Clark County History: John Kirk Townsend, naturalist

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, American naturalists longed for the scientific credibility of those in Europe. The Lewis and Clark expedition revealed countless discoveries in American biology and zoology that awaited the scientific community. The excitement of that first scientific expedition sent the new nation’s scientists into a collection frenzy.

Preparing for his second expedition in 1834, Nathaniel Wyeth invited two well-respected naturalists, 48-year-old Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) and 22-year-old John Kirk Townsend (1808-1851). The caravan followed the Platte River to South Pass and then down the Snake and Columbia rivers to Fort Vancouver, journeying through what is now Kansas, Wyoming and Utah to arrive at Fort Vancouver in late 1834. Along the way, they collected specimens.

Of the two naturalists, the middle-aged Nuttall was the more experienced. He’d already traveled with the 1811 Astor expedition up the Missouri River headed by William Hunt. He explored the Mississippi Valley, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The younger Townsend’s education as a scientist included medicine, pharmacology, zoology, ornithology and taxidermy. Later, he practiced dentistry. The American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Natural Sciences funded his trip West.

On this trip, the scientists rode snuggly in a coach from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, boarded a steamship to St. Louis, then finally waded the Missouri River to meet Wyeth’s wagon train at Independence, Mo. Like on the Lewis and Clark expedition, the travelers were often hungry. When Townsend shot an owl, Nuttall ate it before the junior scientist could taxidermy it. He also wrote that he lost some specimens when a man hankering for a drink downed the alcohol that preserved them.

Their coast-to-coast venture made them the first scientists to journey in a single trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Before arriving at Fort Vancouver, Wyeth wrote in his journal that he canoed up “the Willamette with Mr. Nuttall and Townsend.” During the winter of 1834-35, the two specimen collectors sailed to Hawaii, likely for weather relief as much as collection opportunity. On their return, they set up shop on a Wyeth-owned brig anchored near Sauvie Island. From there, each meandered away, sometimes for days, collecting flora and fauna. Unlike the English-born Nuttall, Townsend kept a journal of his experiences and findings.

The fort’s surgeon since 1832, Dr. Meredith Gairdner, had expected to use his free time hunting natural specimens when the Scotsman accepted the job. While Townsend was there, in 1835, Gairdner fell ill, possibly from tuberculosis, which took his life in 1838. With his physician sick, Chief Factor John McLoughlin commandeered Townsend to become the replacement Hudson Bay Company physician. Townsend stayed in that role for a year. Until Dr. William Tolmie was hired in 1836, Townsend also found little time for scientific research due to his medical obligations. Nuttall returned east in 1836, taking Townsend’s collection with him. Townsend returned to Philadelphia in 1837 and sold his stuffed birds to John James Audubon.

Like most bird watchers at the time, Townsend was a crack shot and used taxidermy to preserve the dead birds. His brother-in-law recalled seeing him bent over a tray, stuffing a bird with a cloud of arsenic swirling about his head. The young scientist died of cumulative arsenic poisoning at 41.

Martin Middlewood is editor of the Clark County Historical Society Annual. Reach him at ClarkCoHist@gmail.com.