Tips for Fossil hunting in the St. Louis Area of Missouri

[Joseph Fossil]

Recently, I've been thinking about conducting an exploratory fossil hunting trip in the St. Louis area of Missouri. I've never been there before, but I've heard there is a lot of caves and limestone outcrops near the city. I've also heard there is a decent amount of Ordovician and Mississippian fossils in the area. 

 

I'm just wondering if anyone's been fossil hunting in the St. Louis area before and what fossils can be found there?

[Joseph Fossil]

@JohnJ @deutscheben @Fossildude19 @RCFossils @JBkansas Do you guys know the area or know what fossils can be found there? 

[Fossildude19]

30 minutes ago, Joseph Fossil said:

@JohnJ @deutscheben @Fossildude19 @RCFossils @JBkansas Do you guys know the area or know what fossils can be found there? 

 

Nope. I'm in the North Eastern US.  Never been to St. Louis.

 

You can start your research here, but keep in mind the information is old and out of date. , so it is no longer completely accurate.

[FossilDAWG]

@Herb is familiar with that area, I think.  Could be wrong though, that happens often.

 

Don

[JBkansas]

I don't know anything about the fossils of STL but there's some amazing ruins there. It's the site of the largest city in the US prior to the revolution.  Much of it was destroyed and used to build the city of St. Louis but there's some left if you know where to look (and a mostly preserved site at Cahokia).

[JBkansas]

35 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

You can start your research here, but keep in mind the information is old and out of date. , so it is no longer completely accurate.

Hadn't seen that site before, I got excited when I saw the GPS coordinates but the ones I tried seem to be "general area" (ie. middle of the town) rather than specific exposures. Still helpful to corelate with satellite images and geologic maps.

 

I've used this one previously to see what may be found in an area: https://paleobiodb.org/navigator/ 

The coordinates on paleoDB seem to be more precise but I haven't actually verified any because most are on private land.

Edited December 16, 2022 by JBkansas

[Thomas.Dodson]

I have been a few times when I lived in Illinois for a season. The Eastern Missouri Society for Paleontology used to have a page on popular sites to help beginners but the url is currently broken when I looked it up. I found an archived snapshot though. https://web.archive.org/web/20190906234210/http://www.mofossils.com/fossilsites.html

 

From what I remember the Meramec River boat ramp site mentioned is no longer accessible.

[ClearLake]

Check out this website, should give you some good starting points: http://www.lakeneosho.org/index.html

[JohnJ]

[Bullsnake]

Maybe this could help.

http://www.mofossils.com/

 

[Joseph Fossil]

On 12/16/2022 at 2:04 PM, Thomas.Dodson said:

I have been a few times when I lived in Illinois for a season. The Eastern Missouri Society for Paleontology used to have a page on popular sites to help beginners but the url is currently broken when I looked it up. I found an archived snapshot though. https://web.archive.org/web/20190906234210/http://www.mofossils.com/fossilsites.html

 

From what I remember the Meramec River boat ramp site mentioned is no longer accessible.

 

@Thomas.Dodson Thanks for the link. How many of the Warsaw formation or St. Louis Formation locations are still accessible there?

[Joseph Fossil]

Found this source which could be helpful?

 

https://share.mo.gov/nr/mgs/MGSData/Books/Volumes/Early Mississippian Formations in Missouri/V-021.pdf

[Joseph Fossil]

@Thomas.Dodson @ClearLake @Bullsnake @JBkansas Of all the sites you know or found in these links, which ones do you think would be the best for finding cladodonts or other Ctenacanthiform fossils?

[Thomas.Dodson]

1 hour ago, Joseph Fossil said:

 

@Thomas.Dodson Thanks for the link. How many of the Warsaw formation or St. Louis Formation locations are still accessible there?

The Fenton Bridge Site was still accessible when I was there a few years ago. That one is Warsaw Formation. Most of the sites I visited were neither Warsaw or St. Louis Formation.

 

1 hour ago, Joseph Fossil said:

@Thomas.Dodson @ClearLake @Bullsnake @JBkansas Of all the sites you know or found in these links, which ones do you think would be the best for finding cladodonts or other Ctenacanthiform fossils?

Hard to say, I never found them searching in Missouri. Of those listed sites I'd expect the Fern Glen site or the Fenton Bridge site to be the most likely. Maybe the Big Bend site but I've never been there.

 

[ClearLake]

22 hours ago, Joseph Fossil said:

Of all the sites you know or found in these links, which ones do you think would be the best for finding cladodonts or other Ctenacanthiform fossils?

Sorry, I do not know. That’s not something I specifically search for. 

[minnbuckeye]

There is a fish layer full of teeth where the Burlington Limestone meets the Keokuk. Cladodonts are present.  I think there are some exposures of these formations close to St Louis, but I have never hunted in Missouri.

[connorp]

4 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

There is a fish layer full of teeth where the Burlington Limestone meets the Keokuk. Cladodonts are present.  I think there are some exposures of these formations close to St Louis, but I have never hunted in Missouri.

I have been told the Burlington gets less fishy towards St. Louis, although I don't know if its true.

[Joseph Fossil]

On 12/19/2022 at 6:56 AM, minnbuckeye said:

There is a fish layer full of teeth where the Burlington Limestone meets the Keokuk. Cladodonts are present.  I think there are some exposures of these formations close to St Louis, but I have never hunted in Missouri.

 

@minnbuckeye Thanks!! That's actually really helpful! Without getting too much into location details (to prevent the site from getting pillaged), do you know where this Burlington Limestone fish layer is? What is the closet town or even (if you're ok with providing this) the closet road to this Burlington Limestone-Keokuk site?

[minnbuckeye]

I do not know the St Louis area unfortunately.

[Herb]

On 12/16/2022 at 2:14 PM, FossilDAWG said:

@Herb is familiar with that area, I think.  Could be wrong though, that happens often.

 

Don

Heck yeah, there are fossils in Saint Louis! The best place to look for them is down - or up - or straight ahead. I'm talking, of course, about caves, which is where I've seen the best ones. Most of the caves to which you'll have access, however, won't permit you to hack big chunks of paleontological history out of them, though. But, if you want to find fossils, cave geology is the kind of AREA you want to look for. VERY close to Saint Louis is the Rockwoods Reservation (on 109 between Manchester [or Highway 100] and Interstate 44), which has a number of short trails. Rockwoods is the site of several former limestone mines. This kind of rock is great for fossil-hunting. Again, you don't want to chop stuff out of the cave or cliff walls (and I'm sure Rockwoods would not be happy about that anyway), but you can see a awful lot washed out in the streams. Most pieces I've found are chunks of limestone with small pieces of fossils in them. The most prevalent fossils I've found in such rocks are brachiopods, corals, crinoids (the state fossil! Crinoids are stalked echinoderms; if you see a string of ring-like structures that kind of looks like a vertebral column, it's a crinoid stalk), and molluscs. 50 million years or so ago, Missouri was a warm, shallow sea, a lot closer to the equator.

Your best bet is to check the stream beds for pieces of limestone that contain fossils in them. The farther off the beaten track you go the better because, obviously, pieces of rocks like these are popular pieces to collect. You should also check with the park in which you're fossil-hunting - it may be against regulations to remove ANYTHING from the park!

My best experience with fossils has been off-trail around Rockwoods Reservation. Stay in the stream bed(s) to avoid damaging the vegetation. Most places (including Rockwoods) request that you stay on trails ONLY. Rockwoods extends beyond the nucleus of trail heads around the education center. in fact, I've found MOST fossils in a stream bed in the Reservation across the street from the entrance to the park - off the east side of 109.

Aside from Rockwoods, in you just continue through all the Karsty-limestone area to the immediate west-south-west of Saint Louis, you should find plenty. Check out the road cuts! There are lots of comparatively new ones on 109 between Manchester and 44, but there is, unfortunately, no where near them to park the car (I know, I've done it.). If you don't mind a little hike and strange looks from passing cars, though, it's worth it to park at the closest intersection and walk back to check out the road cuts.

Meramec State Park is a little farther out, you need to take 44 out west just PAST the popular Meramec Caverns (which is a touristy kind of thing but fun if you've never seen it before). The state park is south of 44 - pay close attention to your map, it can get tricky. It's about an hour and a half west of Saint Louis. They, too, have nice stream beds, but looking there requires some patience. The nice thing about Meramec State Park is their phenomenal education center. If you really want to learn about the geology of the area and the kinds of fossils common to the area, their little self-guided tour is great. They also have an impressive array of books on natural history, including a couple on geology of the area that I haven't seen for sale (without ordering them) anywhere else.

Castlewood State Park is virtually a stones throw from the city - just south of Manchester Road down 141 (Woods Mill Road). I have not been there myself, but hiking pals of mine have and have brought me some nice fossils from the area (including crinoids).

You may also want to try Babler Park, which is just NORTH of Manchester on 109 - I have been to this park but only with kids and not on a fossil-hunting expedition, but it is in the right kind of geological "area" for fossil hunting.

Of course, if you're into really BIG game fossil-hunting, you'll want to go to Mastodon State Historic Site, about 20 miles south of Saint Louis in Imperial (off I-55). Pretty sure you can't, um, "collect" any of THOSE, fossils, though!

There is an excellent on-line directory of Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites put out by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which I encourage you to check for additional places to visit; it lists the whole state, but it has them listed by region. I have been to most in the Saint Louis area. In terms of fossils, the ones I discussed above were best. Please remember, however, to respect park regulations: it may not be legal to remove fossils from the park (or hike off-trail, or camp, or build fires, etc. etc. etc.)!!! All of these parks will have an educational center or at least an office where you can get trail maps and regulations. As far as road cuts are concerned, as long as you're not on private property (and this includes parking! Careful about this! Sometimes "private property" isn't posted, and now in Missouri private property can also be indicated with just purple marks on trees!!) or creating havoc with an excavation you should be OK.

[Tales From the Shale]

On 12/20/2022 at 7:17 PM, Herb said:

Heck yeah, there are fossils in Saint Louis! The best place to look for them is down - or up - or straight ahead. I'm talking, of course, about caves, which is where I've seen the best ones. Most of the caves to which you'll have access, however, won't permit you to hack big chunks of paleontological history out of them, though. But, if you want to find fossils, cave geology is the kind of AREA you want to look for. VERY close to Saint Louis is the Rockwoods Reservation (on 109 between Manchester [or Highway 100] and Interstate 44), which has a number of short trails. Rockwoods is the site of several former limestone mines. This kind of rock is great for fossil-hunting. Again, you don't want to chop stuff out of the cave or cliff walls (and I'm sure Rockwoods would not be happy about that anyway), but you can see a awful lot washed out in the streams. Most pieces I've found are chunks of limestone with small pieces of fossils in them. The most prevalent fossils I've found in such rocks are brachiopods, corals, crinoids (the state fossil! Crinoids are stalked echinoderms; if you see a string of ring-like structures that kind of looks like a vertebral column, it's a crinoid stalk), and molluscs. 50 million years or so ago, Missouri was a warm, shallow sea, a lot closer to the equator.

Your best bet is to check the stream beds for pieces of limestone that contain fossils in them. The farther off the beaten track you go the better because, obviously, pieces of rocks like these are popular pieces to collect. You should also check with the park in which you're fossil-hunting - it may be against regulations to remove ANYTHING from the park!

My best experience with fossils has been off-trail around Rockwoods Reservation. Stay in the stream bed(s) to avoid damaging the vegetation. Most places (including Rockwoods) request that you stay on trails ONLY. Rockwoods extends beyond the nucleus of trail heads around the education center. in fact, I've found MOST fossils in a stream bed in the Reservation across the street from the entrance to the park - off the east side of 109.

Aside from Rockwoods, in you just continue through all the Karsty-limestone area to the immediate west-south-west of Saint Louis, you should find plenty. Check out the road cuts! There are lots of comparatively new ones on 109 between Manchester and 44, but there is, unfortunately, no where near them to park the car (I know, I've done it.). If you don't mind a little hike and strange looks from passing cars, though, it's worth it to park at the closest intersection and walk back to check out the road cuts.

Meramec State Park is a little farther out, you need to take 44 out west just PAST the popular Meramec Caverns (which is a touristy kind of thing but fun if you've never seen it before). The state park is south of 44 - pay close attention to your map, it can get tricky. It's about an hour and a half west of Saint Louis. They, too, have nice stream beds, but looking there requires some patience. The nice thing about Meramec State Park is their phenomenal education center. If you really want to learn about the geology of the area and the kinds of fossils common to the area, their little self-guided tour is great. They also have an impressive array of books on natural history, including a couple on geology of the area that I haven't seen for sale (without ordering them) anywhere else.

Castlewood State Park is virtually a stones throw from the city - just south of Manchester Road down 141 (Woods Mill Road). I have not been there myself, but hiking pals of mine have and have brought me some nice fossils from the area (including crinoids).

You may also want to try Babler Park, which is just NORTH of Manchester on 109 - I have been to this park but only with kids and not on a fossil-hunting expedition, but it is in the right kind of geological "area" for fossil hunting.

Of course, if you're into really BIG game fossil-hunting, you'll want to go to Mastodon State Historic Site, about 20 miles south of Saint Louis in Imperial (off I-55). Pretty sure you can't, um, "collect" any of THOSE, fossils, though!

There is an excellent on-line directory of Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites put out by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which I encourage you to check for additional places to visit; it lists the whole state, but it has them listed by region. I have been to most in the Saint Louis area. In terms of fossils, the ones I discussed above were best. Please remember, however, to respect park regulations: it may not be legal to remove fossils from the park (or hike off-trail, or camp, or build fires, etc. etc. etc.)!!! All of these parks will have an educational center or at least an office where you can get trail maps and regulations. As far as road cuts are concerned, as long as you're not on private property (and this includes parking! Careful about this! Sometimes "private property" isn't posted, and now in Missouri private property can also be indicated with just purple marks on trees!!) or creating havoc with an excavation you should be OK.

I heard there was a prevalent roadcut on I-170, that has an entire array of animals. Have you had any fortune there?

[Herb]

30 minutes ago, Tales From the Shale said:

I heard there was a prevalent roadcut on I-170, that has an entire array of animals. Have you had any fortune there?

 

30 minutes ago, Tales From the Shale said:

I heard there was a prevalent roadcut on I-170, that has an entire array of animals. Have you had any fortune there?

no I have not. good hunting though.

[pefty]

Hi Joseph, glad to hear your interest in St. Louis area fossils. The folks you should probably be talking to hang out on a group I help admin at https://www.facebook.com/groups/missourifossilhunters. 
 

I and other folks on that group will be happy to take you out to some good spots in the Burlington, Keokuk, Warsaw, Salem, or our excellent Ordovician (mostly Decorah Group). Plenty of fish material in some of the Salem exposures in particular, not so much in the Burlington here, as stated by another commentor above. 
 

The I-170 Pennsylvanian outcrops so well described on lakeneosho.org are unfortunately overgrown and all but useless at this point, not to mention being the shoulder of an interstate highway — a place our folks never try to go. We don’t need to because our area is so full of other good exposures of most units

Edited January 19, 2023 by pefty