This is Throwback Thursday #110. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to [email protected]. Thanks!
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Image from the History Detective in Positively Naperville, December 12, 2018
This week, we are posting a puzzle of sorts from the April 1952 edition of the newsletter. The puzzle is in the form of a story describing a scene in the Jurassic Period. The story was credited to Joe Stoos. Positively Naperville had an article by the History Detective about him. He lived in Naperville and was honored with a plaque in the Naperville Nichols Library when he died in April 1977. He is listed as a "renaissance man"... an electrical engineer and inventor who had articles published in electric lighting and geological journals.
Joseph Stoos was born in Naperville and lived on his family farm west of Mill and south of I-88. Stoos’ first wife, Juanita Engstrand was a librarian in Pekin and DeKalb before her marriage to Joseph. Her brother, Stuart David Engstrand “tried vegetable growing on a ten acre tract that is part of the Joseph Stoos eighty acre farm” where he wrote the first chapter of his 1937 farming novel, The Invaders. Juanita died in 1942. Then Joseph married Gunvor Johannesen. Stoos was a renaissance man. He was an electrical engineer and inventor with the Delta-Star Electric Company in Chicago. He published articles in electric lighting and geological journals. Stoos was a member and one-time president of the Naperville Drama Club where he often painted scenery for productions. His hand-drawn Christmas cards are an example of his engineering and artistic talents.
Although the trees and plaque are gone, the spirit of these men and their service to Nichols Library and the community of Naperville will long be remembered.
The 1952 membership list was printed in the same April 1952 newsletter as his story. Here is a snippet that shows he was a member of ESCONI at the time.
Use your knowledge of natural history and paleontology to find the "errors" in the story. You can send us an email ([email protected]) with your answers or comment on this post. Look for answers in the next couple weeks.
A Jurassic Twilight in Colorado
A monkey climbed out on a branch of Lepidodendron tree and picked and tossed a nut at a passing Tyrannosaurus. On a nearby oak an Archaeopteryx dug the remnants of a squirrel's carcass from his teeth before flying to his roost for the night.
Far to the west, silhouetted against the setting sun, a Pteranodon slowly wheeled over the Rockies. With a whirring swoop, the enormous bird came down on a young horse grazing in the grasslands in the foothills. The horse galloped into the safety of a nearby coniferous forest where the Pteranodon could not fly.
In the swamp, below the grasslands, a Brontosaurus cavorted among the cattails, stirring faint protest from the redwings as the sun sank low. Far across, on the other side of the swamp, a coyote howled night was here! - Joe Stoos
What is wrong with this picture? Send your answers to the Editor and watch for next month's issue.
