Page 27 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus
1846: Wislizenus journeyed from Santa Fe into Chihuahua, in 1846. He was a botanist and collected extensively. The map on the following page is from his book about the trip referenced here, “Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico in 1846 and 1847”. This work was considered so informative that the U. S. Senate ordered 5,000 copies. The arrow indicates the Black Range (which is not filled in). While the United States was mounting expeditions during this period, Wislizenus simply took a tour.
He collected many plant species during his travel from Santa Fe to Chihuahua. Wislizenus provided specimens to his friend George Engelmann, who named several new species for him, including Wislizenia refracta, shown below. Gambelia wislizenii, the Long-nosed Lizard (photo
26
above, taken at Cooke’s Spring) was also named in his honor.
Wislizenus did not travel around the country with a military escort. Instead he travelled west with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1839-1840, joined a group of Flathead and Nez Perce to cross the Rocky Mountains, and failing to cross the Sierra Nevada returned to his home in St. Louis. In addition to practicing medicine, he was a regular at the Western Academy of Natural Sciences where he befriended George Englemann.
He undertook his 1846 journey despite the recently proclaimed war between Mexico and America. He spent time in prison in Chihuahua, and true to spirit, he used that time to explore the area and make natural history collections (“Prison” is perhaps an overstatement.) In 1847 he, and other American prisoners, were rescued by Colonel Doniphan. On his return he wrote the above mentioned book.