PREFACE
My Story, “The Life of a Fossil Hunter,” published by Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1909, met with such a splendid reception that I am tempted to write a second volume, especially as I have since that publication with my three sons met with the most wonderful success among the dinosaurs of the Red Deer river, Alberta, Canada. Since 1912 we have been in the employment of the Geological Survey of Canada, collecting five car loads of the ancient inhabitants of Alberta. We have found many new genera of the duck-billed dinosaurs, those wonderful swimmers of the old lakes and bayous of the Cretaceous period, three new genera of horned dinosaurs, learning more about them than was ever known before, finding that instead of being covered with bony plates as has been supposed they had thin skins with small scales like mosaic-work; then, stranger still, the huge plated dinosaurs completely enveloped in an armor of bony plates, some large, and others small like chained armor, allowing motion to the body. In fact, we are building up a great exhibit of these strange creatures of the past. I propose to write in the same strain as in my other book, but will take my readers to entirely new scenes; to the richest Cretaceous fossil field in the world; will tell of our adventures and strenuous labor in the great gorge of the Red Deer river, 500 feet deep, and many miles in length; of the entire process of collecting, learned by experience through so many years of ceaseless effort; also the work of preparation in our laboratory. In 1917 it will be fifty years since I began collecting fossils, the rich results of the past few years are due to the splendid work done by my three sons of whom I am justly proud, and the assistance rendered me by the Geological Survey who have honored every requisition I have made upon them and the results have been far beyond my wildest dreams. No other Museum in the world, except the American in New York, can show such collections as we have made in the last few years. I would like to tell you the whole story. Those of you who have read my other volume and have sent me notes of appreciation I would like to tell you of how much assistance they have been to me, giving me fresh courage when I have been nearly discouraged. I will illustrate the new book with fifty original photographs showing the fossil beds, the skeletons, or huge heads in the rock, the manner of collecting, the work of preparation in the laboratory, and the finished specimen ready for exhibition. We have already mounted the first duck-billed dinosaur in Canada, it is thirty-two feet long. We secured eight skeletons of a new form with a hooded head.
Faithfully yours,
Charles H. Sternberg.
Lawrence, Kansas.