The island seems to contain them pretty well. Take people on safaris.

Please note that in the early 1900s everybody used real gold (or silver, in the case of China and India) money. There was no such thing as "any amount of money", because in those days there was a finite (and not very large) amount of money available; in particular, governments were unbelievably poor by our standards, because from the point of view of us moderns, taxes were incredibly low. The switch to "any amount of money" came with the First World War, when governments were faced with the absolute necessity to spend and spend and spend, and they fell upon the idea of fiat money.

@AlexP i said 1910s tho, i meant early 1900s as in the early part of the 20th century not the decade 1900

@AzorAhai-him- makes a good point. The cheapest and most effective way to contain these dinosaurs and make an exhibit of them is to turn their natural habitat into a safari. Cordone off the island, provide fireproof vehicles, and charge a fee for entry.

@TheresaKay Fireproof? They're dinosaurs, not dragons

@AzorAhai-him- you’re right. I misread. A safari could still work though. I think it’s a great idea.

Yeah, but the only time in the first half of the 20th century when any government could even think about expending significant resources on such frivolous projects as dinosaur parks is 1901 to 1913. Then came WW1, which fixed the attention of all not-poor nations on more important matters. Then came a brief period of recovery dedicated to recovery and restoration of a working society, followed by the Great Crisis when nobody had any money, followed by WW2.

@AlexP I don't understand why you are so hung up about there not being enough money. The part of the question "any amount of money" seems, at least to me, clearly an instruction that answers don't need to consider financial cost. It's simply setting a guideline for the answers. It's not a statement that there exists more money than realistically possible.

The entire Jurassic Park/World books (by Michael Crichton) and film franchise is an exposition of how it's inherently impossible to contain dinosaurs using modern technology. Could it be done with 1910 tech? Only if (a) they're on a distant island, (b) there are no flying or swimming dinosaurs and (c) there's a 24/7 naval blockade to guarantee nobody ever steps foot on the island. Please remember Murphy's Law.

@JBH No computers, no software exploits! Works on Cylons too.

@AlexP False. Credit was a thing long before 1900. The fact that people didn't use fiat cash has nothing to do with it. Fiat just allowed them to issue credit to themselves.

@AlexP You are quite correct. I knew I had seen this before (I think in research for a politics.se question, but according to this page, from 1789-1849, all total, the US Federal Budget had receipts of 1.160 Billion, with outlays of 1.09 Billion. Total. For all of those years. The first single year we had receipts of over a billion wasn't until 1917. In 1910 the US made 676 million, spent 694 million, and had a deficit of 18 million. Spending all they could on this island would still be a pittance.

@DKNguyen Now I've gotta give it to you about the Cylons. It definitely works for the Cylons!

@fredsbend: National debt works in a completely different way when the economy is based on real money. Completely different way. (The fundamental difference is that in our economy with built in inflation, governments can roll over old debt for new debt without limit. In the old days, when actual gold dollars had to be repaid with actual gold dollars, not so much. The downside is of course that with an economy based on real money credit is very very much more restricted, and sovereign defaults very much more common, often with dire consequences.)

solve the problem Jurassic park had, actually hire people who know how to build zoos. of course in the 1900's keeping exotic animals alive is a bigger problem.

Why might 1910s technology find it more difficult to contain dinosaurs than today's techniques? Then, as now, would you not use either a simple metal fence… or an electrified metal fence? What else might today's zoo-keeper have?

@JBH, good point, but concrete and steel is more reliable than software and an embryo stealing engineer. Nothing is impossible, and it was the alignment of holes in multiple slices of cheese that was central to the plot of the book and first movie. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model

@MichaelHall I suspect that it very much depends on what dinosaurs are being restrained. The OP doesn't explain that. Given that all dinosaurs must be considered, the simple answer to this question is, "no, it can't be done." Having said that, there are dinosaurs that could be restrained with 1910 tech. Small herbivores that don't fly or swim come to mind.

@JBH, you missed my point…. The theme of the Jurassic park series is based on the vulnerability of complex modern systems and chaos theory. Simple methods are much more reliable. Plus, this is world building, is anything actually “impossible”?

With enough concrete and steel you can contain anything.