Edwin Carter was a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, born in upstate New York around 1830. Carter lived in the Breckenridge,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

area from 1860 to 1900. He originally was a placer miner and was fairly successful, but when he observed the destruction of the environment caused by

hydraulic mining Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment.Paul W. Thrush, ''A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms'', US Bureau of Mines, 1968, p.560. In the placer mining of ...

, he decided to collect animal and bird specimens for display before they were all gone. In 1875, he built a log cabin museum with a 12-foot-high ceiling to house his collection of over 3,000 specimens. Edwin was somewhat of an enigma as he never married or had any descendants and only 5 photos of him were found, one being his closed casket. Virtually no correspondence, news articles, or diaries exist to give us much insight into what made him decide to be a naturalist instead of a miner. His

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

connections were notable as he was honored as a first private citizen of Colorado and first lay in state at the state capitol in Denver and again in Breckenridge, both events orchestrated by his fellow Free Masons. Most of the United States' earlier Presidents, scientists and leading citizens were active in the

organization in those days.

Legacy

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science owes its original start to his collection which was purchased after his death in 1900. The original log cabin is still in excellent shape after 125+ years. As part of Breckenridge's 150th celebration it has been recently (2009) renovated and modernized by Exhibit Design Associates for the Breckenridge Heritage Alliance and includes some original examples of his taxidermy work. In addition it has numerous interactive learning exhibits and a small LCD theater room with a short film on his life history. This creative film was an official selection of the 2009 Breckenridge Festival of Film.

References

In Memoriam: Edwin Carter
Frederick C. Lincoln, The Condor, Vol. 31, No. 5 (September - October, 1929), pp. 196–200, Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Cooper Ornithological Society

, Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Preserve American.gov, Breckenridge, Colorado and the Carter Log Cabin Museum

Breckenridge Festival of Film 2009 official entry

Breckenridge Heritage Alliance, Edwin Carter Museum

Accidental Activist April 5280 Denver's Magazine

Greeley Colorado News, Breckenridge 150th

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Edwin Year of birth missing 1900 deaths American naturalists People from Breckenridge, Colorado