Labels:text | font | paper | screenshot | document OCR: Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh competed for the best bones and the most expert fossil hunters. The two ambitious men spied on each other's activities, buying information about the latest finds and even trying to bribe workers from the opposite camp into their services. Excavation at the main sites continued at fever pitch for several years. During that time, thousands of fossils were carted away from the quarries and sent by rail to Cope and Marsh. BUMPER YEAR Three major dinosaur fossil sites were discovered in 1877. The first of these was found by Arthur Lakes, a schoolteacher, in Morrison, Colorado. In May 1877, Lakes sent bones to both Cope and Marsh, enquiring whether they were interested in the finds. Marsh reacted first, sending money to Lakes and requesting him not to mention the find to anyone else. Cope was already writing descriptions of the bones when he received a message from Lakes asking him to send them to Marsh, who named them Apatosaurus, or "deceptive reptile." PENDULUM SWINGS Within months, Cope received samples from an even greater find. Another schoolteacher, O.W. Lucas, had discovered fossil bones near Canyon City, in the same rock formation as Morrison, Colorado. Cope immediately employed Lucas to hire a team of helpers to collect the bones for him. By August 1877, it was clear to Cope that these were the remains of a plant-eater - "the largest yet found." He named it Camarasaurus. Marsh, having tried unsuccessfully to bribe Lucas to change sides, opened a rival quarry nearby. It was there that the first Diplodocus was found. The new dinosaur was named by Marsh in 1878. BEST OF ALL The third find of the year was at Como Bluff, Wyoming. It was to prove the best of the three sites. Marsh heard about it first, and organized a team to excavate the huge, fossil- rich beds. They dug up many fine skeletons, including several new species, such as Stegosaurus and Allosaurus. Work at the site stopped in 1889. Eight years later, a team from the American Museum of Natural History, headed by Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935), returned to Como Bluff and made many more finds at Bone Cabin Quarry.
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