Russell Ferrell has written a book on the level of a
doctorial dissertation about the lives and careers of two extraordinary
citizens, Cephis Hall and Sid Love. As
stated by the author, “Their story is unique mainly because they themselves are
unique. Cephis and Sid are men of
uncommon fortitude and rectitude that stood their ground against overwhelming odds
and won – a David and Goliath story
if ever there was one.”
Russell Ferrell has a truly multi-dimensional writing
technique of leaving “No stones unturned,” which is ideal for describing a
dinosaur hunter such as Cephis Hall. By
this I mean Ferrell has what might seem to be a rambling, gregarious and
verbose style of telling the reader so much information, and proceeding down so
many tangents of interest; one may find his work to be scattered at times. However he pulls it together like a virtuoso
conductor of an orchestra resulting in a singular message of fortitude against
uncommon odds.
As the life quest of digging for the distinctive black color
of fossilized remains from the Mesozoic Era conflicted with private land rights
of one of America’s largest corporations, Weyerhaeuser, the ownership of the
bones became a legal issue, as well as trespassing; jeopardizing the path for
scientific discovery by Hall and Love. The legal questions involving the precedents
of law specific to private land use for fossil gathering with respect to the
landowner had not been fully exercised in courts. “If a landowner gave a fossil prospector oral
permission to search for fossils on his land, is that tantamount to conveying
ownership of any fossilized material recovered on that same private land?” As
an excerpt states, “Weyerhaeuser was in the paper and building materials
business – obscure and dormant fossils lying around on their vast timberlands
were the least of their concerns. It was
simply inconceivable for these production-minded, profits-driven,
cost-conscious, efficiency-obsessed timber magnates to associate a world class
fossil specimen with some diminutive, backwoods hillbilly. In their minds, Hall was not a legitimate
scientific-minded explorer and excavator of the natural world, but a mere
simpleton and charlatan.” This laid the
foundation for the epic conflicts of issues to come.
Further complicating their task, Hall and Love needed the
help of scholars, so they enacted the help of paleontologists Dr. Langston and Dr.
Pittman from the University of Texas. It
was with their efforts the bones of Acrocanthosaurus,
a regal theropod from the lower Cretaceous
Period, the last period of the Mesozoic
Era, between the Jurassic and Tertiary periods, were assembled. This monster was clearly at the top of the
food chain of the North American plains; a predator defining the word.
What struck me most about Acrocanthosaurus: The Bones of Contention was the depth of
knowledge Russell Ferrell so seamlessly and eloquently layers into the
substructure of his writing; resulting in a book that educates while
entertains. His passion for writing echoes
Hall’s passion for fossil hunting and together the story takes on a life of its
own. It is a very formidable book,
requiring much time to page through, just like the task of digging through
fields with small hand tools searching for fossilized discoveries. The reader is rewarded with a jewel of a
discovery within the book; a series of photographs in the middle of the book
which by then becomes extremely relevant and appreciated, forming a visual
encounter with the beasts of the past and the heroes that brought them to our
awareness. I can say that Russell
Ferrell is truly the unsung hero, bringing this story to all of our attention,
as a tribute to the work of Cephis Hall and Sid Love, and an inspiration to all
that are confronted with behemoths of monetary powers confronting them. As for me, I’d rather confront Weyerhaeuser,
than an Acrocanthosaurus any day!
As a footnote to this review: This story brought to mind the plight of Erin
Brockovich, the legal clerk and environmentalist who took on Pacific Gas and
Electric. Because of the popularity of
dinosaurs in movies and television, I propose a screenplay adaptation of this
story would pose an interesting project for Hollywood.
