Date in 1948
|
Activities of George Langford, Sr. [in the handwriting of George Langford,
Jr. transcribed from GL, Sr.'s notes]. |
April
17
|
With
[Dr.
and
Mrs.
Robert H.] Whitfield at mines in Locality
No.
4 [see Book
II - GL,III]
|
April
24
|
With
S.H.L.
[Mrs.
Sydne
Holmes Langford - GL,Jr.] in Locality
No.
3.
|
April
26
|
Again
in
Locality
No.
3.
|
May
1
|
[Went]
with
[Eugene
S.]
Richardson [Jr.] to strip mines in Locality
No.
3.
|
May
14
|
I
left
Chicago
at
7:45AM, arrived 9:45AM, collected from 10:30AM to
6:30PM in Locality
No.
5 - one-and-one-quarter pails.
|
May
15
|
It
rained
hard
last
night. Morning [was] cold, windy &
cloudy. Better from noon on. Whitfields came down. I
collected in Locality
No.
3 in the A.M. - one pail. In Locality
No.4 in the P.M. - one pail. Dinner at Braidwood.
|
May
16
|
Day
clear
but
strong
west wind. Collected at Locality
No.
3 - one
pail. Dinner at Braidwood.
|
May
17
|
Cold
at
night,
morning
cool, fine, clear and warm after 10:00AM.
Collected in Odontopteris
Locality
No.
31 until 5:30PM; then
Alethopteris Locality
No.
11. One pail. Dinner at Weitz,
Braidwood.
|
May
18
|
Day
clear
and
warm.
Collected east and west of Odontopteris
Locality
No.
31. Three-quarter pail, day not so good. Dinner at
Wilmington.
|
May
19
|
Almost
frost
at
night,
but after 9:30AM the weather was fine, clear &
warm. Collected in Locality
No.
5 on the south & north; one
pail. Dinner at Weitz, Braidwood.
|
May
20
|
Weather
clear
and
quite
warm. I collected in the west part of Locality
No.
3 until 10:00AM, then quit to clean up and pack for home.
Twenty and one-half miles from Kramer's [Motel] to Plainfield, the
nine-and -one-half miles to Joliet intersection, then nine miles to
Hinsdale, then nineteen miles to 1726 N. LaSalle Street. Arrived
at the Field Museum 2:00PM.
|
May
30
|
With
GL,
Jr.
[George
Langford, Jr.] at Locality
No.
20 and Locality
No.
21. Then in new locality east of the Tipple [never identified
by
any number on maps - GL,Jr.]. Two pails.
|
July
11
|
I
drove
with
S.H.L.
to Joliet to see the Skeens. Then I went to the
strip mines. Stopped at Kramer's [cabins]. Went to new spot
on road [not identified by number] Went to Tipple at 1:00PM. Half
a pail. Not so good. Weather mighty hot and so I spent
three hours under a tree.
|
July
12
|
I
went
to
Odontopteris
Locality
No.
31 near the Santa Fe tracks..
The sun was so hot that I quit at 10:00AM. Rain at 1:00PM, so I
got out of there in a hurry. Went to Pig Pen [Locality
No.
3] at
3:00PM. Weather hot again. I worked to 5:30PM and got over
half a pail.
|
July
13
|
GL,Jr.
came
down
from
Hinsdale and we spent the day along the south shore of
Long Pond [Locality
No.
7 and Locality
No.
8]. The day was hot
but not like the two days before, as there was a refreshing northeast
breeze and the sun was overcast a good part of the day. We got a
lot of good stuff; George, Jr. got most of the fine ones: worm, spider
and Acanthotelson.
We were at it for over eight hours.
|
July
14
|
Cloudy
and
cool,
one
light sprinkle. I spent the whole day in the Pig
Pen on southeast side of Locality
No.
3. Louis Knowlton of Joliet
came down in the evening for a visit.
|
July
15
|
Returned
to
the
Museum,
arriving 10:30AM.
|
August
19
&
20
|
Hot
in
the
sun
yesterday and today, quite cool at night. I have been
on the southeast side of the Pig Pen [Locality
No.
3] these two days
and have two-and-one-half pails [of fossils].
|
August
21
|
On
south
shore
of
Long Pond [Locality
No.
7] the three days I have been
here, Clear sky and hot all three days.
|
Sept.
16-18
|
Trip
to
coal
mines.
I took Orville Gilpin [Field Museum preparator]
with me. We left home at 7:00AM on the 16th, Thursday. We
entered Pig Pen area at 10:30AM and drove west to ditch, then parked
and walked west to north-south line of cottonwood trees on south side
of Long Pond [Locality
No.
7 and Locality
No.
8]. Collected in
heaps to the pond, moving about two hundred yards west. Good
picking. Weather close and hot. On Friday the 17th we spent
the whole day in the same place, but further west and working three
hundred yards west [probably Locality
No.
8 - GL,Jr.] Collecting
not so good. Weather still clear and hot. Lunched on
site.
On the 18th we were tired; rain in the A.M., so we decided to drive
home, arriving at the Field Museum at 10:45AM. Sky cleared and
weather became very hot. On our trip we spent actually about
one-and -three-quarter ten-hour days collecting. We got:
Plants
|
Number
|
Size
|
|
244
|
Large
|
|
40
|
Small
|
Total
|
284
|
11
new
?
|
|
|
|
Animals
|
Fragmentary
|
Fine
|
Crabs
|
8
|
...
|
Spiders
|
...
|
4
|
Paleocaris
|
...
|
2
|
Acanthotelson
|
5
|
3
|
Bivalves
|
1
|
...
|
Fish
scales
|
1
|
1
|
Snail
|
...
|
1
|
Ostracod
|
...
|
1
|
Total:
27
animals
|
September
25
|
Went
down
with
the
Whitfields. Arrived 10:30AM and worked on south
side of Long Pond [probably Locality
No.
7 - GL,Jr.] until
12:30PM. Went to Odontopteris
site [Locality
No.
31] in
afternoon; poor luck. I got fifty large and thirty-two small
specimens.
|
Oct.
7-9
|
Went
down
with
Orville
Gilpin Thursday morning. It poured rain as far
as Hinsdale. It stopped a bit and we went into Pig Pen, southeast
side [probably Locality
No.
7 - GL,Jr.] Rain drove us into car several
times, but we finished the day there. On Friday A.M. the sky was
clear. We went into Pig Pen on the southwest side [probably Locality
No.
7 and Locality
No.
8 - GL,Jr.] until noon. Then after
lunch we went far west beyond the line of cottonwood trees to [probably
- GL,Jr.] Locality
No.
17. Rain came up about 3:00PM and drove us
out about 5:00PM, soaking wet and cold. We left early Saturday
A.M.:
Flora
|
Number
|
Attribute
|
|
158
|
Large
|
|
208
|
Small
|
|
12
|
Fine
|
|
5
|
New
|
|
|
|
Fauna
|
Type
|
Number
|
|
Pelecypods
|
18
|
|
Spiders
|
2
|
|
Acanthotelson
|
2
|
|
"
|
1
|
|
Fish
scale
|
1
|
|
Ostracod
|
1
|
|
Eurypteris
?
|
1
|
|
Animals
|
2
|
|
Arthropod
(new)
|
1
|
|
Euproops
|
5
|
|
Total
|
34
|
Three
|
fauna
appear
new.
|
|
|
Oct.
18-19
|
Went
alone
to
the
strip mines on Monday. Cold that morning, becoming
milder as sun came out. I went to the south side of Long Pond,
very far into the west [probably Locality
No.
28 - GL,Jr.]
Tuesday was warmer. I worked on the southeast side of Pig Pen
[Locality
No.
3] until noon. Left for Chicago at 1:15PM arriving
at the Field Museum at 3:30PM.
Type
|
Number
|
Attribute
|
Large
flora
|
78
|
3
fine
rare
plants
|
Small
flora
|
63
|
1
new
plant
|
Bivalves
|
4
|
...
|
Crabs
|
4
|
...
|
Total
|
149
|
|
|
October
23
|
Went
with
Dr.
[Robert
H.] Whitfield and Jack Whitfield to one mile south of
Wilmington on north side [probably Locality
No.
25 or Locality
No.
24 -
GL,Jr.] where I had found two craw-dads. Weather just right.
Plants
|
Attribute
|
Number
|
|
Large
|
43
|
|
Small
|
25
|
Total
|
|
68
|
|
|
|
Animals
|
Type
|
Number
|
|
Fish
scales |
1
|
|
Crab
|
1
|
|
Ostracod
|
1
|
|
Snail
|
1
|
|
Bivalve
|
1
|
|
Acanthotelson
|
1
|
Total:
6
small
nodules
|
November
13
|
Weather
cool
at
first,
becoming clear and fine by noon. Went with the
Whitfields and began on southeast side of Pig Pen Road [Locality
No.
3]. I found two insects and two new plants. Went to
Coal
City after supper at Braidwood and spent until 11:00PM with [Mr. &
Mrs. Peter] Enrietta. I stayed in a Wollard cabin; the Whitfields
stayed at Manor Lodge, ten miles north.
|
November
14
|
I
suggested
east
side
of Pig Pen [Locality
No.
3] but we went down by the
Santa Fe tracks [near Locality
No. 23 ? - GL,Jr.] and were stuck
two-and-one-half hours in a sand hole. We then drove several
miles north and west to a spot [apparently in Grundy County, but not
specifically identified - GL,Jr.] and collected for one hour.
Went home past the [Dan] Fisher farm [where George, Sr. excavated many
Indian mounds and lodge pits back in the 1920's - GL,Jr.]
Flora |
Attribute
|
Number
|
|
Large
|
44
|
|
Small
|
34
|
|
New
|
2
|
|
Total
|
80
|
|
|
|
Fauna
|
|
|
|
Insects
|
2
new
|
|
Acanthotelson
|
1
|
|
Bivalves
|
3
|
|
Fish
scales
|
1
|
|
Total
|
7
|
|
Dec.
15-18
|
No
snow
and
not
much below freezing. I could have gone to the strip
mines most days.
[unsigned, but in the handwriting
of] George Langford, Jr.
|