The Quarry

Rock Springs, Wyoming

At first, we were disappointed by Dinosaur National Monument.   The Josie Basset homestead was neat, but the park seemed to have much less to see than other parks.   Out of boredom, we went to the visistor's center on our last day.   Usually the visitor's center is the least interesting thing about these parks.  Who wants to see a video about the nature rather than going outside to see it with your own eyes?   This time proved to be a major exception.

Here's the short form of the story.  Scientists excavated the fossil remains of over 500 dinosaurs from this tiny little quarry.  Many of them were amazingly intact.  Then they did something very smart.  They exposed the bottom layer of bones, but left them intact and in place in the rocks.  Then they built an air conditioned building where tourists can get up close and study them in detail.

We were absolutely amazed at the scope of the find and the number of bones.  We had no idea that anything like this existed anywhere on earth.   The one hour we spent looking at that rock wall made the whole trip to this site worth while.

The site was once at the bottom of a river.  Perhaps a deep hole in the river bed.  Bones and carcasses collected there.  They were  covered by sediment, fossilized, then the ground was lifted and tilted and the overburden eroded away.  Today, it sits almost vertical.