Saurian Expedition of 1905

Information on the key contributors, details on the expedition itself and its findings can be found below.Annie Montague Alexander, "a wealthy heiress to a sugar fortune[1]," was a woman that stood out from others of the same status.

The expedition was led by Eustace Furlong, an assistant at the Geology Department at Berkeley, under the guidance of one of Annie's professors John C. Merriam, of the University of California.

Alexander was an active participant and collector during the expedition along with Edna Wemple, also a student of Merriam and the first woman to earn a Master's degree in paleontology at Berkeley.

[3] The purpose of their expedition would be described by Annie as such, "Our particular privilege was to unearth swimming reptiles of some ten million years' standing, no light task considering the grip in which they were held.

[4]" They hoped to bring any specimens found back to Berkeley, where they could be analyzed further and later be put on display by the university's museum.

Some of the specimens were returned to Berkeley and became part of the collection of the University of California Museum of Paleontology, which Alexander helped found and underwrite.