The great Canadian dinosaur rush of 1910-1917

Although Canada’s first dinosaur bones were discovered in 1874 in the Killdeer Badlands of Saskatchewan, the glory time of dinosaur discovery was 1910-1917. Following a visit to the dinosaur hall of New York City’s Museum of Natural History in 1908, rancher John L. Wegener reported to the museum’s curator of palaeontology, Henry Osborn, that many similar dinosaur bones lay strewn about his property near Drumheller. Osborn commissioned the legendary Barnum Brown, who discovered the first Tyrannosaurus rex ever, to verify Wegener’s claims. Receiving a positive report from Brown, Mr. Osborn launched a full-on fossil-hunting expedition in 1909 and The Great Canadian Dinosaur Rush was on!

Dr. Barnum Brown and the skeleton of a duck-billed dinosaur (type of Corythosaurus casuariusj, Oldman formation, Red Deer River, 1912.)

Brown constructed a large floating platform between 1910 and 1911 to scour the banks and shores of the Red Deer River for dinosaurs that he could ship back to the ‘Big Apple’. However, the Government of Canada wanted to harvest the bone bounty of Alberta for Canada’s benefit as well. Charles H. Sternberg, a renowned private fossil hunter, was hired to undertake the fossil-hunting expeditions, along with his three sons.

Between 1912 and 1914, the Canadian and American teams worked feverishly to collect dinosaur bones near Drumheller and in the region now known as the Dinosaur Provincial Park (DPP). For the most part, the rivalry between Brown’s and Sternberg’s teams remained a civil one, especially once they realized there were plenty of dinosaur remains to go around. In 1915, Ottawa dispensed Sternberg and his sons in two teams to explore both the Big Valley north of Drumheller and the Milk River in the far south of the province.

The summer of 1916 saw The Great Canadian Dinosaur Rush reach its peak. Mr. Brown led his last expedition to DPP and Sternberg shipped some specimens to a British museum. With the First World War in full swing, the Government of Canada was less keen on palaeontology and so, in 1917, Sternberg led his last expedition in Alberta. The Great Canadian Dinosaur Rush of 1910-1917 resulted in the collection of thousands of fossils, many leaving the country to adorn the collections in museums from the U.S.A. to Europe.

By Shannon L. Tracey