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This morning I drove 45 miles to an auction that was taking place in Ottawa, Illinois. This auction takes place every couple of months starting in March and they usually have a lot of Native American objects and usually a few fossils. I the past I have purchased some Coconino trackways and a ton of Moroccan echinoids at a great price. Today I went because I was bored and wanted to see what they had. They had some Mazon Creek fossils in a box, some in a frame, some polished Orthoceras from Morocco, two small mammoth teeth and a 4” meg. The prices that were paid for these fossils was crazy, at least to me. I left after the fossils were sold and debated going home or driving 20 minutes farther to check out the small road cut in Oglesby, Illinois that exposes the LaSalle Limestone Member of the Bond Formation. This sight has been collected by a number of members on the Forum. I have not been here since 10-5-20 and decided to hit it for a few minutes. Once I drove up I knew that some of the head wall had come down, probably over the Winter and was hoping for something nice, I was not disappointed. Here are some pictures of the area. As you can tell from the pictures it is steep and talus filled and a roadcut that needs to be respected for it possible danger and not a sight for younger collectors. This location is a great site for some pretty and sometimes large brachiopods, including Spirifer, Composita argentia, Lindoproductus cora and Juresania nebrascensis. There are also inarticulate brachiopods and Petalodus teeth that can be found if you are lucky, I was lucky today. Here are some pictures of brachiopods that I came across today, many were left behind for others to collect. Some brachiopod cavities are filled with beautiful crystals. Continued on next post.

Though I just visited this site a few days ago and posted a trip report of that session, I decided to go back yesterday for three reasons: #1- My lower back was back to being 100%, that's a good thing. #2- It was supposed to snow today, and it is. I think the Olgesby area might have about 3" on the ground now and you can't collect on a steep scree field covered in snow. And #3, I just like collecting fossils. This area contains fossils from this formation- La Salle Limestone member of the Bond Formation (Missourian, Pennsylvanian) Unit 3. I am pretty sure that a portion of the Gray Shale (Unit 2) also came down. So yesterday I headed off to the road cut to collect in the balmy winter weather of Illinois. I was alone except for the Bald Eagles that were soaring high over head, from time to time you could hear their screech. With my back being a 100% I was able to maneuver along the loose rocks without a problem and was able to spend some time looking a the rocks a found a number of beautiful plates and large loose brachiopods. This site will continue to produce as the weathering process takes affect. As I stated in my last post, if you are ever in that area, you should stop and take a look, there are some beautiful fossils there. Here are some pics that I took in the field and I will end with pics of some of the same fossils, but hopefully in better light. Here a chunks of rocks that are just loaded with brachiopods. Composita argentia- I did find a number of fossils filled with crystals, this one is a favorite. Bryozoan- CONTINUED---------Next Post