fossil
Trace fossils, also called ichnofossils , are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings , urolites , footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities...
near Junction City
Junction City, Kansas
Junction City is a city in and the county seat of Geary County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 23,353. Fort Riley, a major U.S. Army post, is nearby...
in 1865, and invertebrates and Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
deciduous leaves near Ellsworth
Ellsworth, Kansas
Ellsworth is a city in and the county seat of Ellsworth County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,120.-19th century:...
in 1866, and more plants and a saurian in 1869 from the Republican River
Republican River
The Republican River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, flowing through the U.S. states of Nebraska and Kansas.-Geography:...
near the northern state line. His expedition in 1870 was near Fort Wallace
Fort Wallace
Fort Wallace was a US Cavalry fort built in Wallace County, Kansas to help defend settlers against Cheyenne and Sioux raids. All that remains today is the cemetery, but for a period of over a decade Fort Wallace was one of the most important military outposts on the frontier.-External links:* * *...
and saw the discovery of numerous plesiosaurs and fish from the Saurodontidae family. 1871 saw plants, molluscs, vertebrates, and the bird Hesperornis
Hesperornis
Hesperornis is a genus of flightless aquatic birds that spanned the first half of the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period . One of the lesser-known discoveries of the paleontologist O. C. Marsh in the late 19th century Bone Wars, it was an important early find in the history of avian...
from western Kansas. In 1872 more vertebrates and plants were discovered in Smith County
Smith County, Kansas
Smith County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. The county's population was 3,853 for the 2010 census. Its county seat is Smith Center. It is named in memory of Maj. J. Nelson Smith, who was part of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry, killed in action at the Battle of Westport on October 21,...
, while in 1873 new species were discovered in Trego
Trego County, Kansas
Trego County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 3,001...
and Ellis Counties
Ellis County, Kansas
Ellis County is a county located in Northwest Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 28,452. Its county seat and most populous city is Hays...
, and plesiosaurs were found in 1874 in Jewell
Jewell County, Kansas
Jewell County is a county located in North Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 3,077. Its county seat and most populous city is Mankato.-19th century:...
and Gove Counties
Gove County, Kansas
Gove County is a county located in Northwest Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 2,695...
.
While he maintained a small collection as KSAC, the majority of his finds were sent to Eastern paleontologists to be described. He initially corresponded in this fashion with Fielding Bradford Meek
Fielding Bradford Meek
Fielding Bradford Meek was an American geologist and paleontologist.The son of a lawyer, he was born in Madison, Indiana. In early life he was in business as a merchant, but his leisure hours were devoted to collecting fossils and studying the rocks of the neighborhood of Madison...
at the Smithsonian (primarily concerning molluscs), Leo Lesquereux
Leo Lesquereux
Charles Léo Lesquereux was a Swiss bryologist and a pioneer of American paleobotany. He was born in the town of Fleurier, located in the canton of Neuchâtel....
(plants), Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
at the Academy of Natural Sciences
Academy of Natural Sciences
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the New World...
in Philadelphia (vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s), Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh was an American paleontologist. Marsh was one of the preeminent scientists in the field; the discovery or description of dozens of news species and theories on the origins of birds are among his legacies.Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education...
at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale, Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
at Harvard, and James Dwight Dana
James Dwight Dana
James Dwight Dana was an American geologist, mineralogist and zoologist. He made pioneering studies of mountain-building, volcanic activity, and the origin and structure of continents and oceans around the world.-Early life and career:...
at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
. In turn, Cope visited Mudge in 1871, and Cope, Marsh, and Lesquerenx all visited in 1872. Cope and Lesquerenx published most of Mudge's discoveries from this period.
Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh was an American paleontologist. Marsh was one of the preeminent scientists in the field; the discovery or description of dozens of news species and theories on the origins of birds are among his legacies.Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education...
's interest and sent it instead to his former acquaintance from Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. Marsh first described the bird in 1872, but misidentified the toothed jaw as belonging to a type of lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
. Marsh associated the jaw with the avian postcranial elements and published the new data the next year. An analysis in 1952 concluded the jaw actually belonged to a mosasaur, but a reevaluation in 1967 and new specimens confirmed Marsh's assessment.
This was the first bird described with teeth; Richard Owen
Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen, FRS KCB was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.Owen is probably best remembered today for coining the word Dinosauria and for his outspoken opposition to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
's original description of the London Specimen of Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...
in 1861 did not recognize its associated teeth, and assumed the bird had a beak. This was also the start of Mudge's association with Marsh, as the rivalry between Cope and Marsh (known as the "Bone Wars
Bone Wars
The Bone Wars, also known as the "Great Dinosaur Rush", refers to a period of intense fossil speculation and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh...
") heated up.
Fossils for Marsh
After his dismissal from KSAC in 1874, Mudge wrote to Marsh:Marsh hired Mudge to lead fossil hunting expeditions. He was assisted on his 1874 expedition by Samuel Wendell Williston
Samuel Wendell Williston
Samuel Wendell Williston was an American educator and paleontologist who was the first to propose that birds developed flight cursorially , rather than arboreally . He was also an entomologist, specialising in Diptera.-Early life:Williston was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Samuel Williston and...
, who started leading his own expeditions in 1877. Mudge primarily focused on the Kansas Chalk from 1874 to 1876, but from 1876 to 1879 he expanded into Colorado discovering some of the first Jurassic dinosaurs in the American West. According to Blackmar, "in one year he shipped over three tons of fossils, etc., to New Haven"
Charles Hazelius Sternberg
Charles Hazelius Sternberg , was an American fossil collector and amateur paleontologist. His older brother, Dr. George M. Sternberg was a military surgeon assigned to Fort Harker near Ellsworth, Kansas and brought the rest of Sternberg family to Kansas to live on his ranch about 1868...
seeking out new finds. In 1877, Cope's team was making remarkable finds at Como Bluff
Como Bluff
Como Bluff is a long ridge extending east-west, located between the towns of Rock River and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The ridge is an anticline, formed as a result of compressional geological folding. Three geological formations, the Sundance, the Morrison, and the Cloverly Formations, containing...
, Wyoming near Cañon City, Colorado
Cañon City, Colorado
The City of Cañon City is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Fremont County, State of Colorado. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the city population was 16,000 in 2005. Cañon City is noted for being the location of nine state and four ...
, and Marsh sent Mudge to establish a quarry near the location. While quarry was eventually abandoned because the bones were too fragile to transport, Mudge and Williston discovered the holotype specimens of Allosaurus
Specimens of Allosaurus
Allosaurus was not only one of the most abundant Late Jurassic dinosaurs, but also one of the best known. Its brain, anatomy and even behaviour were studied more accurate than those of any dinosaur on Earth. Many of its specimens were found: from Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Montana to Portugal...
(A. fragilis) in 1877 and Diplodocus (D. longus) in 1878 before the quarry was closed, and both species were named by Marsh the same year.
Legacy
With John D. Parker of Lincoln College (now Washburn UniversityWashburn University
Washburn University is a co-educational, public institution of higher learning in Topeka, Kansas, USA. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,400 undergraduate students and...
), Mudge founded the Kansas Natural History Society in 1867 (which became the Kansas Academy of Science in 1871). He was elected its first president, and published many of his scientific papers in its Transactions., and he became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
in 1878. He died outside his home of a "stroke of apoplexy
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
" on November 21, 1879 and was buried two days later on Cemetery Hill.
Platecarpus
Platecarpus is an extinct genus of aquatic lizard belonging to the mosasaur family, living around 75 million years ago during the end of the Cretaceous period. Fossils have been found in Belgium and the United States as well as a possible specimen in Africa. Platecarpus probably fed on fish,...
tympaniticus, Liodon remains as a junior synonym. The jaw of the Ichthyornis that Marsh originally believed belonged to a sauria
Sauria
Sauria is a clade of reptiles that includes all living diapsids, as well as their common ancestor and all its extinct descendants. The ancestral saurian was probably a small lizard-like creature living in the Permian Period...
n was named Colonosaurus mudgei. Lesquerenx also a named a species of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
Quercus mudgeii in 1872. Mudge himself named the Fort Hays member of the Niobrara Formation
Niobrara Formation
The Niobrara Formation, also called the Niobrara Chalk , is a geologic formation in North America that was laid down between 87 and 82 million years ago during the Coniacian, Santonian, and Campanian ages of the Late Cretaceous. It is composed of two structural units, the Smoky Hill Chalk Member...
in 1876.
During his career, he discovered specimens of mosasaur
Mosasaur
Mosasaurs are large extinct marine lizards. The first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764...
s and plesiosaur
Plesiosaur
Plesiosauroidea is an extinct clade of carnivorous plesiosaur marine reptiles. Plesiosauroids, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods...
s; late Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
leaves; various sauria
Sauria
Sauria is a clade of reptiles that includes all living diapsids, as well as their common ancestor and all its extinct descendants. The ancestral saurian was probably a small lizard-like creature living in the Permian Period...
n and pythonomorpha
Pythonomorpha
Pythonomorpha was originally proposed by paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope as a reptilian order comprising snakes and mosasaurs. Cope wrote, "In the mosasauroids, we almost realize the fictions of snake-like dragons and sea-serpents, in which men have been ever prone to indulge...
n reptiles; many genera of fish including Xiphactinus
Xiphactinus
Xiphactinus was a large, 4.5 to 6 m long predatory bony fish that lived in the Western Interior Sea, over what is now the middle of North America, during the Late Cretaceous. When alive, the fish would have resembled a gargantuan, fanged tarpon...
, Ichthyodectes
Ichthyodectes
Ichthyodectes ctenodon was a 4-metre long ichthyodectid. It lived in the Western Interior Seaway during the late Cretaceous. It was closely related to the 4 to 6 metre long Xiphactinus audax, and the 2-metre long Gillicus arcuatus, and like other ichthyodectids, I. ctenodon is presumed to have...
, Erisichthe, Protosphyraena
Protosphyraena
Protosphyraena is a fossil genus of swordfish-like marine fish, that throve worldwide during the Upper Cretaceous Period . Though fossil remains of this taxon have been found in both Europe and Asia, it is perhaps best known from the Smoky Hill Member of the Niobrara Chalk Formation of Kansas...
, and Saurocephalus
Saurocephalus
Saurocephalus is an extinct genus of fishes within the family Saurodontidae Cope, 1871.Members of this family were teleostean fishes restricted to the upper Cretaceous...
; molluscs; and trace fossil
Trace fossil
Trace fossils, also called ichnofossils , are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings , urolites , footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities...
s including gastrolith
Gastrolith
A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stones, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. The grain size depends upon the size of the animal and the gastrolith's...
s and Pennsylvanian
Pennsylvanian
The Pennsylvanian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly . As with most other geochronologic units, the rock beds that define the Pennsylvanian are well identified, but the exact date of the start and end are uncertain...
footprints. In addition to more than 80 species, his finds are in the collections of major museums, including more than 300 specimens in the collection of the Peabody Museum at Yale.
Beliefs and personality
Mudge was a member of temperance organizations, and during his tenure as mayor of Lynn closed many saloons. In Kentucky and later in abolitionist Kansas, was known for opposition to slavery. Parker notes that during the Civil War:He had a keen interest in natural history. His protege Williston wrote in 1898:
Mudge had a systematic approach, and kept excellent records of both the locality of his discoveries and the actual specimens. From Dale Russell's 1967 Systematics and Morphology of American Mosasaurs:
Publications
Mudge was not a prolific publisher of scientific papers. According to the Kansas Geological Survey Online Bibliography of Geology, his entire output was contained in twenty-two publications, and most were very short.(Reprinted in 1895 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 1: pp. 50–53.) (Reprinted in 1895 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 1: pp. 37–39.) (Excerpts from Mudge, 1866.) (Reprinted in 1896 as 2: pp. 71–74.) (Reprinted in 1896 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 3: pp. 113–117.) (Reprinted in 1896 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 3: pp. 121–122.) (Reprinted in 1896 as Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 3: pp. 101–102.) (Reprinted in 1906 as 5: pp. 4–5.) (Reprinted in 1906 as p. 10.) (Reprinted in 1906.) (Reprinted in 1906 as pp. 11–13.)