CHAPTER VIII
MY FIRST EXPEDITION TO THE PERMIAN OF TEXAS, 1882
My first expedition to the Permian of Texas was made in 1882, while I was in charge of collecting parties for the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University.
I left the station at North Cambridge about the fifteenth of December, and reached Dallas on the twenty-first, with the address of A. R. Roessler; but I was told at the post-office that there was no such man and no such address in the city. I had been depending absolutely upon the information which I hoped to receive from this Mr. Roessler, as I myself had no more idea as to the whereabouts of the Permian beds than a new-born child. Dr. Hayden had written me to follow up Red River until I found the red beds, which had colored the whole flood-plain of the valley, and I had seen the red mud at Texarkana as I entered the state; but it would take years to explore the whole valley of that great stream. I felt that I had come upon a wild-goose chase, and I suppose showed my dismay in my face, for the postmaster asked if he could help me. I told him my troubles, and he said that there was a man in town, a Professor W. A. Cummins, who had been Cope’s assistant the year before.
Greatly cheered, I went to the man’s house posthaste, to be met at the door by his wife, who told me that the Professor was in Austin. Whereupon my spirits dropped below zero again. But if a girl’s face is her fortune, so is a man’s sometimes, for I gained Mrs. Cummins’ sympathy at once. When I told her why I had come to Texas, she answered, “Why, I was with Professor Cummins on his expedition to the Permian beds,” and proceeded to give me all the information which I thought necessary.
I learned that they had made their headquarters at Seymour, in Baylor County, between the Brazos and Wichita rivers, and I supposed that anyone in Seymour could tell me the exact localities from which the fossils came. Later I found to my sorrow that this was not the case; and I wasted months of careful exploration over barren beds before I found the horizon that yielded the wonderful batrachians and reptiles of which I had come in search.
Much elated, I took the train for Gordon, a cattlemen’s town south of Seymour, and the point nearest to it by rail. I arrived there on Christmas Eve. I was the only passenger to leave the cars and was welcomed by about twenty cowboys, who were just beginning to paint the town red. The leader asked me where I came from, and I answered promptly, “From Boston.”
“Where do you want to go?” he asked.
“To the best hotel in town,” said I.
“All right!” he said. “We’ll take you there.” And sure enough, they did. They formed in double file and put me in the middle of their ranks. Then the two men ahead of me laid their Winchesters over my shoulders from in front, and the two men behind crossed these guns with their own, and at the word, “Fire at will!” the whole command opened fire and kept it up all the way to the hotel. There a girl appeared, carrying a lamp with no chimney, and the men, facing the porch, allowed me to go into the waiting room. I turned first, and made a little speech, thanking them for their kind reception and remarking that if I were not so poor, I should stand treat for the whole crowd. This satisfied them, and shouting “All right!” they went off to continue their nonsense until they were all drunk.