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David Dale Owen and Joseph Granville Norwood: Pioneer Geologists in Indiana and Illinois

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David Dale Owen and Joseph Granville Norwood: Pioneer Geologists in Indiana and Illinois David Dale Owen and Joseph Granville Norwood: Pioneer Geologists in Indiana and Illinois Clark Kimberling* In 1993 America’s highest-grossing concert act popularized a song entitled “Dire Wolf,”’ and a leading children’s television series was using dire wolves as bad guys.2Elsewhere, players of Dungeons and Dragons empathized with the species. Although these modern- day dire wolves are mythical and fantastic, a few millennia ago real ones roamed both American continent^.^ They hunted other ani- mals, slew them with their powerful jaws, and ate them. In 1854 Francis A. Linck of Evansville, Indiana, found a fossilized jawbone of what was later identified as the first known dire wolf and thus established a new species. Tracing the movement of this fossil from Evansville to New Harmony, Indiana, then to Philadelphia opens up an interesting view of the study of geology in the mid-nine- teenth-century Middle West and of two geologists living in New Harmony in 1854: David Dale Owen and Joseph Granville Norwood. Although the story of Francis A. Linck and his discovery can be viewed as a kind of introductory note to the Owen-Norwood account, it is in itself a fascinating tale. Linck’s father, also Francis, was a native of Wurttemburg, Germany, who migrated to Vander- *Clark Kimberling is professor of mathematics, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana. For abundant and enthusiastic help, he wishes to thank Faye Mark, archivist, Indiana University, Bloomington; Ronald L. Richards, curator of paleobiology and chief curator of natural history, Indiana State Museum, Indi- anapolis; Josephine M. Elliott of The Workingmen’s Institute, New Harmony, Indi- ana; Rodney D. Norby, associate geologist, Illinois State Geological Survey; and Professor A. S. Horowitz, curator of paleontology, Department of Geology, Indiana University. 1 The concert act was the Grateful Dead. See Richard Harrington, “Drawing a New Crowd, Comics for the Rock-and-Roll Generation,” Washington Post, Sunday, October 13, 1991, Final Edition; Parade Magazine, November 28, 1993, p. 2. 2 This series, Cro, from Children’s Television Workshop (the producers of Sesame Street) is a cartoon in which the lead character is a Cro-Magnon boy. The series premiered in September, 1993, on ABC-TV. Christian Science Monitor, November 19,1993, p. 15. 3 Dire wolf remains have been found in Alberta, Canada, and northern Peru and across the United States from California to Virginia. A detailed discussion of dire wolves and their geographical distribution is given in Ronald M. Nowak, North American Quaternary Canis (University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History, monograph no. 6; Lawrence, Kans., 19791, 106-15. INDIANA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY, XCII (March, 1996).0 1996, Trustees of Indiana University. Pioneer Geologists in Indiana and Illinois 3 burgh County in the Hoosier state via Tennessee around the time that construction began on the Wabash and Erie Canal. By the fall of 1836 Francis Linck had purchased and was operating the brick Mansion House hotel, “a rambling structure located a short dis- tance from the Ohio River” at First and Locust streets in E~ansville.~Situated in the far southwestern corner of Indiana, Evansville had approximately 1,228 residents in 1836, 2,121 in 1840, and 3,235 by 1850.5The Linck family, along with the town, prospered. The 1850 manuscript federal census for Vanderburgh County lists Francis Linck, seventy-five, as a merchant in Pigeon Township with real estate worth $14,400. Francis A. Linck, twenty- nine, was married and resided in Knight Township.‘j Other than that they were probably among the first Catholic families in E~ansville,~little more is known about the Lincks. The Mansion House was torn down to make way for a 1,000-seat Opera House that opened in 1868, and portions of the property remained in the Linck family until 1882.8Francis A. Linck held a seat on the Evansville City Council beginning in April, 1853, was apparently an “enthusiastic collector” of geological specimens, discovered the jawbone of the dire wolf probably in the late summer of 1854, and died on August 28 of that same year. His will describes the proper- ty he owned, mentions seven other Lincks, and states, “I further give and bequeath to my dear wife Elizabeth Linck . my cabinet of Shells and curiosities . .”9 The story of Linck‘s collection continues in a series of letters written in 1854 and 1855 from Dr. Joseph Granville Norwood, then state geologist of Illinois, to Dr. Joseph Leidy, curator of the Acade- my of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.lo On August 12, 1854, Nor- wood, who at the time resided in New Harmony, wrote Leidy: 4 Frank M. Gilbert, History of the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Zndiana (2 vols., Chicago, 19101, I, 34; Brant and Fuller, pubs., History of Vander- burgh County, Zndiana . (Madison, Wis., 18891, 109; quotation in John A. Ellert, A Souvenir of the Centennial of the Assumption Church, Evansville, Zndiana (n.p., 19371, [l]. 5 Brant and Fuller, History of Vanderburgh County, 127; Gilbert, History of the City of Evansville, 46. 6 US., Seventh Census, 1850, Population Schedules for Vanderburgh County, Indiana, 478. 7 Herman Alerding, A History of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Vincennes (Indianapolis, 18831, 264-65. 8 Maria Linck’s will, Vanderburgh County Will Book D, August 12,1882, p. 379, Willard Library, Evansville, Indiana. Today a parking lot occupies the site of the Mansion House/Opera House. Those who start there, walk two blocks to the river, and look downstream will see a bridge over Pigeon Creek, right where the creek empties into the river, near the place where the fossilized jawbone of the first known dire wolf was found. 9 Joseph P. Elliott, A History of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Zndiana . (Evansville, Ind., 18971, 74; Evansville Daily Journal, August 30, 1854; Francis A. Linck’s will, Vanderburgh County Will Book A, August 27, 1854, p. 88, Willard Library. 10 Joseph Granville Norwood served as state geologist of Illinois from 1851 to 1858. For more information concerning him, see below and G. C. Broadhead, “Joseph 4 Indiana Magazine of History Enclosed you will find drawings of a bone found a short time since in the bank of the Ohio, near the mouth of Pigeon Creek, a short distance below Evansville, Indiana. It is from a locality where several bones of a Megalonyx were obtained some years ago-and in the same geological position. Other remains have been found associated with them, which I hope to obtain next week. The gentleman who found them, Mr. Francis A. Linck, would not part with them, but will allow drawings to be made. He has also promised me to continue his researches during the present very favorable state of the river, which is very low. If he cannot be prevailed on to send them to you, I will have as good drawings made of them as possible, and forward them. The draw- ings of the portion ofjaw now sent, are by Mr. John Chappellsmith, a gentleman who executed many of the illustrations in Dr. Owen’s Report. On the receipt of this, write and tell us what it is. Mr. Linck is anxious to know, and a word will sometimes do much toward stimulating a person to further research . .I1 Almost three weeks later, on August 31, Norwood informed Leidy of Linck’s death and commented, “This is a matter to be regretted not only on account of his family, but also in regard to the branch of science to which you devote yourself; so far at least as the labors of an enthusiastic collector are concerned.” It also at least temporarily prevented Norwood from sending to Leidy a box of bones that Linck had earlier deposited with him. The bones were “of great interest” even though they did not include the jawbone of the still unidentified dire wolf, which fragment Linck had refused to release. “With regard to the drawing sent,” Norwood instructed, “if you cannot make any thing of it, let the matter rest until I can see his father. Perhaps he will allow all the bones [presumably including the jawbone fragment] to be sent to you.” Subsequent correspondence indicates that Norwood continued to negotiate with the Linck family concerning the “fossil bones.” The geologist asked to be allowed to keep them for a longer period of time and to have returned to him the fragment of the jawbone, which was back in the family’s possession.12In a letter dated November 1, 1854, Norwood wrote of a box forwarded to Leidy “on Tuesday last.” Among other items the box contained “the bones col- lected by Mr. Lincke, including the fragment of a jaw, of which I Granville Norwood, M.D., LL.D.,” The American Geologist, XVI (August, 1895), 68-74; History of Boone County, Missouri (1882, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 19701,917-20; Charles Keyes, “Joseph Granville Norwood: Pioneer State Geologist in the West,” Pan-American Geologist, LXXIII (February, 19401, 1-10. For Joseph Leidy see W. S. W. Ruschenberger, “A Sketch of the Life of Joseph Leidy, M.D., LL.D.,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XXX (April, 18921, 135-84. The letters from Norwood to Leidy are located in Collection 1: Joseph Leidy Papers, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 11 The John Chappellsmith to which Norwood refers is listed in the 1850 manuscript census schedules as an artist, age forty-three, born in England. See Elfrieda Lang, ed., “The Inhabitants of New Harmony According to the Federal Cen- sus of 1850,”Indiana Magazine of History, XLII (December, 19461, 387. For the Owen report see David Dale Owen, Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Zowa, and Minnesota and Incidentally of a Portion of Nebraska Territory (Philadelphia, 1852).
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