I first encountered George McJunkin in Kenneth Tankersley’s excellent book, In Search of Ice Age Americans. I rapidly discovered that McJunkin was one of the most famous “forgotten” men in American history. He appears in numerous works on North American archaeology and paleontology. The only full-length biography of him to date is Franklin Folsom’s book for young readers, Black Cowboy: The Life and Legend of George McJunkin, first published in 1973. Fortunately, Folsom was writing at a time when some of the people who knew McJunkin were still alive and he made good use of their memories. He was also a meticulous researcher and compiled a bibliography of newspaper and magazine articles, many of them dating back to the 1920s and 30s. Thanks to the Internet I have been able to track down some of those articles myself.
Because McJunkin left no written records of his own, those who have spoken or written about him all differ slightly on the details of his life and his discovery of the Folsom bones. They are unanimous, however, on the essential points: George McJunkin was born a slave in Texas around 1850. He was a brilliant, self-educated man, a superb cowboy, and a devoted observer of nature. He was the first to discover ancient bones at what is now known as the Folsom Valley Site. His discovery led to the realization that humans had arrived in North America far earlier than previously thought.
Incidentally, the flash flood that revealed the bones is a story in itself. At least 20 people in the small community of Folsom, New Mexico, died on August 27, 1908. Many more would have perished if not for the bravery of Sarah Rook, the local phone operator. As the waters rose, Ms. Rook remained at her station taking calls and relaying information to rescuers until the flood engulfed the building, drowning and killing her. She is believed to have been the first telephone operator in the United States to die in the line of duty. She was a friend of McJunkin and perhaps will have her own book one day.
The story of the archaeological controversy surrounding the Folsom Site is also a compelling tale, though one of a very different nature. Popular mystery author Tony Hillerman summarizes the dispute in his essay, “The Othello of Union County,” which was included in The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other Tales of the Southwest (1973.) For those interested in more up-to-date information, David Meltzer of Southern Methodist University has edited a comprehensive volume on the excavation of the site, Folsom: New Archaeological Investigations of a Classical Paleo-Indian Bison Kill (2006).
You can learn more about George McJunkin and the Folsom bones at the following sites:
Folsom Man Archaeological Site, Folsom Village, New Mexico
George McJunkin: How a Black Man's Archaeological Discovery Changed History, The Root
George McJunkin and the Discovery that Changed American Archaeology, Southwest Archaeology
Because McJunkin left no written records of his own, those who have spoken or written about him all differ slightly on the details of his life and his discovery of the Folsom bones. They are unanimous, however, on the essential points: George McJunkin was born a slave in Texas around 1850. He was a brilliant, self-educated man, a superb cowboy, and a devoted observer of nature. He was the first to discover ancient bones at what is now known as the Folsom Valley Site. His discovery led to the realization that humans had arrived in North America far earlier than previously thought.
Incidentally, the flash flood that revealed the bones is a story in itself. At least 20 people in the small community of Folsom, New Mexico, died on August 27, 1908. Many more would have perished if not for the bravery of Sarah Rook, the local phone operator. As the waters rose, Ms. Rook remained at her station taking calls and relaying information to rescuers until the flood engulfed the building, drowning and killing her. She is believed to have been the first telephone operator in the United States to die in the line of duty. She was a friend of McJunkin and perhaps will have her own book one day.
The story of the archaeological controversy surrounding the Folsom Site is also a compelling tale, though one of a very different nature. Popular mystery author Tony Hillerman summarizes the dispute in his essay, “The Othello of Union County,” which was included in The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other Tales of the Southwest (1973.) For those interested in more up-to-date information, David Meltzer of Southern Methodist University has edited a comprehensive volume on the excavation of the site, Folsom: New Archaeological Investigations of a Classical Paleo-Indian Bison Kill (2006).
You can learn more about George McJunkin and the Folsom bones at the following sites:
Folsom Man Archaeological Site, Folsom Village, New Mexico
George McJunkin: How a Black Man's Archaeological Discovery Changed History, The Root
George McJunkin and the Discovery that Changed American Archaeology, Southwest Archaeology