Benjamin Franklin Mudge

Infobox Person
name = Benjamin Franklin Mudge


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1817|8|11|mf=y
birth_place = Orrington, Maine
death_date = death date and age|1879|11|21|1817|8|11|mf=y
death_place = Manhattan, Kansas
occupation = Geologist, paleontologist, teacher, lawyer, chemist
spouse = Mary E. Beckford
parents = James and Ruth Mudge
children =

Benjamin Franklin Mudge (August 11 1817 – November 21 1879) was an American lawyer, geologist and teacher. Briefly the mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts, he later moved to Kansas where he was appointed the first State Geologist. He led the first geological survey of the state in 1864, and published the first book on the geology of Kansas. He lectured extensively, and was department chair at the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC, now Kansas State University).

He also avidly collected fossils, and was one of the first to systematically explore the Permian and Mesozoic biota in the geologic formations of Kansas and the American West, including the Niobrara Chalk, the Morrison Formation, and the Dakota Sandstone. While not formally trained in paleontology, he kept extensive and accurate field notes and sent most of his fossils East to be described by some of the most noted paleontologists of his time, including the rivals Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope.

His discoveries included at least 80 new species of extinct animals and plants,Parker, 1881.] and are found in the collections of some of the most prestigious U.S. institutions of natural history, including the Smithsonian and Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History. One of his most notable finds is the holotype of the first recognized "bird with teeth", "Ichthyornis".Marsh, 1872, "Notice of a new and remarkable fossil bird.] Marsh, 1872, "Notice of a new reptile".] Marsh, 1873.] While working for Marsh, he also discovered the type species of the sauropod dinosaur "Diplodocus",Marsh, 1878.] and the theropod dinosaur "Allosaurus", with his protege Samuel Wendell Williston.Marsh, 1877.] A Short History of Dinosaur Collecting.]

Biography

Early life

Mudge was born in Orrington, Maine [Spelled "Orrinton" in Everhart 2005 and "Orriton" in Morgan 1911.] to James and Ruth Mudge on August 11, 1817, and moved with his family to Lynn, Massachusetts in 1818. He helped support three older brothers enrolled in the Methodist Episcopal Conference by working as a shoemaker for 6 years, before attending Wesleyan University. Unlike his brothers who all became clergy, Benjamin studied science and the classics before graduating in 1840. He acquired his Master of Arts several years later from the same institution, and passed the bar and began practicing as a lawyer in 1842. On September 16, 1842 he married Mary E. Beckford; he continued his practice, and was elected mayor of Lynn in 1852 on a temperance platform.Blackmar 1912, p. 331] Morgan 1911, ch. 23.]

In 1859 he moved to Cloverport, Kentucky where he briefly worked as a chemist at a Breckinridge Coal and Oil Company oil refinery.

Educator and state geologist

With the start of the American Civil War in 1861, Mudge moved to Quindaro (now part of Kansas City [Welcome to Quindaro, on the Underground Railroad 2000] ) where he took a job teaching public school in Kansas City. He lectured around the state, and in 1964 delivered a series on "Scientific and Economical Geology" to the legislature in Topeka while the bill to establish the first state geological survey was being debated in the House. The "Topeka Tribune" wrote: [Buchanan 1989, ch. 2. quotes p. 2 of the January 26, 1864 "Topeka Tribune"]

After Watson Foster withdrew due to opposition, and George C. Swallow was accused of disloyalty, Mudge was appointed as the stage geologist and the director of the first Kansas Geological Survey by Governor Thomas Carney. He reluctantly accepted, writing the following note at the bottom of the Senate nomination: "This petition was started without my knowledge or consent. I am in favor of the appointment of Prof. W. Foster". [Buchanan 1989, ch. 2. quotes the Senate petition in the Carney Collection of the Kansas State Historical Society.]

Mudge was responsible for surveying 212,000 km² (82,000 mi²) of mineral and soil resources by the end of the year, with a budget of US$3,500 and a staff of five. In the 1860s, there were no railroads and very few towns west of Topeka, and the area had seen a resurgence of "Indian trouble". Mudge moved to Manhattan, Kansas, and despite not being able to visit all the areas of the state, he submitted "Geology of Kansas" by the November 30, 1864 deadline, the first book on the geology of Kansas. The document covered stratigraphy but primarily focused on exploitable economic resources, particularly coal and salt. Mudge resigned at the end of his term, but the position was renewed and Swallow was appointed to head the 1865 survey with a larger budget and staff, and completed a more extensive survey. Due to funding problems, both the 1864 and 1865 reports were not published until 1866. [Buchanan 1989, ch. 2 and 3.] Morgan 1911, ch. 23.] After the two surveys, the Kansas Geologic Survey went into abeyance until 1895, when it was permanently established at the University of Kansas.

After his term as stage geologist, Mudge became the chair of Natural Sciences at the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC, now Kansas State University) and started teaching in 1865. He left KSAC in 1873 after a dispute with the administration. [Martin, 1994, letter on p. 138. [http://www.oceansofkansas.com/BFMudge.html Also available here] ] over back pay.

First discoveries

Mudge began geological and paleontological field expeditions in 1865, while still employed at KSAC. He collected footprints near Junction City in 1865, and invertebrates and Late Cretaceous deciduous leaves near Ellsworth in 1866, and more plants and a saurian in 1869 from the Republican River near the northern state line. His expedition in 1870 was near Fort Wallace and saw the discovery of numerous plesiosaurs and fish from the Saurodontidae family. 1871 saw plants, molluscs, vertebrates, and the bird "Hesperornis" from western Kansas. In 1872 more vertebrates and plants were discovered in Smith County, while in 1873 new species were discovered in Trego and Ellis Counties, and plesiosaurs were found in 1874 in Jewell and Gove Counties. Everhart 2005.]

While he maintained a small collection as KSAC, the majority of his finds were sent to Eastern paleontologists to be described. He initially corresponded in this fashion with Fielding Bradford Meek at the Smithsonian (primarily concerning molluscs), Leo Lesquereux (plants), Edward Drinker Cope at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (vertebrates), Othniel Charles Marsh at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale, Louis Agassiz at Harvard, and James Dwight Dana at Yale. In turn, Cope visited Mudge in 1871, and Cope, Marsh, and Lesquerenx all visited in 1872. Cope and Lesquerenx published most of Mudge's discoveries from this period.

Mudge discovered "Ichthyornis" in 1872. While he initially planned to ship the specimen to Cope, he heard of Othniel Charles Marsh's interest and sent it instead to his former acquaintance from Connecticut. Marsh first described the bird in 1872, but misidentified the toothed jaw as belonging to a type of lizard. Marsh associated the jaw with the avian postcranial elements and published the new data the next year. An analysis in 1952 concluded the jaw actually belonged to a mosasaur, [Gregory, 1952] but a reevaluation in 1967 and new specimens confirmed Marsh's assessment.

This was the first bird described with teeth; Richard Owen's original description of the London Specimen of "Archaeopteryx" in 1861 did not recognize its associated teeth, and assumed the bird had a beak. [Owen, 1863.] This was also the start of Mudge's association with Marsh, as the rivalry between Cope and Marsh (known as the "Bone Wars") heated up.

Fossils for Marsh

After his dismissal from KSAC in 1974, Mudge wrote to Marsh:

Marsh hired Mudge to lead fossil hunting expeditions. He was assisted on his 1874 expedition by Samuel Wendell Williston, who started leading his own expeditions in 1877. Mudge primarily focused on the Kansas Chalk from 1874 to 1876, but from 1876 to 1879 he expanded into Colorado discovering some of the first Jurassic dinosaurs in the American West. According to Blackmar, "in one year he shipped over three tons of fossils, etc., to New Haven"

Marsh's rival Cope in turn had Oramel Lucas and Charles Hazelius Sternberg seeking out new finds. In 1877, Cope's team was making remarkable finds at Como Bluff, Wyoming near Cañon City, Colorado, and Marsh sent Mudge to establish a quarry near the location. While quarry was eventually abandoned because the bones were too fragile to transport, Mudge and Williston discovered the holotype specimens of "Allosaurus" ("A. fragilis") in 1877 and "Diplodocus" ("D. longus") in 1878 before the quarry was closed, and both species were named by Marsh the same year.

Legacy

epigraph
quote = As long as science has a name and place in the great central plains of the North American continent, Prof. Mudge will not be forgotten as a scientific explorer and discoverer
cite = John D. Parker, "Memorial of Prof. Benjamin F. Mudge"

With John D. Parker of Lincoln College (now Wasburn University), Mudge founded the Kansas Natural History Society in 1867 (which became the Kansas Academy of Science in 1871). He was elected its first president, and published many of his scientific papers in its "Transactions".Aber 2007] , and he became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1878. He died outside his home of a "stroke of apoplexy" on November 21, 1879 and was buried two days later on Cemetery Hill.

Three species were named in his honor. Cope named a mosasaur species "Liodon mudgei" in 1871; [Cope, 1871.] though it is now considered to be a specimen of "Platecarpus tympaniticus", "Liodon" remains as a junior synonym. [Nicholls, 1988] The jaw of the "Ichthyornis" that Marsh originally believed belonged to a saurian was named "Colonosaurus mudgei". Lesquerenx also a named a species of oak "Quercus mudgeii" in 1872. Mudge himself named the Fort Hays member of the Niobrara Formation in 1876.

During his career, he discovered specimens of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs; late Cretaceous leaves; various saurian and pythonomorphan reptiles; many genera of fish including "Xiphactinus", "Ichthyodectes", "Erisichthe", "Protosphyraena", and "Saurocephalus"; molluscs; and trace fossils including gastroliths and Pennsylvanian footprints. In addition to more than 80 species, his finds are in the collections of major museums, including more than 300 specimens in the collection of the Peabody Museum at Yale.

Beliefs and personality

Mudge was a member of temperance organizations, and during his tenure as mayor of Lynn closed many saloons. In Kentucky and later in abolitionist Kansas, was known for opposition to slavery. Parker notes that during the Civil War:

He had a keen interest in natural history. His protege Williston wrote in 1898: [Quoted in Everhart 2005.]

Mudge had a systematic approach, and kept excellent records of both the locality of his discoveries and the actual specimens. From Dale Russell's 1967 "Systematics and Morphology of American Mosasaurs": [Everhart 2005, quoting p. 5 of Dale Russell's 1967 book "Systematics and Morphology of American Mosasaurs".]

Publications

Mudge was not a prolific publisher of scientific papers. According to the Kansas Geological Survey Online Bibliography of Geology, [KGS Online Bibliography of Geology.] his entire output was contained in twenty-two publications, and most were very short.
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = First annual report on the geology of Kansas for 1864
journal =
volume =
issue =
pages = 56 p
publisher = Kansas Geological Survey
date = 1866
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Discovery of fossil footmarks in the Liassic (?) formation in Kansas
journal = American Journal of Science, Series 2
volume = 41
issue =
pages = 174–176
publisher =
date = 1866
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Footprints in the middle coal measures
journal = American Journal of Science, Series 3
volume = 6
issue =
pages = p. 228
publisher =
date = 1873
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Geology of the Arkansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Transactions of 1872, First Annual Report
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 408–410
publisher =
date = 1873
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1895 as "Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions" 1: pp. 50–53.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Red sandstone of central Kansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Transactions of 1872, First Annual Report
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 394–396
publisher =
date = 1873
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1895 as "Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions" 1: pp. 37–39.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The geology of Kansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Third Annual Report
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 102–107
publisher =
date = 1874
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Excerpts from Mudge, 1866.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Recent discoveries of fossil footprints in Kansas
journal = Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions of 1873
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 7–9
publisher =
date = 1874
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1896 as 2: pp. 71–74.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Pliocene Tertiary of western Kansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Third Annual Report
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 351–353
publisher =
date = 1875
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1896 as "Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions" 3: pp. 113–117.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Geology of Kansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Fourth Annual Report
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 107–127
publisher =
date = 1875
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Rare forms of fish in Kansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Third Annual Report
volume =
issue =
pages = p. 356
publisher =
date = 1875
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1896 as "Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions" 3: pp. 121–122.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = A geological survey of Kansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Third Annual Report
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 342–344
publisher =
date = 1875
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1896 as "Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions" 3: pp. 101–102.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = On the mineral resources of Kansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Third Annual Report
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 102–107
publisher =
date = 1875
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Notes on the Tertiary and Cretaceous periods of Kansas
journal = U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (F.V. Hayden), Bulletin
volume = 2
issue = 3
pages = pp. 211–221
publisher =
date = 1876
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Annual report of the committee on geology for the year ending November 1, 1876
journal = Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions
volume = 5
issue =
pages = pp. 4–5
publisher =
date = 1877
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1906 as 5: pp. 4–5.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Bison latifrons in Kansas
journal = Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions
volume = 5
issue =
pages = pp. 9–10
publisher =
date = 1877
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1906 as p. 10.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Notes on the Tertiary and Cretaceous periods of Kansas
journal = U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (F.V. Hayden), Annual Report. In, Hayden, F.V.; U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, embracing Colorado and parts of adjacent territories; being a report of progress of the exploration for the year 1875
volume =
issue = 9
pages = pp. 277–294
publisher =
date = 1877
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Geology of Kansas
journal = Kansas State Board of Agriculture, First Biennial Report,
volume =
issue =
pages = pp. 46–88
publisher =
date = 1878
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Fossil leaves in Kansas
journal = Western Review of Science and Industry
volume = 1
issue =
pages = pp. 654–656
publisher =
date = 1878
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The new sink hole in Meade Co., Kans.
journal = Kansas City Review of Science and Industry
volume = 3
issue =
pages = pp. 152–153
publisher =
date = 1879
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Are birds derived from dinosaurs?
journal = Kansas City Review of Science and Industry
volume = 3
issue =
pages = pp. 224–226
publisher =
date = 1879
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate =
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = List of minerals found in Kansas
journal = Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions
volume = 7
issue =
pages = pp. 27–29
publisher =
date = 1881
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1906.)
* cite journal
last = Mudge
first = B. F.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Metamorphic deposit in Woodson County
journal = Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions
volume = 7
issue =
pages = pp. 12–13
publisher =
date = 1881
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = (Reprinted in 1906 as pp. 11–13.)

Footnotes

References

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title = Kansas Academy of Science: History of Geology
work = GO 521 History of Geology
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* cite book
last = Blackmar
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title = Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, etc.
publisher = Standard Publishing Company
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* cite journal
last = Buchanan
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title = 'To bring together, correlate, and preserve'—a history of the Kansas Geological Survey, 1864–1989
journal = Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin
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title = Morphology, phylogenetic taxonomy, and systematics of "Ichthyornis" and "Apatornis" (Avialae: Ornithurae)
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* cite journal
last = Cope
first = E. D.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = On the fossil reptiles and fishes of the Cretaceous rocks of Kansas
journal = United States Geological Survey of the Territories, Fourth Annual Report
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date = 1871
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* cite web
last = Everhart
first = Mike
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title = The early paleontologists of Kansas: Benjamin Franklin Mudge
work = Oceans of Kansas Paleontology
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date = 2005-12-04
url = http://www.oceansofkansas.com/BFMudge.html
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* cite journal
last = Gregory
first = J. T.
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title = The jaws of the Cretaceous toothed birds, Ichthyornis and Hesperornis
journal = The Condor
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* cite web
last =
first =
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title = KGS Online Bibliography of Geology
work = Kansas Geological Survey
publisher = University of Kansas
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* cite journal
last = Marsh
first = O. C.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Notice of a new and remarkable fossil bird
journal = American Journal of Science, Series 3
volume = 4
issue = 22
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date = 1872
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* cite journal
last = Marsh
first = O. C.
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title = Notice of a new reptile from the Cretaceous
journal = American Journal of Science, Series 3
volume = 4
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* cite journal
last = Marsh
first = O. C.
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title = Fossil birds from the Cretaceous of North America
journal = American Journal of Science, Series 3
volume = 5
issue = 27
pages = 229–231
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* cite journal
last = Marsh
first = O. C.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Notice of New Dinosaurian Reptiles from the Jurassic formation
journal = American Journal of Science, Series 3
volume = 14
issue = 84
pages = 514–516
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date = 1877
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* cite journal
last = Marsh
first = O. C.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs, Part I.
journal = American Journal of Science, Series 3
volume = 16
issue =
pages = 411–416
publisher =
date = 1878
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* cite journal
last = Martin
first = L. D.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = S. W. Williston and the exploration of the Niobrara Chalk
journal = Earth Sciences History
volume = 13
issue = 2
pages = 138–142
publisher =
date = 1994
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* cite book
last = Morgan
first = Perl W. (ed.)
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = History of Wyandotte County Kansas and Its People, Volume 1
publisher = Lewis Publishing Company
date = 1911
location = Chicago
pages =
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id = [http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/wyandott/history/1911/volume1/252.html#025501 Transcribed here] .
* cite paper
author = Nicholls, E. L.
title = Marine vertebrates of the Pembina Member of the Pierre Shale (Campanian, Upper Cretaceous) of Manitoba and their significance to the biogeography
version =
pages = 317
publisher = The University of Calgary
date = 1988
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* cite journal
last = Owen
first = Richard
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = On the "Archeopteryx" of Von Meyer, with a description of the Fossil Remains of a Long-tailed species, from the Lithographic Stone of Solenhofen
journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
volume = 153
issue =
pages = 33–47
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date = 1863
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* cite journal
last = Parker
first = John D.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Memorial of Prof. Benjamin F. Mudge
journal = Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science
volume =
issue = 7
pages = 7–11
publisher =
date = 1881
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* cite web
last =
first =
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coauthors =
title = A Short History of Dinosaur Collecting (cont.)
work = Dinosaur Depot Museum
publisher = Garden Park Paleontology Society
date =
url = http://www.dinosaurdepot.com/history_p2.htm
format =
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accessdate = 2007-04-03
* cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
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title = Welcome to Quindaro, on the Underground Railroad
work =
publisher = Kansas City Public Library
date = 2000
url = http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/KSCOLL/lochist/quindaro/intro.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-04-07

Persondata
NAME= Mudge, Benjamin Franklin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Geologist, paleontologist, teacher, lawyer, chemist
DATE OF BIRTH= August 11 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH= Orrington, Maine
DATE OF DEATH= November 21 1879
PLACE OF DEATH= Manhattan, Kansas