The remaining two-thirds belong to
one individual, except for a part of the tail, one shoulder-blade and
one hind limb, supplied from another skeleton of the same species.
"The skeleton was discovered by Mr. Walter Granger of the Museum
expedition of 1898, about nine miles north of Medicine Bow, Wyoming.
It took the whole of the succeeding summer to extract it from the
rock, pack it, and ship it to the Museum. Nearly two years were
consumed in removing the matrix, piecing together and cementing the
brittle and shattered petrified bone, strengthening it so that it
would bear handling, and restoring the missing parts of the bones in
tinted plaster. The articulation and mounting of the skeleton and
modelling of the missing bones took an even longer time, so that it
was not until February, 1905, that the Brontosaurus was at last ready
for exhibition.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Excavating the _Brontosaurus_ skeleton.
The upper photograph shows the anterior ribs of one side still
lying in position. The backbone is being prepared for removal, the
sections each containing three vertebrae, partly cased in plaster
and burlap (see chapter XI.) The lower photograph shows a later
stage of progress, the blocks being undercut and nearly ready to
turn over and incase the under side. Strips of wood have been
pasted into each section to strengthen it.]
"It will appear, therefore, that the collection, preparation and
mounting of this gigantic fossil has been a task of extraordinary
difficulty.
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