Trilobites, Trilobites Everywhere And Nary A Eurypterid In Sight

[Malcolmt]

Well I went on an adventure on Saturday with an avid collector from the forum ..... Quarryman Dave. And although it will be hard to believe; we did not go out to hunt eurypterids. (even though Dave has yet to find one). I had prepped some trilos for Dave earlier in the year and in exchange for the labour of love he had promised me a trip to Penn Dixie in return. Truth be known I somewhat hate driving.

Dave had arranged to meet me at my house which is 2 hours from where he lives between 6:30 and 7:00 AM, well he was so excited about the prospects of the hunt that he was there at 5:55 AM. Well after scrambling around to make coffee and pack a quick lunch for us both we hit the road by 6:55. Prospects for the day were for perfect weather with a high of 70.

However Dave wanted to make a stop on the way to the US Border to quickly explore a road cut. Well it had rained heavily the day before and the road cut was pretty much a muddy mess. We could see bryozoans, corals, and brachs but no sign of a trilobite which was the target of the day. Well the adventure begins, I am walking through some tall grass and I think I bump into something soft. Well I look down and see the grass start to move and two eyes and a head pop out, needless to say I jump back a little startled. Well Looking up at me is a racoon that was sound asleep when I bumped into it. I called Dave over and he did not believe that I had found a racoon when I was looking for trilos. Well after a little coaxing the racoon waddled off minding its own business without a care in the world that we were in its space. If I had thought a bit straighter I should have taken a picture

At that point Dave reluctantly agreed that it was too wet to stay at the road cut and we moved on to cross the Border.

After a brief interogation from a guard that was not really to sure why two grown men were going looking for rocks we entered the United States. Since we were running early and Penn Dixie does not officially open till 9:30 we did what any good Canadians always do. We looked for a Tim Horton's. After being sucessful with our hunt for a Canadian coffee we arrived at Penn Dixie about 9:15.

Well I was disappointed. My favorite area to hunt there was currently under about 3 feet of water. They had nicknamed the area "The Lake". We seriously thought about heading out and going to 18 Mile creek where Carmine (Xonenine) from the forum was hunting with his girl friend. But being my meticulous self I pretty much insisted that we give Penn a try and if we hadn't found anything by noon that we would move on to 18 mile creek. At Penn Dixie the good trilobite layer is about 3 feet below the quarry floor. If you surface collect pretty much all you are going to find is horn coral, brachs and pygidiums and cephalons. Well as some of you know I am a digger and a rock splitter by nature. As Dave commented yesterday I am like the energizer bunny I just keep going and going. If I am honest with you all I woke up this morning very sore and stiff. Making a long story short I trenched and split rock for 9 hours non stop. Yes Dave helped out but if I am being truly honest even though he is a big guy his batteries and persistence run out long before mine.

Well by noon we had only found 3 complete trilobies but we had the beginnings of a massive pit that was getting to as I kept promising Dave "the godd stuff". Fortunately for me (and my credibility) when we got about 3 feet down we started to find a lot of partials. I was giving partials away like no tomorrow to all the kids and parents that were there for the day. Penn gets a lot of tourist type visitors that have never hunted fossils before. At points in the day we had a fair crowd watching Dave and I digging the pit. Dr. Gordon Baird had a 300 level class of students for a paleontology course on the site and so pretty much my only break of the day was a great conversation or two with him on the fossils here, Ridgemount and up in the Lake Simcoe Brechin area. In retrospect I do not think anyone there on Saturday other than Dave and I found a complete trilobite. I was giving a lot of good partials 2/3 3/4 specimens to the paleontology students, most of whom did not hae the right equipment for this site. As I always tell people go to a site the first time with someone that knows the site and knows what they are doing. Dave had been to Penn once before and last time I believe he found 2 partials and an almost complete (but it was a real beauty when prepped). I generally find 10 to 20 completes when I spend a full day at Penn Dixie. Although Penn produces some good prone specimens the majority I have found have been enrolled.

Here is the pit we excavated at the end of the day. I did not take pictures throughout the day as I was too busy splitting rock . We were down below the water table so there was mud and seepage at the bottom that I had to keep scooping out.

Well we toiled away till we started to lose light at about 6:30. So how did we do well you be the judge We did not keep anything that does not have the potential to be complete (we gave tons off stuff way to the "tourists") Total tally 47 trilobites that we know about before prepping. I believe about 6 of them have the potential to be real beauties, when prepped. Suspect I have about a week of prepping ahead of me. The only negative to report is that 100% are phacops rana (I know I used the old name). As much as we tried we did not find that greenops we both desparately wanted. Just some partials of greenops.

Then the real battle begins when we have to divide the spoils. (Actually I promised Dave first choice). We have decided to equally split the days findings since it was a communal effort.

Stay tuned for the next post to see the before pictures. (this 2 meg limit on uploads is a pain!!!!!!!!!)

I suspect Dave is glad that he bought a 2 year membership. He thinks he needs to go 6 times to get his monies worth. Personally I believe he has done alright already.

Dave is a great guy to go hunting with (as is everyone I have had the good fortune to meet from the forum so far). My opinion.... not bad for a day with nary a eurypterid in sight!!!!!!

Edited September 16, 2012 by Malcolmt

[Malcolmt]

Here is a group shot unprepped of most of what we found

[Malcolmt]

Here is a 2nd group shot

[Ludwigia]

Persistence pays off! Just ask Malcolm. Now that's a haul well worth the sweat and tears! Looking forward to the final results

[Fossildude19]

Excellent report Malcolm!

You did quite well.

I know how hard it is to get to that layer, and having to make your own pit is a pain.

You must be quite the diehard to achieve what you did.

Well done and thanks for posting.

Regards,

[MarleysGh0st]

Were you working the new trench that they opened up at Penn Dixie or did you dig your own pit?

Dr. Baird led the field trip for the PRI Summer Symposium, last month. I think he knows the Devonian rocks of New York better than anyone!

[AgrilusHunter]

Nice report Malcolm! Nice haul too!

Edited September 16, 2012 by AgrilusHunter

[Scylla]

Great job! Can't wait to see 'em prepped.

[erose]

Blocks of bugs! Probably some excellent specimens buried in there.

[Malcolmt]

The new trench was also flooded, We went to the end of the trench closest to the main gate. We then basically excavated towards the gate and we extended the wall of the trench about 3 feet towards the houses. We also dug down lower than the level of the existing trench as we were finding the best material at the lowest points. Where we dug there was an interesting geological popup that made the bedding plane highly uplifted.

Dr. Baird was a very interesting individual to chat with. certainly knew his Devonian fauna and stratigraphy of the area.

I'd be interested in what anyone else has found in the new trench area. Personally I had the following obsevations

• The quality of the rock s not as good as the old trench, it does not break out in good large plates and is highly fisile
  
• 
  
• The phacops seem smaller
  
• 
  
• There is no where near the density of partials compared to what I used to find in the old area.
  
• 
  
• The trench is small at this point so if it was a day with a lot of real "diggers" it would be crowded
  

Edited September 17, 2012 by Malcolmt

[Empty Pockets]

Oh boy, can't wait to see the finished bugs!

[fossiladdict]

Very cool! Looking forward to seeing some bugs!

[trilobiteruss]

Good report, those blocks look like alot of potential, will be interesting to see how they prepare!

[Caleb]

Great stuff! That is certainly a fun place to collect, I can't wait to make the drive out there once again.

[pleecan]

Malcolm and Dave: Congratulations on your finds!!!

[Quarryman Dave]

Yes It was an amazing day! Very well written Malcolm!. I was indeed in aww of Malcolms persistance, ferocity, the way he could split and break rocks without taking a break. I think its accurate to say my batteries and persistance petered out just watching Malcolm!!. But getting deprived of some good tools penn dixie personnel allowed us to use did not help much either.

In case anyone was wondering we stopped at a road cut along the QEW Highway close to the top of the Niagara escarpment where there is a rockcut of Rochester Shale. The funny find of the day was truly the Racoon!!

Thank you for the complements Malcolm! the feeling is mutual, and hope to do it again soon. Nice to collect with people that are generous, knowlegeable etc. The kids were very appreciative of the trilos you gave them. Here is a picture of a phacops I found the last time I was at penn dixie. Malcolm did a fabulous job on the prepping of the broken prone and roller at no charge!

Cheers!

Edited September 17, 2012 by Quarryman Dave

[Wolffish]

great trip and finds!

I lived in Syracuse for 10 years from 1990-2000. Traveled across the state for business - was in the Buffalo area weekly. Fished 18 mile a LOT! Of couse, I didn't know about, or care about, fossils at the time.

UGH!

[Lmshoemaker]

How did you guys manage to dig all of that out?!

[Malcolmt]

Hard work, chisels , mini sledge, about 5 different pry bars, including a big 6 footer for a few hours. Had it down to quite a system by the end of the day. We stayed a few hours after they closed up. Been doing some prepping last few days. So far there are two real beauties that would go well in any collection. A fair number of the trilos have flaws but that is to be expected from this type of digging and matrix. Will post some pictures when I get further in the prepping.

Edited September 22, 2012 by Malcolmt

[Quarryman Dave]

Malcolm: Glad you have 2 beauties. That.should make our decision on who gets the 1st best one much easier

Edited September 24, 2012 by Quarryman Dave

[Texas Fossil Hound]

Truly wonderful pile of bugs! Can't wait to see some post-prep pics! Thanks for sharing.

Jon