The Bone Wars
How a Dino Rivalry Unearthed America’s Prehistoric Madness
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October 4, 1915
In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed a quiet order: 80 acres straddling the Utah-Colorado border would become Dinosaur National Monument. No parade, no speeches, no fanfare. Just a signature in Washington, D.C.—and the fossil hunters out West only learned about it when they read the news.
It seems odd, given what dinosaurs mean to us now. Ask any kid today and you’ll hear about the brontosaurus, the stegosaurus, the T. rex. Dinosaur-mania is real. But in 1915, most Americans barely knew the creatures existed. That was about to change.
On HISTORY This Week: we dive into the Bone Wars—a rivalry between two paleontologists who turned fossil hunting into a grudge match. Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh began as friends. They named discoveries after each other. They dreamed of defining a brand-new science.
And then it all fell apart.
🎧 Listen now: The Bone Wars on HISTORY This Week (wherever you get your podcasts).