BLACKBEAR.1872.1

Written By Caroline Corinne

Anima: BLACKBEAR.1872.1

BLACKBEAR.1872.1 was an adult male American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) living in the forests beside the Rogue River in the Siskiyou Mountains on the lands of the Takelma, Modoc, and Cow Creek Umpqua people when it was killed on Monday, 24 June, 1872 by Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham (also known as “Lord Walsingham”) during the Walsingham expedition of 1871—1872.

Per the US Forest Service, BLACKBEAR.1872.1 lived in a highly variable and biodiverse climate:

“the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest changes with elevation and as you move inland from the coast. The Coast Range is a temperate rain forest where rainfall ranges from 60 inches to over 100 inches at higher elevations. Rainfall occurs mostly from October through June. Further inland, annual precipitation is approximately 30 inches at the lower elevations of the Siskiyou Mountains. Much of the precipitation comes from October to April in the form of rain at the low elevations, and as snow in the higher elevations where very cold temperatures are possible. Although snow is possible in the lowest elevations, it is infrequent. Late spring, summer and early autumn tend to bring clear, sunny days with moderate temperatures. Temperatures near the coast seldom exceed 75 degrees in the summer and snow is rare in the winter. Inland, the ocean influence diminishes, and summer temperatures frequently reach the 80s and 90s, and snowfall of over ten feet is common in the higher elevations of the Cascades in the winter.

On Monday, 24 June, 1872, BLACKBEAR.1872.1 was shot and killed near Kerbyville (also referenced as Kirbyville, Kirby, modern name: Kerby) near the Rogue River in Southern Oregon in the United States of America. BLACKBEAR.1872.1 was an adult male bear. BLACKBEAR.1872.1 lived on the boundary of what is now the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. BLACKBEAR.1872.1 was killed during the Walsingham Expedition, which took place from May 1871 — September 1872 in Northern California and Oregon. BLACKBEAR.1872.1’s skeleton was processed in the field by Lord Walsingham’s assistant, Thomas Carrier. According to a diary entry written by Thomas Carrier on 24 June, 1872 from Camp 24 on the Rogue River, the killer of URSAMER1872.1 is Lord Walsingham himself:

“Horses had to swim river. Lord Walsingham killed black bear.”

Carrier’s words are transcribed here as cited in entomologist Edwin Oscar Essig’s 1941 article “The Pan-Pacific Entomologist.” Essig’s 1941 article includes partial transcriptions of Walsingham and Carrier’s expedition diaries. Geospatial confirmation can also be ascertained by studying the expedition map, which is housed at the Natural History Museum in London, England and in photocopied form at the Essig Museum at the University of California, Berkeley. A sketch of the Walsingham expedition map was also reproduced by Essig for his 1941 article.

BLACKBEAR.1872.1’s remains are currently housed in the collections of the Cambridge Museum of Zoology under catalogue number UMZC K 1349. BLACKBEAR.1872.1 is labelled as “Ursus americanus.” BLACKBEAR.1872.1 is not currently on display. Analysis of BLACKBEAR.1872.1’s bones may suggest an older stage of life when it was killed.

Species: Ursus americanus
Common name(s) (English): Black bear; American Black bear
Date of death: 24 June 1872
Location of death: Rogue River, Kerbyville, Oregon, United States
Lifestage: Adult
Sex: Male

Associated catalogue numbers:

  • Cambridge University Museum of Zoology, UMZC K 13.49. Guidance for accessing digitized Cambridge Zoology collections: no direct link to specimen pages are available. Enter “UMZC K 13.49” or associated catalogue number (as shown) in search feature linked here for details on specimens.

Habitat information and associated geographic features:

  • Rogue River

  • Oregon

  • United States of America

  • Sierra Nevada Mountains

  • Siskiyou Mountain Range

  • California-Oregon Border

Somatic or Specimen Details:

  • Osteo specimen.

  • Not currently on display

Associated human actors:

  • Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham (Lord Walsingham) (1843—1919).

  • The Walsingham Expedition (1871—1872)

  • Thomas Carrier

Associated dates; events:

  • 1871; 1872; 1873

  • The Walsingham Expedition

Summary of known biographic information included on this page is produced in a format conducive to linked open data format in the interest of optimized integration with Peripleo, the programme driving Anima’s Atlas. For more information on this format, please review this link.

Summary author: Caroline Abbott.
Work history:
This entry for BLACKBEAR.1872.1 was made on 19 February 2024 by Caroline Abbott.
This entry for BLACKBEAR.1872.1 was updated 4 April 2024 by Caroline Abbott.

Caroline Corinne