I was quite excited last week when I decided to take a day trip to Paulding, Ohio, where the La Farge Quarry mining company has dumped loads of rocks on a parcel of county land. This is a Devonian silica shale site. It was a very disappointing trip. I was out there for three hours with a 35 degree wind chill, and found nothing more than a few brachiopods, some horn coral and lots of rocks with fossiliferous matrices. The only trilobite I found crumbled in my palm as I poured some water on it to wash away some dirt. There were some rocks with trilobite parts, but no complete specimens.
It's a huge site -- five or six parallel piles 100 yards or more long -- but I had very little luck. I've seen photos of other diggers who walked away with nice hauls, but I struck out. Though it was in late February, it looked as though the site was pretty well picked over.
I'm planning a trip to southern Indiana later this spring. I'm hoping it will be more fruitful.