Page 98 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

Edward Drinker Cope
competition between the two became bitter and expensive and grew to include their major sponsors (John Wesley Powell in the case of Marsh). To continue his collecting, Cope sought to augment his personal fortune by purchasing a lot of stock in the Lake Valley mines. The mines played out in 1883. In 1886 he had to sell his worthless stock, and in 1895 he sold his priceless set of mammal fossils from the west (over 10,000 specimens) to the American Museum of Natural History for $32,000. Cope’s travails and hardships became the American public’s gain.
Elmer Philo Blinn
In 1890, Blinn (photo right) provided the Biological Survey with a breeding bird list from Chloride. He was a leading citizen of the town at the time and is frequently mentioned in the local newspaper, The Black Range newspaper. The early years of the paper are covered on the Black Range Website. Like many citizen naturalists he had another life. (See ad from the February 1, 1884, issue of The Black Range newspaper, to the right.)

Frank Springer
Frank Springer was a successful New Mexico lawyer who played in big-time New Mexico politics. He is best known in many circles for his activities in the arena of human culture. We leave the discussion of those activities to the drama students.
E. P. Blinn
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