Personalities ~ Edmund Heller 1875 - 1939

Edmund Heller.  From a lecture brochure Ca. 1912

In 1916-1917, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City sent an expedition under Roy Chapman Andrews to study the zoology of southern China, in particular Yunnan Province.  Andrews' wife, Yvette Borup Andrews, was the official photographer for the expedition.  The Andrews left in March 1916 and were joined by Edmund Heller at Lung-tao, China on July 20, 1916.

After spending some time near Foochow hunting tigers, the expedition left for Yunnan via Hong Kong, Hainan, Haiphong and Hanoi. The route of the expedition in Yunnan took them through Yunnan-Fu, Tali-Fu, Chien-Chuan-Chou, Li-Chiang and the Snow Mountain, Meng-Ting, Wa-Tien and Teng-Yueh Ting. They then crossed the border into Burma making their way to Rangoon via Bhamo and Mandalay. The expedition broke up at Bhamo with the Andrews heading for New York, via Rangoon, Calcutta, Bombay, Singapore and Japan.  Edmund Heller went on to Calcutta, Darjeeling, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canton and Shanghai.

In camp.  Fuchow, China, 1916.  Photograph taken by Yvette Borup Andrews.  As Yvette developed her glass negatives in the field under somewhat trying conditions, it is likely that the fingerprints on the right margin are hers.  This 'safe edge' of the glass negative would not normally be seen when used as a lantern slide or used to print photographs.  This image has never been published.

Detail of Camp Fuchow.  Left to Right: Yvette Borup Andrews, Edmund Heller, Roy Chapman Andrews, Harry Caldwell of 'Blue Tiger' fame. Note that all three men appear to have been in the midst of rolling cigarettes.  Photo by Y.B. Andrews  

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This brief biography from Smithsonian Institution Archives :  Edmund Heller Papers

Edmund Heller was born in Freeport, Illinois on 21 May 1875. When he was thirteen, he moved with his parents to Riverside, California, which he thereafter considered his home. As a boy, he spent much time collecting birds and their eggs in the area near Riverside. He was joined in this collecting by Harvey M. Hall, later a noted botanist.

Heller entered Stanford University in 1896 and received his A.B. in 1901. An opportunity arose for Heller to collect on the Galapagos Islands during the Hopkins-Stanford Expedition in 1898, and together with Robert E. Snodgrass, Heller spent 7 months on the islands. In 1900, the United States Biological Survey employed Heller as assistant to Wilfred Hudson Osgood in his Alaskan investigations.

Following his graduation, Heller joined the Field Columbian Museum as western field collector and worked in California, Oregon, Lower California, Mexico and Guatemala. In 1907, Heller accompanied Carl Ethan Akeley on the Field Museum's African expedition.

Upon his return, Heller was appointed curator of mammals at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California. While with the MVZ, Heller participated in the 1908 Alexander Alaskan expedition and made the report on the mammals collected.

Heller spent the years 1909-1912 with the Smithsonian-Roosevelt and the Rainey African Expeditions. 

In 1914, the United States Biological Survey conducted field investigations in Canada to secure information concerning the habits and distribution of large game mammals. Heller accompanied the Lincoln Ellsworth expedition to the Dease River-Telegraph Creek area of British Columbia and later to Alberta.

The National Geographic Society and Yale University jointly sponsored an expedition to Peru in 1915 to explore newly discovered ruins of an Incan civilization at Machu Picchu, northwest of Cuzco. Specialists in various fields were chosen to accompany the party. Heller, as expedition naturalist, supervised the collecting of 891 mammal specimens, 695 birds, about 200 fishes and several tanks of reptiles and amphibians.

In 1916, Heller joined Roy Chapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews on the American Museum of Natural History Expedition to China. 

When Paul J. Rainey, with whom Heller had traveled to Africa, was appointed official photographer for the Czech army in Siberia, he invited Heller to accompany him to Russia. From the summer of 1918 until the end of World War I, they traveled by rail across Siberia to the Ural Mountains and back to their starting point.

In 1919, Heller took charge of the Smithsonian Cape-to-Cairo Expedition. Upon his return, he worked briefly for the Roosevelt Wild Life Experiment Station making a field study of large game animals in Yellowstone National Park. He was then appointed assistant curator of mammals at the Field Museum under Wilfred Hudson Osgood. During his six years in that position, Heller made trips to Peru in 1922-1923 and to Africa from 1923-1926.

Heller's trip to Africa was his last collecting effort. After his return, he resigned his position at the Field Museum and became director of the Milwaukee Zoological Garden, a position that he held from 1928 to 1935. From 1935 until his death in 1939, Heller was director of the Fleishhacker Zoo in San Francisco.

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Cover of Lecture Brochure, Ca. 1929.  Collection of Clive Coy

Over the past 30+ years, I have read nearly everything written by Roy Chapman Andrews about his expedition to China with Edmund Heller.  There are several magazine articles, the popular account of the expedition itself was published in a book: Camps and Trails In China, [D. Appleton & Co., 1918] and Andrews' two autobiographies.  I have found it peculiar that Andrews had very little to say about Heller, and always referred to him as Mr. Heller, unlike other persons mentioned who were usually introduced once formally within the narrative, and then referred to by their first name, example Rev. Harry Caldwell, and after simply called Harry.


I would not normally make much of this, except within Under A Lucky Star is this rather suggestive mention of Heller during the Yunnan trip:

I wanted to explore Yunnan, the mountainous province of southeastern China, which margined the Tibetan plateau. The expedition would cost fifteen thousand dollars and I agreed to raise half of it among my friends if the Museum would provide the remainder.

I don't remember where all the money came from. I think Sidney M. Colgate, James B. Ford, Charles L. Bernheimer, George S. Bowdoin, and Henry C. Frick gave most of it. Anyway I got it, and by March 1916 we sailed on the Japanese ship Tenyo Maru. Edmond Heller was the other scientist of the expedition. Heller had accompanied Colonel Theodore Roosevelt on his African trip after he left the White House and was an excellent small mammal collector, although hardly as successful a field companion. 


[Excerpted from Under A Lucky Star.  The Viking Press, 1943.  Page 129]

Does anyone know what Andrews was making oblique reference to?

Click image to view near full size

click image to view near full size

How Dodge Put The "Go" In Gobi Part 2

            Despite the ease with which the work in Mongolia began, the expedition had yet to rendezvous with the camel caravan, and establish if resupply by camel was feasible over great distances.

            While Granger continued searching for fossils, Andrews and the rest of the expedition set off on a 400 kilometer journey to the meet the caravan.  Andrews feared that it might be attacked by bandits, or lost in the desert.  To their great relief, the caravan was waiting.  All seventy-five camels with intact supplies had arrived a full hour before the cars.

            Using this leap-frog technique enabled the expedition to cover more than ten-thousand miles during 1922 and 1923, far more than Andrews had originally thought possible.   Overburdened with equipment, specimens, and staff, the Dodge cars had performed heroically, exceeding all previous expectations.

Crossing The Ongin River.            

Once, while returning to China,  Andrews and his passengers discovered that their oil had leaked out of its cans.  It would be impossible to go much further, but as they were debating what to do, they came upon a Mongol encampment.  Knowing that the herdsman would have sheep, and mutton fat, Andrews queried “why not use that for oil!”

            An obliging herdsman soon had a great pot of  mutton fat warming over a fire.  When it was liquefied, “We poured it into the motor and proceeded merrily on our way.”  The Dodge did not notice the change in diet, but there was one serious obstacle to the enjoyment of its passengers.  “We had had very little food for some time and were very hungry...”  As their engine warmed up, “a most tantalizing odor of roast lamb arose from the car!”,  and Andrews imagined he could smell mint sauce.

Showroom Brochure. Dodge Brothers. 1925

            Similarly, the expedition once found itself without cup grease for the cars.  Cold cream and Vaseline that had been prepared for the summer was sacrificed, Mongol cheese was also substituted, apparently with good results.

            By the end of the second field season, the Dodges had given a Herculean performance without any major mechanical problems.  However, it was felt that it would be safer to retire them and purchase new ones for the next field season. 

            The well-traveled Dodges were sold as they stood, to Chinese importers of wool and furs from Mongolia.  Remarkably, they sold for more than they were worth new.  “After all,”  Andrews records the buyers saying, “we know these cars can do the job because they’ve already been there.  Perhaps new ones won’t be as good.”

            Returning to New York to raise additional funds, Andrews barely arrived at the museum before a representative of Dodge Brothers called on him.  Dodge was delighted with the news coverage their cars were receiving, and realized it was priceless advertising.  Dodge Brothers wanted to be a sponsor.

Centerfold of Showroom Brochure.  Dodge Brothers 1925

            “I’ll play ball,”  said Andrews, “if you’ll give us a new fleet of cars, made to our specifications.”  Two years of work had shown where the cars needed changes - all in the body, and none in the motor.  “I need eight new cars,”  Andrews went on, and “[Dodge]  jumped at the suggestion like a trout taking a fly.” 

             Colgate and Andrews went to Detroit to see Fred Haynes, then president of Dodge Brothers.  Haynes’ greeting was “Now gentleman, Dodge Brothers employs twenty thousand men.  You tell us what you want and we’ll build it.”

            Colgate knew exactly what was required.  Seven of the new cars were to be an open express body with eight-inch sides of heavy screen wire.  Springs, both front and rear, were made heavier than commercial cars.  In addition, on each rear spring, inside, were iron bumpers lined with pieces of heavy tire, to give a heavily loaded car additional support, and leather snubbers were installed to prevent wild rebounds. 

            Gasoline tanks were increased to twenty-one gallons, four strong hooks were bolted onto the chassis member to aid pulling out of mud and sand, and each car was given two complete spare wheels, mounted either side of the driver’s seat. 

            The eighth vehicle was an ordinary five-passenger touring body.  This lightest member of the fleet would be used during advance reconnaissance.

            The Gobi savaged ordinary tires, but Dodge provided the relatively new 33 X 4.5 Royal Cord.  Balloon-type tires had not proven practical.  Although they held a car up better in sand, they increased fuel consumption, and were easily cut by stones.

            Dodge’s support saved the expedition about fifty thousand dollars.  In return, Dodge Brothers used images of the expedition vehicles, with quotes from Andrews, in advertising brochures, calendars, and magazine ads.  Andrews later speculated that the expedition’s endorsement sold thousands of cars for Dodge.      

Sales Brochure April 1937

            Equipped with the new fleet of Dodge Brothers cars, the expedition worked in the Gobi during 1925, 1928, and 1930, and continued to make major scientific findings that established Asia as an important dispersal centre of animal life. 

            They uncovered 20,000 - year old stone tools, evidence that the Gobi had been inhabited by people who may have migrated to North America.  Their geological findings confirmed that Outer Mongolia had never been glaciated and was the oldest area on earth of continuously dry land.  

Expedition Vehicles at Headquarters, Peking [Beijing] 1928

            The most spectacular discovery, for which Andrews and the expeditions became world-famous, was of three nests containing two dozen dinosaur eggs, the first recorded by science.  The nine-inch-long eggs were nearly perfectly preserved. 

            During the late twenties, Asia grew restless, and field work in the Gobi became dangerous.  Civil war, banditry, and the actions of  Imperial Japan in China made exploration after 1930 impossible. 

            Roy Chapman Andrews never returned to the Gobi Desert, but did continue his relationship with Dodge after it was sold to Walter Chrysler.  He remained a popular and widely recognized spokesman into the late 1930’s.

National Geographic.  March 1936

            Dodge’s positive experience with the Central Asiatic Expeditions began an era of similar sponsorships.  In the 1930's Chrysler Corporation sponsored expeditions by other explorers such as Armand Denis and Lisa Roosevelt.  Their "Wheels Across Africa" , and "East of  Bombay” documentaries showcase Dodge Power Wagons and Sedans prevailing over impossible terrain, and demonstrated that Dodge’s were “Reliable, Dependable, Sound” as ever.

How Dodge Put The "Go" In Gobi. Part 1

Convoy of Expedition Vehicles.  Folding Panorama from 'New Conquest of Central Asia'.

“ The Dodge Bros. cars climbed like mountain goats, and later, in our enthusiasm, Colgate and I agreed that we should be willing to attempt the ascent of Mount Everest with them if the snow could be eliminated.”

 - Roy Chapman Andrews, 1926 -

            Never before had the Dodge Brothers’ motto - “Reliable, Dependable, Sound” - been so vigorously challenged.  Despite critics who said they might as well search the bottom of the ocean, an intrepid group of scientists gambled their lives, and a fortune to explore one of the Earth’s last unmapped regions - the Gobi Desert  - using Dodges. 

            Conceived and led by explorer Roy Chapman Andrews and sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, the Central Asiatic Expeditions [C.A.E.] consisted of five separate thrusts into remote Outer Mongolia and Northern China between 1922 and 1930.

            The C.A.E.  heralded a new type of multidisciplinary exploration, with  representatives from eight fields of investigation that included geology, palaeontology, and archaeology.

            With  funds from financial giants like John D. Rockefeller, and public lectures, Andrews raised more than $300,000 U.S. [equivalent to twenty times that today], an enormous expenditure for a scientific expedition even during the heady 1920’s.

            Mongolia, which occupies an area larger than Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy combined, is still a difficult country to explore.  Poorly maintained  dangerously-pot-holed asphalt roads run for a few hundred kilometers east and west of the capital.  Communities outside this paved-zone are serviced by rugged trails that meander over steep mountain valleys, lush unfenced grasslands, and arid deserts.

            In 1918 when Andrews first visited Mongolia, there were a few motor cars running infrequently between China and the old capital of Mongolia, Urga.  The ancient caravan route was difficult, and the Ford motor cars that were used had proved unable to meet the severe demands made upon them.  Accidents were frequent and many people had been killed.

            However two Dodge Brothers cars had made it through in 1916.  This achievement gave Andrews the inspiration for conducting explorations of Mongolia using automobiles.  He was convinced that a properly equipped motor expedition supported by a camel caravan could do ten years’ work in five months.  Scientists in motor cars would conduct the actual exploration, while a caravan of camels sent out months in advance would transport food, gasoline and oil to prearranged locations. 

Expedition camel and Vehicle Tyres at Flaming Cliff Camp.  

            Returning to New York, Andrews began looking for a light car with high clearance, great durability, flexible chassis,  and an engine with sufficient power to pull through sand.

            “When it came to choice of cars opinion was strongly in favor of several well known Italian and French makes,” wrote Andrews, although he personally had a poor opinion of  Citroën all-terrain vehicles. Asked to adopt it for the expedition,  Andrews found the car to be absolutely impractical for rough work.  “It is a nice little French Toy,”  wrote Andrews to a friend.

Fulton 1 ton truck, used in early years of the Expedition.  Photographed at the American Museum prior to shipment to China.  Ca. 1920

Dodge had an advantage - it had already proven itself capable of the arduous journey to Mongolia.  Additionally, a Dodge had climbed the Twin Peaks of San Francisco higher than any other car, and was the first automobile to reach the floor of the Grand Canyon and climb back out under its own power. 

            After careful investigation, and despite Dodge’s  polite refusal to donate vehicles, Andrews chose five Dodge Brothers’ cars: medium priced, no frills workhorses that were plain looking, utilitarian and rugged. “Those which we used were stock cars with no especial equipment.”

            These vehicles were expected to operate under extremely harsh conditions including: freezing nights, and + 40° C. days, and choking sand storms.  Every imaginable situation was contemplated.  Eventually, Andrews noted, “We carried hundreds of nuts and bolts, almost every conceivable part and the very best tools...short of actual wrecking of the chassis or engine, we were prepared for any emergencies.”

            “Motoring on the Gobi is not quite like rolling down Fifth Avenue.  If anything happens to your car there are no garages around the corner....to be alone on the desert when something is wrong with the digestion of your automobile can have its serious aspects.”

            As scientists were expected to be conducting research, not tinkering with  engines, Andrews hired Bayard Colgate.  A motor enthusiast since his youth, Colgate, already an accomplished mechanic, underwent further intensive training at the Dodge factory in Detroit before sailing for China.

            Andrews purchased new Dodges in Peking at the regular price, but was unable to secure insurance.  Despite arguing, “the moral risk was good because we certainly would not abandon a machine...in view of the fact that the success of the expedition, if not our actual lives, depended upon [them],” Andrews was refused coverage.  The insurers said the risk was too great, he was lucky to have a supporting caravan for he would be returning on camels, if he ever returned at all.

            Despite this opinion, in March of 1922,  five weeks ahead of the scientists in their cars, a caravan of seventy-five camels was sent out across the border of China into Mongolia.   They were instructed to drop twelve cases of gasoline at a telegraph station along the road to Urga, and then rendezvous with the automobiles 150 miles from Urga. The success or failure of  Andrews’ novel plan rested on the caravan’s ability to cross the Gobi Desert.

Pushing Expedition vehicles through sand.

            Thirty-five days later, the scientists and overloaded Dodges slowly climbed westward toward the Great Wall, passed through a stone gate, and rolled into Mongolia. 

            “It makes me shudder even to write about the places through which we took the cars and trucks during the next four hours” recalled Andrews, “There were ravines, ditches, walls, rocks and washouts.  Only Colgates’s good driving and resourcefulness got us through without a disastrous smash.”

            That day’s progress was excellent, until a rain storm caused the ground to become thick clinging gumbo.  The lead car suddenly sank up to the running boards in mud, followed by each of the cars in turn.  They were so badly stuck that they could only be retrieved with block and tackle.

            Four days later the expedition reached the first supply drop at the telegraph station.  The caravan had been there two weeks before, leaving cans of gasoline as planned.

            After pitching camp near the telegraph station, palaeontologist Walter Granger set off to explore the surrounding hills, but was soon back in camp.  “Well, Roy,” Granger burst out, “we’ve done it.  The stuff is here.  We picked up fifty pounds of [fossil] bones in an hour.”  The expedition members were jubilant.           

Collecting Roy Chapman Andrews. Part 5 ~ Conclusion

My tent at Byan Dzag [ Flaming Cliffs ].  Photo. by Clive Coy

Over the course of his life Andrews was the recipient of many prestigious awards, including,  the Elisha Kent Kane Gold Medal of the Philadelphia Geographical Society [1929], the Hubbard Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society [1931],  the Explorers’ Gold Medal [1932], and  the Charles P. Daly Gold Medal of the American Geographical Society [1936].  Honorary Sc. D. degrees were conferred on him by Brown University [1926], and by Beloit College [1928].  

Elisha Kent Kane Medal.  Photo by Clive Coy.

In recognition of his qualities as organiser and leader, Andrews has eleven animals, fossil and living, named in his honour by ten separate researchers between 1911 and 1981, including one by a Soviet palaeontologist. Contrary to popular belief, scientists do not name new discoveries after themselves, and even in today’s jaded world it is still considered  an honour to have new discoveries named in recognition of the discoverer.

            Still writing books, and corresponding with admirers around the world, Andrews made his last and longest journey on March 11, 1960.  His passing was reported on the front-page of major newspapers, and from the world came tributes to “one of the greatest naturalists and zoologists of the 20th century”.  “Roy Chapman Andrews was one of the truly fortunate men who know exactly what they want to do in the world.”, reported the New York Times.  Inexplicably, the institution that he had worked so hard for made no mention of his passing in the yearly report or popular magazine that Andrews himself  had written 24 articles for.

Andrews, Colebrook,  Conn., 1953.  Hunting license pinned to his Fedora.

            Filled with a thirst for life, Andrews lived it to the fullest.  He had a restless spirit, an exuberant personality, a determined will, and limitless energy.  Fieldwork and exploration, not paper work, consumed him.  Not content merely to see the world, he wanted to know its closely kept secrets.  For three decades he was the popular ideal of the romantic explorer, combining scientific ability and the capacity to direct major expeditions with the showmanship necessary to obtain publicity and financial support.

            Expeditions to Northern China and Mongolia conducted by the Russians, Chinese, Poles, Canadians, Japanese,  and Americans owe much to the pioneering work of Roy Chapman Andrews, whose significance lies both in his own findings and in the international attention he drew to the role and value of the explorer-naturalist and the modern interdisciplinary scientific expedition.

ROY CHAPMAN ANDREWS

An Informal Checklist of Books

Publication statistics for Andrews’ books appear to be undocumented.  Several of his publishers have ceased to exist, or have not retained records from the periods involved.  The later children’s books are not difficult to obtain, although as in almost all juvenile literature, condition is a common problem.  Books published previous to 1929 are scarce in even very good condition, and dust wrappers for the first three books are very uncommon.

[NF] nonfiction; [F] fiction; [NF - J] nonfiction juvenile; [F - J] fiction juvenile

1. Whale Hunting With Gun And Camera [NF]

 NY;  D. Appleton and Company, 1916

2. Camps And Trails In China  [NF]

NY;  D. Appleton and Company, 1918

3. Across Mongolian Plains  [NF]

NY;  D. Appleton and Company, 1921

4. On The Trail Of Ancient Man [NF]

NY;  G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1926

5. Ends Of The Earth  [NF]

1929  G. P. Putnam’s Sons New York / London

6. The New Conquest Of Central Asia  [NF]

NY;  American Museum of Natural History New York / G. P. Putnam’s Sons,  1932

7. This Business Of Exploring [NF]

NY;  G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1935

8. Exploring With Andrews [NF - J]

NY;  G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1938

9. This Amazing Planet [NF]

NY; G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1940

10. Under A Lucky Star [NF]

NY;  The Viking Press, 1943

11. Meet Your Ancestors [NF]

NY; The Viking Press, 1945

12. An Explorer Comes Home [NF]

NY;  Doubleday and Company, 1947

13. My Favorite Stories Of The Great Outdoors [NF]

NY; Greystone Press, 1950

14. Quest In The Desert [F - J]

NY;  The Viking Press, 1950

15. Heart Of Asia [NF]

NY; Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1951

16. Nature’s Ways  [NF]

NY; Crown Publishers, 1951

17. All About Dinosaurs {NF- J]

NY; Random House, 1953

18. All About Whales [NF - J]

NY;  Random House, 1954

19. Beyond Adventure [NF]

Boston / Toronto;  Duell, Sloan and Pearce / Little Brown and Company, 1954

20. Quest Of The Snow Leopard [F - J]

NY;  The Viking Press, 1955

21. All About Strange Beasts Of The Past [NF - J]

NY;  Random House, 1956

22. In The Days Of The Dinosaurs [NF - J]

NY;  Random House, 1959