FROM CHACO TO KUTZ CANYON

WALTER GRANGER COLLECTING FOSSIL MAMMALS

IN NEW MEXICO

Vincent L. Morgan & Spencer G. Lucas

The San Juan Basin of New
Mexico
 Walter Granger, 1872-
1941
• Followed in the footsteps of Edward D.
Cope and David Baldwin, and
overlapped with Jacob L. Wortman.

• Granger first entered New Mexico in

1896, with Wortman and crew, to
rework two sites (the Almagre Arroyo
area and the Torreon Wash) that
Wortman last visited in 1892.

• They also met with the amateur

archaeologist Richard Wetherill and his
crew at the Pueblo Bonito in Chaco
• Granger subsequently led small parties
to various localities in New Mexico in
1912, 1913 and 1916 making significant
advances in the collection and study of
fossil mammals, which work was
instrumental in laying the paleontologic
and stratigraphic groundwork upon
which the Puercan and Torrejonian land-
mammal “ages” were based.

• Granger’s work also became the basis

for recognition of the Paleocene Epoch.
BEGINNINGS…..
Baldwin and Cope……
• Scientific study of the
San Juan Basin was
undertaken by Edward
D. Cope, who began
expeditions to NM in
1874.
• Cope’s effort was
joined by
David Baldwin in the
1870s
and 1880s. Little is
known
about Baldwin’s life and
circumstances. Edward D. Cope (1840-1897)
After Baldwin and Cope….
 Cope’s and Baldwin’s
work was continued by
Cope’s former assistant,
Jacob L. Wortman, in
1892.

 In 1896, Wortman led the

American Museum of
Natural History’s first
fossil hunting expedition
to New Mexico.

Jacob L. Wortman (1856-

1926)
Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon in 1896…
The 1896 AMNH party led by
Wortman

 Gathered
beneath the
cliff directly
behind Pueblo
Bonito are (l.-
r.) Walter
Granger,
Barnum
Brown, Henry
Snyder,
Clayton
Wetherill, and
Jacob
Wortman.
Paleontologists and archaeologists meet at
Chaco Canyon….

1896 - At Pueblo Bonito (l.-r.) are: Clayton Wetherill, Orian (Oscar) Buck,
Walter Granger, Jacob Wortman, George Pepper, Barnum Brown, Richard
Wetherill and Henry Snyder.
An 1896 expedition camp in the San Juan Basin…

1896 - Horses stand at left. Wortman stands at right. The

two men seated are Granger (l.) and Peterson (r.). Between
them and Wortman are two native Americans who brought
several blankets for sale or trade. One of their blankets is
Transition……..
 In the spring of 1899,
Wortman left for the
Carnegie Museum of
Natural History.

 As a result, Granger
assumed Wortman’s
duties at the
American Museum of
Natural History and
led the Museum’s
1899 field party.
Walter Granger (1872-1941)
 Walter Granger’s Expeditions to New
Mexico

• 1896 - Chaco Canyon and Torreon Wash (with Jacob

Wortman as leader, Barnum Brown and Henry Snyder).

• 1912 - retracing Wortman viz. Torreon Wash (with

William “Billy” Stein and Vicente Torres).

• 1913 - transect of San Juan Basin from Chico Springs on

north to Torreon Wash on south (with George Olsen,
William J. Sinclair and John (“Jack”) Martin. Visitors,
Henry F. Osborn and H.F.O. Spier).

• 1916 - retracing Baldwin viz. Aztec/Animas River, then

Kutz (“Coots”) Canyon to Chico Springs and El Huerfano
areas (with George Olsen, “Jack” Martin and George J.
Ingraham).
1912 - (l.-r.) William “Billy” Stein, Vicente Torres and Walter
Granger.
Portion of the San Juan Basin Granger and his
party examined in 1916.
In camp, 1916…….

 The 1916 expedition

party (l.-r.): “Jack”
Martin, Walter
Granger and George
Olsen.
• ca. 1912 - Granger
inspecting a fossil at
the American
Museum of Natural
History.
 Ectoconus

Deltatherium
Compiling the work……….

William D. Matthew
1871-1930

Matthew, W.D., 1937, “Paleocene faunas of the San Juan

Basin, New Mexico.”
 Following Granger……..
 Granger and the
much younger
George G. Simpson
collaborated on a
number of studies,
though they never
visited New Mexico
together. Simpson
would eventually
follow his colleague
into the state to
conduct further George G. Simpson (1902-1984)
Kutz Canyon

The End