BONES
Continued from Page 1
um
The collection started when pioneer preacher
Thomas Condon saved specimens (mind in the
|ohn Day Valiev by a I S Calvary troop in 1WU
He later visited the site himself, a dangerous jour
ney liec nuso the area was "infested" with Indians,
he wrote .it the time To get fossils from the val
ley, he would have to "hold a rifle in one hand
and mv pick in the other," he wrote
Most of the fossils are from 10 to SO million
years old and come from the John Day Fossil
Beds, said Professor Bill Orr. who has lieen the
museum’s curator for 10 years
Oregon's plants and fauna have changed many
times throughout its history Alxuit r>0 million
years ago tfie state was t harac teri/ed h\ tropical
forests and volcanoes As it < hanged to a warm,
temperate forest climate, some animals tier a me
extinct and camels, rhinoceroses and three toed
horses roamed the state
"Oregon is one of the few plates in the world
with an uninterrupted record of mammalian evil
lution,” Orr said "In other jdat es. pages have
hee.n torn from the book of evolution But here,
the fossil record is r umplete
The museum is ranked 12th in the i tilled
States in numbers of curated lossil vertebrate
specimens It is used primal if v by rest-art hers and
scientists The collection grew during the infills
and '(ids under the direction of Hr . | A Shot-well,
and it now contains other artifat ts. sue h as histor
a photographs, notebooks, and also .rock and
mineral specimens It also'contains the hones of
many recent animals
"It's a very, very valuable roller lion," said
Ruth Greenspan, an art Ideologist for Heritage Re
seart h Asstx lates, lot a private consulting firm
in hugene that tines archaeological and historical
research
Greenspan said she usually studies sites less
than 10.000 years old. and uses spot itnetis from
the museum's collection of more modern mam
mat Ixtnes
When we find bones at a site, we t an < ompare
them with specimens from ttie ( tuition collet lion
that have known identities Greenspan s.inl It
helps US discover vs fi.it people were eating III tile
prehistnnt past, and what animals lived during
their lifetimes
Professor Paul Simonds. head of tlie anthropol
ogv department. has used spin miens from the ( til
ler lion when fie taught a tunics lor an haetiit.
gists" class at the University
Usually we have just .1 bit ij( .1 bone. .trui we
compare it to .1 whole hone bortimnl from the
collection, Simonds S.itil It helps the students
distinguish between specimens that are hones
and those that are not If tiles saw \ha' This is a
bone ' That's good But it s even better If they t an
say, 'Tilts is a fish bone, or a seal (sine, or a deer
tame
'-The toilet lion lias been moved mum times
since the first ptetes were gathered by tamdon It
moved to Oregon State University with the si 1
once departments in the i'l 10s Orr said, and
started 1 timing l>.n k pietfme.il in the I'iSOs It
has been shuffled around the I 'mversity s t ampus
suite then But perhaps the most chaotit move
came when Camtlori was still custodian' in Hi ft
Kepresentalives from an eastern university tried
to iniy tiie collection that year The men tried to
persuade- (aitidon that Ins wood house in I lie
Dalles t ouid inirn down arid destroy the tnssds
But Condon wouldn't sell Hirer days later a
fire broke out at the old (dots- Hotel nearby It
spread quickly, arid ( ondon hurried to save his
house So did many of his neighbors, who let
their ovs n property I*' t mistimed by the tile w tide
they .'helped the preai her
They spread a t arpet tin the roof and soaked it
with water It worked I'iie house was saved, hut
after the fire, (uindon returned to find Ills C abinet
shelves empty Most of the spot intuits were miss
ing
Many i-hi Id ren ' stopped by over the nest two
weeks, bringing the fossils they had tarried mil
while the fire hail raged One brought tile skull id
an oredont Another, rhinoceros teeth And an
other child returned ,1 camel Imne he had saved
from the flumes Soon everything w as returned
esc ept lor a 1 u!h- of amber whu h In d tu.sill/ed
inset Is But that was found a fevs days later in the
street, where someone had dropped it
( (union became the University's lirst prole .-or
ol rialur.il history in 1 u'n He brought tits collet
lion with him and alter his death in I'lO " it was
sold to the l nivetsity by his daughter. I lien l am
don Met Inrnack. tor 0(H) lint today it s worth
unit ti more
You can t buy a collection like it, it's literally
pric eless, said geology Professor I ueg Ketailac k
Some students are enthusiastic. he said
VYe ve made some real converts to the study ol
geology by showing them what has been dlscuv
ereci in this state But other students are indiffer
ent
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