Charles h sternberg biography

Charles H. Sternberg, dinosaur hunter extraordinaire , was born June 15, , in New York state. When he was 17, his family moved to Ellsworth County, Kansas, and there Sternberg stayed. He was interested in fossils and discovered that Kansas, once at the bottom of an inland sea, was littered with them. He married and raised three sons, and over a fifty-year career, he and his sons found an incredible variety of Mesozoic fossils and distributed them to museums around the world.

Most of the notable fossils he found in Kansas were marine vertebrates, such as mosasaurs, as well as leaves, which Charles H. The family did not hunt dinosaurs at first, because there are no dinosaurs in Kansas. But Sternberg came to the attention of Edward D. Cope in Philadelphia, who supported Sternberg on several fossil-gathering expeditions in Wyoming, and at the end of the century, Sternberg turned his attention to dinosaurs and spent considerable time in the badlands of the Red Deer River in Alberta, Canada.

These monster saurians swam like snake birds below the surface, their long necks and heads darted hither and thither above and below, exploring a space of forty feet in search of fish. We could see the flash of shining teeth as a luckless fish was captured. Some of them floated on the surface, and with swan-like neck and body, they moved in graceful circles, or sped along at a terrific pace, picking up their morning meal from the countless panic stricken fish that vainly sought to escape their tooth-armed jaws.

On a very large plesiosaur: " He started to excavate a place for a stable, when he uncovered some huge vertebrae, and ribs over five feet long. He supposed they were elephant bones, and as they were broken, he thought they could not be saved, and so he dug up the bones with the chalk. They were dumped into a cow yard and beaten to powder under their feet, and could never be restored.

I grieved much over the loss to science of that splendid specimen that has never been duplicated. Williston, the oldest living American vertebrate paleontologist, described the few bones I was able to save from the general wreck. He did me the honor of naming it after me. Notice the head is prolonged in front into a long round bony snout, or ram.

On account of this, I called it a snout fish, when I first discovered their bones in the Kansas Chalk. The ram ends, you notice, in a sharp point eight or ten inches long. Then at the end of the mouth there are four lance-like teeth projecting forward and outward. The object of these is to cut wider the breach his ram makes in the quivering flesh of a mosasaur, so he can force his head into the bleeding flesh to the eye rims.

But his most terrible weapons are his pectoral fins. See, they are four feet long, serrated on the cutting or outer edge, enameled, and as sharp as a knife. They can be locked, and stand out straight from the body. A sudden swing would, if he was close to a mosasaur, cut a gash several feet long in its vitals. See these fins span over eight feet.

I pity the fish or reptile that comes his way. Sternberg probably published his last magazine article in December, , in Popular Science Monthly. He was nearly 80 years old:. LEFT: Page 56 " Such unexpected twists of fate make fossil hunting one of the most fascinating games in the world. Beneath, dark brown against the pale sandstone, was the tooth filled snout of a huge fish.

Careful excavation revealed it to be a Portheus molossus [ Xiphactinus audax ], a prehistoric fish fourteen feet long, probably able to destroy any shark alive today. Sternberg, C. Fossil monsters I have hunted. Popular Science Monthly , 57, , December. Among the abundant yield particular mention should be made of the largest known slab Uintacrinus and numerous very beautiful mosasaurs.

The genus Tylosaurus is especially well represented. Everhart, M. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions : Katherine Rogers , p. Sternberg and his son, George F. Sternberg went to Washington D. Sternberg [ten years after his retirement from the Army and the post of Surgeon General of the Army]. Apparently the two brothers had not seen each other in many years.

Marsh, Joseph Leidy and other paleontologists to the existence of Kansas' vast fossil beds, worthy of exploration". With him one of the few remaining links with the heroic age of Vertebrate Paleontology in America was severed; but the tangible results of his years of service may be seen in the exhibition halls and study collections of many of the famous museums of the United States and Canada as well as of Europe.

While not a research worker himself, Sternberg provided much original material for those who were, and thus aided greatly in enriching the Science of Vertebrate Paleontology. His mantle has fallen on the shoulders of his three surviving sons, George F. Sternberg was born at Middleburg, New York, on June 15th, Even as a youngster he was interested in fossils which he cut from the limestone ledge near his home.

Soon after he discovered many fine leaf impressions in the Dakota sandstones and made a number of collections of these fossil plants at various times. He had many experiences with the Indians and the pioneers of the West for he was usually at the outposts of civilization. He began collecting vertebrate fossils from the Kansas chalk in the spring of and later that year he accompanied Professor Cope to the Judith River beds on the Upper Missouri where Hayden had collected the first dinosaur remains to be found in North America.

Here they collected several dinosaur types. He made his first trip to the Permian of Texas in the winter of and continued to collect from these beds for several years. He discovered many new forms and several of the famous localities from which many Permian fossils have since been collected. After thirty years collecting from the red beds, the chalk, and the mammal-bearing beds he decided to re-enter the dinosaur field.

In he and his three sons went to Niobrara County, Wyoming, to collect from the Lance beds which Hatcher had made famous by his discoveries of the horned and duckbilled dinosaurs. A couple of years later they collected another fine hadrosaur, naturally articulated and covered with a skin impression, which was sent to Senckenberg, Germany.

Sternberg collecting a horse skull in the McKittrick oil field in Larger photo by C. Sternberg here. In he moved to Canada to take charge of collecting and preparing vertebrate fossils for the Geological Survey, and during the next four years he and his three Sons built up a large collection of Upper Cretaceous dinosaurs for the Museum at Ottawa.

In he resigned his position and returned to Kansas to continue independent collecting. In he moved to California where he remained until the death of his wife in December When he was in his eightieth year he made a collection of dinosaurs from near Ojo Alamo, New Mexico, where he was more than miles from the railroad and had to depend largely on the Navajo Indians for assistance.

Here he collected the horned dinosaur skull which Professor Osborn called Pentaceratops sternbergi. The next year he made a large collection of mammals from the McKittrick quarry in California. Following his work at McKittrick he confined his collecting efforts to deposits near San Diego but he went to his office at the Natural History Museum as long as he remained in California.

In the spring of he returned to Canada to spend his remaining days with his sons Charles M. He passed away in his sleep at the home of the latter at Toronto, July 21st, He was in perfect health to the very end, but during his last year he became gradually less active and the walks which he had enjoyed so much became shorter as the months passed.

Reference: Sternberg, C. American Journal of Science, 10 A dinosaur dynasty: The Sternberg fossil hunters. Sternberg including links to ePapers on Oceans of Kansas :. The Quaternary of Washington Territory. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 4 9 The Pliocene Beds of Southern Oregon. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 4 10 The Dakota Group.

Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 4 11 The Judith River Group. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 4 12 The Niobrara Group. City Review of Science and Industry 5 1 The fossil flora of the Cretaceous Dakota Group. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 5 4 The Loup Fork Group of Kansas. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry.

The fossil fields of southern Oregon. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 7 10 Explorations in northeastern Oregon. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 7 11 The flora of the Dakota Group. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 8 1 Directions for collecting vertebrate fossils. Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 8 4 Practical studies in Geology.

Cretaceous leaf nodules. Popular Science News February. Pliocene Man. Popular Science News April. A mine of mammoths. Popular Science News August After his wife's death in , Sternberg moved in with his son Levi Sternberg in Toronto, Canada , where he lived until his death aged Sternberg married Anna Musgrave Reynolds on July 7, One son died in toddlerhood, and their only daughter died at age 20 in Sternberg — , Charles Mortram Sternberg — , and Levi Sternberg — , who also had careers in vertebrate paleontology.

They became famous for their collecting abilities and many discoveries, including the " Trachodon mummy ", an exquisitely preserved specimen of Edmontosaurus annectens see hadrosaurid. Son George was also a noted fossil hunter famous for finding a "fish within a fish" — a foot 4. Charles Sternberg was a deeply religious man. He wrote devotional poetry and published a collection of poems called A Story of the Past: Or, the Romance of Science My own body will crumble in dust, my soul return to the God who gave it, but the works of His hands, those animals of other days, will give joy and pleasure to generations yet unborn.

Fossils collected by Charles Sternberg, including dinosaurs from the western United States and Canada, are in museums around the world. Many of the fossils discovered by Charles Sternberg's son, George F. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. In he sent specimens to the Smithsonian for identification, and in he met Leo Lesquereux, famous paleobotanist, who came to collect in the vicinity.

Lesquereux was so impressed by Sternberg, that he named a new fossil plant for him--Protophyllum sternbergii. Sternberg continued to work with Dakota material off and on until In he married Anna Reynolds, and they had three sons. Professional Fossil Hunter Sternberg's professional career began in , when he attempted to join Mudge's field party that was working for Marsh.

There was no room for Sternberg, so he wrote to Cope and offered his services. Marsh and Cope were bitter rivals in paleontology and each sought to possess the biggest and best vertebrate fossils. The two field parties shared the base camp peacefully, but they competed in the field for fossils of mosasaurs, giant fish, sharks, and crinoids in the Cretaceous chalk beds.

Sternberg continued to work for Cope for many years. Later he also worked for Marsh, other museums, and himself as a professional fossil hunter. Sternberg met Cope in Omaha in , and they journeyed by railroad to Montana, where Custer's army had just been destroyed by Sioux Indians. Cope wanted to collect fossils anyway in the badlands of the Missouri and Judith rivers.

Upper Cretaceous Pierre Shale yielded dinosaurs and giant sea tortoises, and the first horned dinosaurs were collected. Sternberg spent the following winter in Philadelphia with Cope. In Sternberg was back in Kansas again to collect from the chalk beds. He discovered rich Tertiary fossil beds of the Ogallala in northwestern Kansas.

He collected for both Cope and later Marsh--elephants, turtles, three-toed horse, rhinoceras, etc. Many of these specimens came from the famous "Sternberg quarry" in Phillips County. In August , he returned to his family in Ellsworth County long enough to say goodbye and head out to Oregon.

Charles h sternberg biography

Sternberg spent the next couple of years collecting Tertiary fossils for Cope. Human artifacts at one site initially were thought to be evidence for "Pliocene Man," but Sternberg later decided the old fossils had been mixed with younger artifacts. He collected mostly fossil mammals from volcanoclastic strata, including oreodont, rhinoceras, rodents, saber-toothed tiger, flamingo, etc.

In an Indian war broke out, which forced Sternberg to hide his fossils and flee the area. A fossil camel from Washington was named for him by Cope, Paratylopus sternbergi. In , Sternberg turned his attention to the Permian red beds of Texas, where he collected for the Museum of Comparative Anatomy founded by Agassiz at Harvard University. This was a desolate, harsh situation without good water.

He spent six field seasons, at first without much success. Eventually he found early reptiles and amphibians, including Eyrops and Dimetrodon early sail-backed reptile. He also conducted more work for Cope in and