WE Cutler delayed in trip to East Africa, 1924

Montreal Gazette, 27 February 1924 page 1

WE Cutler delayed

Will join East African Expedition later

By John MacCormac, special cable from the Gazette’s resident staff correspondent

London, February 26 – The British Museum expedition to German East Africa, which was to have sailed from London under the leadership of WE Cutler, of Manitoba University, has sailed without him. The dock strike was the cause and Cutler will instead sail from Marseilles on Thursday. The expedition will explore the fossil remains which were found by Germans in East Africa before the war and which include the largest dinosaur specimens yet unearthed. Cutler has had the unrivaled experience of collecting for the British Museum and other museums large dinosaurian and similar fossils in North America.

November 7, 2024 0

Death of WE Cutler, 1925

The Illustrated London News, Sep 19. 1925 page 530
Personalities of the Week: People in the Public Eye
Mr. WE Cutler was in charge of the British Museum East African Expedition in search of dinosaur remains at Tendaguru in Tanganyika Territory.

June 5, 2022 0

London Natural History Museum assembles dinosaur, 1927

New York Times, 13 Jan 1927

Gets Biggest Dinosaur

London Natural History Museum Assembles Tanganyika Specimen

London, Jan 12- What is expected to prove the largest dinosaur ever discovered is being assembled in the Natural History Museum here. The various remains of a mammoth specimen of this terror of the prehistoric world, found in the Tanganyika territory in Africa by the Cutler Expedition now there, were forwarded to the Museum and are being reconstructed by experts.

The plaster reproduction of the quadruped dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic stratum of Wyoming now on exhibition in the museum is 84 feet 9 inches long, and stands 12 feet 9 ½ inches high at the shoulder, but the African specimen promises to be larger.

“These finds will probably give us the largest specimen in the world, for there is every indication of a real giant.” Said a museum official.

It is expected it will prove more than 90 feet long and 20 feet high at the high legs.

February 27, 2022 0

Dinosaurs of the Red Deer Valley – 1923

Winnipeg Tribune, 3 Dec 1923

An illustrated lecture on “the Dinosaurs of the Red Deer Valley” will be given by WE Cutler in the old university building this evening at 8.15 before the Natural History Society of Manitoba. This lecture will be open to the public. As a collector of specimens for the British Museum Mr Cutler has a unique knowledge of this great natural storehouse of extinct fauna.

August 29, 2021 0

Westminster Gazette, 13 Feb 1924

IN search of the Dinosaur

Expedition to leave for Africa

Important discoveries are anticipated from an African Expedition which will leave the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, shortly, in search of the fossil remains of the dinosaur, a giant prehistoric animal, and human fossils, which may possibly be from half a million to a million years old.

The expedition will be led by Mr WE Cutler, of the University of Manitoba, who arrived in London yesterday.

In conversation with the Westminster Gazette yesterday, Mr Cutler explained that the dinosaur relics were unearthed by the Germans in what was then German East Africa, at a spot in Tendagaru, Taganyika Territory.

“The skeletons are of enormous size,” he said. “These reptiles were about 22 ft high and from 60 to 80 feet long, and it has been stated that the African specimens were even larger. They flourished from eight to ten million years ago.”

August 25, 2021 0

Scolosaurus Cutleri! London, 1934

Sphere, 22 Sep 1934, p 418

A Canadian Armoured Monster

“Scolosaurus Cutleri”: This fossilized dinosaur, one of the finest specimens of its kind in the world, was found in Alberta and is now in the reptile section of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. It has never before been photographed adequately, but “The Sphere” has been able to obtain the pictures shown on this page with the help of the authorities who had the heavy glass panelling removed from the great showcase in which the monster is placed.

By Dr WE Swinton, FRSE (of the Reptile Section of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington)

The remains of this dinosaur were found, in 1914, by the late Mr. WE Cutler in the Upper Cretaceous sandstones half-way up a 400 ft high cliff bordering the Red Deer River in Dead Lodge Canyon, Alberta. Mr. Cutler was working for the Trustees of the British Museum and this sandstone slab with its bony content arrived with other material in London in 1915. On account of the War its preparation was delayed until 1919 when Mr. LE Parsons, one of the preparators, returned to his more peaceful vocation.

The removal of the matrix, or stony covering, from the bones was completed on one side and it was decided to continue the process on the other side and so have the whole skeleton free. During this second operation the preparator noticed a thin brown layer of sandstone with a more or less regular ornamentation, which proved after further investigation to be the imprint of the original skin. The skin itself has long since perished, but here, faithfully reproduced, was its cast. Plans were accordingly altered and this trace of the epidermis was slowly and very carefully followed until the whole of the back of the dinosaur was exposed. Thus, as the dinosaur now mounted on its side for better display, there can be seen the whole of the armoured back and, on the other side, as much of the skeleton as could be developed.

The armour in the skin is particularly well developed and of great interest. The neck is protected by transverse strips of bone separated by a short strip of flexible skin charged with bony granules. Together these strips are shaped rather like a skull, and unfortunately, they were so identified by the collector. Actually, the skull is missing, and probably remains on that canyon cliff separated from its exiled companion complement by “a waste of seas.”

Behind the neck plates is a considerable area of the flexible granular skin which is indented on each side where the arms meet the body. Behind this there are four transverse strips of bone, each 10 in from back to front, and all separated by narrow belts of flexible skin. Thus, the front part of the body was protected by these four belts of armour and the neck plates. The hinder half is covered by a large plate of bone apparently formed by the fusion of three transverse and inflexible strips, with traces of polygonal scutes. This buckler, or “lumbar shield” is a feature known in several other dinosaurs. The tail was apparently covered by five alternating and polygonally marked segments separated by the usual thin strips of flexible skin.

Upon this segmented cuirass were placed spines, plates and bosses of bone arranged symmetrically. There were two spikes on each side of the neck (as can be seen in the model), three longitudinal rows of somewhat flatter spikes on each side of the body, two rows on each side of the tail, and on the last segment but one of the tail, two enormous spikes. The spikes on the neck were about 6 in high, but all of them no doubt during the animal’s lifetime a horny covering which would make them even more impressive and much sharper. A whole battery of sharp spikes protected the upper arms. Between the spikes are polygonal plates of bone, and elsewhere the skin is loaded with little ossicles.

Although the tail is thick and apparently unwieldy the only conceivable purpose of its tail-spikes is for offence or defence, and probably was used like a crusader’s mace.

The front legs are shorter than the hind, and the animal walked with the elbows and knees stuck out from the body and the feet wide apart. It must, therefore, have resembled a large, broad, and low tortoise with a spiky shell and a long tail: a sort of animated tank armed against its great flesh-eating contemporaries. The total length is 18 ft, the breadth 8 ft, and the estimated weight not less than 2 tons.

The late Baron Nopsca maintained that it was insectivorous, and he calculated that it probably ate 7,000 beetles and grasshoppers a week. Probably it slipped into the river and was drowned, the immense weight of its armour pulling it down and capsizing it. Lodged on some sandbank the carcase decayed, and a plane leaf actually blew on to it and was preserved. Eventually it became silted over and fossilized, to lie entombed for 75,000,000 years.

January 14, 2021 0

Expedition after death of WE Cutler, 1925

Sheilds Daily News, 24 Sep 1925

The appointment of Mr. Frederick WE Nigoed as Leader of the British Museum East African Expedition in succession to the late Mr. WE Cutler, has been made just in time to give him a chance to save the valuable specimens, already found, from being irreparably damaged by the oncoming tropical rains (says the “Morning Post”)

The situation created by Mr. Cutler’s death from fever in the Tanganyika district a few weeks ago, caused grave anxiety to the British Museum officials, for the maze of material which he had succeeded in excavating and bringing together was know to be still unpacked. The rainy season is approaching, and if the fossil dinosaur remains, which comprise a large part of the collection, had been exposed to the rains very serious damage would have inevitably resulted.

It is devoutly hoped that Mr. Migeod will sail for Africa on the 8^th of next month, will be able to pack and despatch to England the entire collection just before the wet period sets in.

Mr. Migeod has lived many years in Africa, and possesses an extensive knowledge of the inhabitants.

The purpose of the expedition, it may be remembered, is to excavate the fossil remains of prehistoric animals in the strata of the Tanganyika district, which are peculiarly rich in this respect. Some work was carried out years ago by the Germans, but since the war the British Museum has taken over the task of excavation.

In an interview with Sir Sidney Harmer, Director of the British Natural History Museum, a “Morning Post” representative was informed that to perform the work adequately and to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion it was necessary for the expedition to be out there for a number of years. Money, however, was the trouble.

The funds were sufficient to continue the work for a certain time, but unless subscriptions were received towards the heavy expenses of such research it would be necessary after that time to close what might be rightly described as one of the most promising fields of investigation ever discovered.

December 26, 2020 0

WE Cutler off to Africa, 1924

The Gazette, 5 February 1924

Canadian Scientist to Search for 8,000,000 Year Old Fossil

New York – February 4 – The steamship Cameronia departed yesterday, bearing WE Cutler of the University of Manitoba at Winnipeg, who goes to East Africa in search of fossil, known to scientists as the Gigantisaurus Africanus. The specimen is said to be at least eight million years old. The scientist will take with him into the jungle more than 100 native carriers. The heat in the section of the fossil bed ranges from 130 to 140 degrees.

Unearthed Dinosaur Skeleton

Calgary – February 4- Prof WE Cutler, who sailed Sunday from New York to East Africa on a scientific expedition, worked in the fossil beds of the Alberta badlands for the University of Alberta and for a Calgary syndicate, while a resident of Calgary. He unearthed one of the finest specimens of dinosaur skeletons ever brought to light, his discovery being housed later in the British Museum. This brought Professor Cutler international recognition.

March 22, 2020 0

Cutler Urges Museum Here – Winnipeg, 1924

The Winnipeg Tribune, 26 January 1924

Cutler urges Museum Here

Professor Scientist Tells of Pre-History Life on Western Plains

Intimate details of the lives of giant reptiles who were probably the most prominent citizens of the Red Deer Valley, Alberta, 4000000 years ago, were revealed by Prof WE Cutler, FGS, in a lecture at the University of Manitoba Friday night.

Prof Cutler leaves Winnipeg Monday for German East Africa, where he will lead an expedition seeking the remains of dinosaurs who lived there aeons ago.

In his discourse the speaker deplored the lack of a provincial museum for Manitoba. Rare and valuable fossils he said, were continually being discovered in the province, and the museums of the United States were getting them.

Vegetarians saurian of the period about 4000000 BC were described by the Professor, who used numerous slides in illustrations. His investigations revealed the fact that walnut, oak, fig and sassafrass once flourished abundantly in Alberta.

March 20, 2020 0

Relics Reveal History – WE Cutler, 1924

Winnipeg Tribune, 17 Jan 1924

Fossil Relics Reveal History

Western Canada Enjoyed Balmy Climate 12,000 Years Ago, Says Geologist

Perfect forms of fossil [illegible] relics of ages long past, when Western Canada knew a climate much warmer than the vigorous one of today were exhibited to members of the Canadian Credit Men’s Association at their weekly luncheon today.

They were part of a collection accumulated by WE Cutler, member of the staff of the University of Manitoba, and Fellow of the London Geological Society. He was the speaker at the luncheon and his talk attracted intense interest. The fossil figs were found by him in the Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan.

There is no doubt, according to Mr Cutler, that from 12000 to 20000 years ago the Cypress Hills and also Alberta, were fruit bearing territory. Not only figs grew there then, but also the accompanying plants.

During his researches in Saskatchewan and Alberta Mr Cutler unearthed large collections of dinosaur teeth and skulls of prehistoric animals, which he sent to the British museum. These relics, he said, date back to the Old Oligocene age.

The Cypress Hills are a remnant of beds that covered the whole west before they were swept away. He was not prepared to say in just what manner these beds were swept away but, in all probability, it was done by water.

“Until the later discoveries in Mongolia, Alberta it is said, was one of the richest fields in the world for searching for the remains of these ancient animals,” the speaker stated.

Mr Cutler will leave Canada shortly for England to take charge of an expedition which is being sent by the British Museum to recover dinosaurs, larger than any others unearthed in South Africa. He has not yet received definite word from England and could not give the exact date upon which he would sail.

Mr Cutler declared that Greenland once had a much warmer climate. It was never tropical, no more than the climate of Western Canada, but it was very warm. The coal beds there and also in the Red Deer district of Alberta, he said, were evidence of this. He explained that the currents of ocean govern the climate entirely. The currents pushing north made this country cold.

March 16, 2020 0