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Show Page 10 newsprint December 2,1981 DINOSAUR NATIONAL Jk' A- r4 -- AlV- - ' ,4 V.& MONUMENT By Dale Hansen How many of you have traveled the short distance to the incredible Dinosaur national Monument, a working quarry located Just outside ofJensen? If you haven't taken the time to tour this great find, you should do it soon. It is really an education. The first dinosaur bones were discovered at the sight on August 19, 1909 by an individual by the name of Carl Douglass. Douglass was a representative of the Carnegie Museum, and had been sent to this area in search of Mammalian fossils of a much younger age than the dinosaur. The first of this great find that has kept scientists busy for decades, was founded by Douglass as he scoured the area looking for these ancient bones. He found many bone fragments in the hills, these were only signs that the big find wasn't far off as he searched these dry hills for months on end. During the long hot summer In 1909, Douglass spotted some dinosaur bones, protruding from the top of a jagged little ridge called a hogback. As he climbed up to it he found eight large dinosaur vertebrae still connected, and In the exact positions they had been in when the animal was still alive. These eight bones were the first to be taken from this great quarry, thatls still spueingforth new finds each week. This energetic man was working for the Carnegie Museum, which was owned by Andrew Carnegie who was probably on eofaveiy few in those days that could afford to put a great deal of money into mining dinosaur bones. This open pit dinosaur mine, complete with a small train to haul the dirt away, was named the Carnegie Quany. In the years to follow, between 1909 and 1922, nearly 750,000 pounds of fossils were removed from this quarry. Most all of these bones were sent to Pittsburg, until the Carnegie Museum was literally packed full. enormous amounts of knowledge have been gained from the bones found here, for instance, this is the only quarry in the world to have produced jucenile dinosaur skeletons, This quarry makes a most unique museum in as much as many bones have been left right in the rock for you to view as you tour the dig. In -- addition to seeing the actual bones as they are discovered, you can watch paleontologists actually digging these bones out of their one million year old hiding place. The quarry employes two very skilled museum technicians. Dedicated men who have been working at discovering new finds and learning more about the ones that have already been found. Jim Adams has worked at plotting, View at entrance to Dinosaur National Monument near Jensen, Utah. mappng and cataloging since 1958. Jim is a resident of Vernal and thoroughly enjoys the that he is doing, Tobe Wilkins, also a resident of Vernal, has been working for the past 28 years and is very Rnowledaeable and skilled in dinosaurs and discoverlng more about them. The head person on the scientific side of things at the quarry is Dan Chute, a Paleontologist from Hew Jersey. Dan has been living in the Jensen area for the past two years. Chure was educated at two very good eastern colleges, Rutgers and Columbia University. When asked what made him get into the world of paleontology, Chure replied. "it all started when I was a kid and enjoyed watching monster movies." He said "paleontology is a very interesting field to be in, and on an international basis, there are probably only 900 paleontologists, and of that number, only about 150 to 200 are working on dinosaurs." When the Carnegie Museum quit financing the quarry and its work, it had already taken 20 complete dinosaur skeletons out of the quarry, which had filled up the entire Carnegie work Museum. Monument ind statue of Stegosaurus which was made In 1964 World's Tair and donated to the Dinosaur National Monument by Atlantic Richfield. On October 4,1915, because of pressure from the Smithsonian Institute and their secretary. President Woodrow Wilson set aside 80 acres surrounding the quarry as a national monument This meant anyone wishing to $ collect fossils from this site would have to obtain a permit from the Interior Department of the United States. Pollowina the establishment of the national Monument the Carnegie Museum applied for, and received a series of collecting permits. Many more fossils were then discovered. Dan Chure. Paleontologist at the Dinosaur National Monument In 1919, Andrew Carnegie had passed away, and the funding quickly started to dwindle. The large preparatory staff at the Carnegie Museum was having a hard time keeping up with the large amounts of fossils that were coming in from Utah, even storage space had grown short 1922, following the retirement of Dr. the Carnegie Museum decided that it had become too costly to continue their operation at the monument so they notified Douglass that they were not going to submit an application for a new collecting permit with the Interior Department and the old permit would expire December 31,1923. The actual removal of fossils by the Carnegie staff was concluded in 1922 and most of 1923 was used to create and ship fossils to Pittsburgh. In 1938, the area of Dinosaur National Monument was expanded to its present size of 318 square miles, which includes some of the most beautiful scenery in Utah and Colorado. When the Carnegie operation shut down several important groups including two fine skeletons had been only partially uncovered in the rock, so the government asked the Smithsonian Institute if they would be interested in removing these fossils. In 1923 they shipped 33 boxes of fossil bone to In that same year, Douglass Washington. supervised teams from the University of Utah that removed an Allosaurus skeleton, part of a very large Apatosaurus, a partial skeleton of a juvenile Sauropod along with parts of two Stegosaurus skeletons, and an excellant Barosaurus skeleton. In 1977 the University of Utah returned the skull of the Allosaurs, the of dinosaurs, for predominate meat-eate- r people to view. As far back as 1915, Douglass was to have written in his diary that hereported felt the government for the benefit of science and the people, should uncover a large area, leave the bones and skeletons in relief and house them in. He felt that it would make one of the most astounding and Instructive sights Imaginable. In Holland, XtiANT JI08AW ""if "s y. r V- p. evncr tTtwuiriv NwfV ft atypical wmu imrty compter compriM ft and tateton now wpoMdl 4 csntrlbufsd rfuar currants prpboMy ttM tt Nr. Da mrl Vs. w" i. " - VV ' " ' The most recent and exciting discovery was a portion of the skull of a Camarasaurus, complete with stapes , or ear bones. mi . it ; e- .Vk s ", " I 1 I |
