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Mineral Wells/lake Jacksboro Trip


RyanNREMTP

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Thanks to hashemdbouk and jeepinthemud for the great trip. We started out in Mineral Wells at the fossil park with a nice overcast of clouds. The temperatures were nice to start with. I was last to arrive and grabbed my gear and headed down the dirt ramp. First thing I noticed were large dry cracks in the ramp from the lack of rain. This was new but didn't discourage me in anyway. I caught up with the group and we chatted about a trilobite that had already been found. After a few minutes we broke up and started searching. Right off the bat I pick up a rock that caught my eye. My first impression was a piece of jaw with two teeth in it. I placed it in the bucket and kept looking. My goal on this trip was to find at least another trilobite so the one at home wouldn't be lonely. Plus I wanted to find a shark tooth. Oddly at first all I found were the regular crinoid pieces. I kept a couple of nice ones or irregular ones but passed over most.

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Then I found a trilobite just sitting on the surface. Luckily it was right side up otherwise I would have missed it. I walked around and looked at new places that I hadn't searched the previous two trips. After a few hours I had found three trilobites but still no shark teeth.

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Noon came and we decided our next course of action. We started our trek up to Lake Jacksboro. I had been there once before when I organized a trip with a few TFF members. My goal at this one was to find some more Conularias and can I say did find some.

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Plus along with the regular shells and crinoid pieces I found some other cool things.

Here is a list:

Conularia

Lophophyllidium corals

Apotocardium

Pteronites

Brachycycloceras

Pharkidontus

Punctospirifer

Trigonocarpus seed

and a crustacean fragment.

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I'm calling the Apotocardium "Zippy" since it looks like a zipper being pulled down. We left Lake Jacksboro about 3:30 when it was getting sunny. I drove home with a lot of good finds, good memories and a sunburn and last but not least some good friends.

So where to next?

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There seems to be an unending variety of fascinating fossils to be had there, if you're willing to put in the effort.

Good work, and thanks for the show!

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Well done, Ryan!

Thanks for the great report - I like the Apotocardium!

Regards,

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

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Great haul Ryan! I would have gone if I hadn't planned another hunt. I'll be at Jaxbro with Dallas Paleo in a couple of weeks and the following Monday with MikeCable. Love the rostroconch. Maybe that's the secret to how they grow. They un-zip, put on another layer and just zip back up! Would love to see a close-up of the fern seed. What's that in the next to last picture?

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The next to last is a piece of crustecean fragment I found at Jacksboro. It's not very big, about 1/3 inch long. The fern seed isn't a definite yet. I'm still researching that piece and a few others.

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The Apotocardium is durn purdy! If you'd said it was a fossil milkweed pod, I'd have probably believed you :)

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Umm, heck no the penny is my favorite. It has a major birthday coming up in a couple of years.

Thanks for the ID.

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That next to last thing may not be a crustacean fragment. Looks more like a fish spine to me. And the complete rostroconch is a great find! In all my trips there with the Austin club only a few complete (or even close to whole) ones were found. Fragments are everywhere and suggest they got fairly large too.

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Bob, what was this one called again? It's not a Pharkidontus. The ridges and spines are not the same.

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I've got mine labeled as Patellostium sp.

That penny looks very worn. I'll trade you a shiny new one for it :)

Also look at Knightites (Cymatospira) which shows up as a possible synonym.

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Nice finds, you found more at Mineral Wells than I did.

I only stayed for ~ an hour it was just too hot last time I went.

I have not found more than a fragment of a trilo at MW.

Jess B.

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The weather is getting better so it's not so bad. I actually had to dig a little bit in places to find two of the trilos. Other than that it was just a matter of finding the dark grey dirt and splitting that up to find them.

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So Jacksboro lake is open to fossil hunters? Any rules or limitations such as type of tools or type of fossil that may be taken? Is the mine pit open to the public as well or is that actually where to hunt? Not frpm Tx, live in Ms but travel to Tx from time to time and like to find places to hunt, thanks in advance

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Lake Jacksboro is part of the state park system so you have to pay $3 and get a permit for it. I don't recall much for the rules. Everything I have found have been surface finds so really no reason to dig that much.

Attached is a map that someone else here has so graciously attached before me.

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The pdf is good for general directions but doesn't mention where to pay the $3 fee. Just before you get to Lost Creek Road there is a state park trailhead with a pedestal where you pick up a form to fill out with a sticker for the windshield. Put the money in the envelope and stick it in the slot. Drive back out to the main road and just a little farther to the next right. Go right again at a fork and you find yourself at the dam. Lots of room to park but don't block either gate and walk across the dam to the long bank in the distance. The trail across the dam is state park land but the collecting area belongs to the city of Jacksboro as well as the flat area you cross after passing through the gate at the end of the dam. Look for conularids on the flats.

Mineral Wells is a city park you can visit any time. If the gate is closed park by the road.

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The post before the PDF has a map attached that shows where to pay and where to park and where to do a walkabout.

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The pdf is good for general directions but doesn't mention where to pay the $3 fee. Just before you get to Lost Creek Road there is a state park trailhead with a pedestal where you pick up a form to fill out with a sticker for the windshield. Put the money in the envelope and stick it in the slot. Drive back out to the main road and just a little farther to the next right. Go right again at a fork and you find yourself at the dam. Lots of room to park but don't block either gate and walk across the dam to the long bank in the distance. The trail across the dam is state park land but the collecting area belongs to the city of Jacksboro as well as the flat area you cross after passing through the gate at the end of the dam. Look for conularids on the flats.

Mineral Wells is a city park you can visit any time. If the gate is closed park by the road.

Bob, thanks for making that clear about the State park versus the town's property. Collecting in the park would definitely get you in trouble and our group (PSA) was warned to stay off the dam by park rangers on one occasion.

I am also quite sure the quarry is still private property or otherwise "posted".

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There was a time when rangers asked folks not to park at the end of the dam after someone had rammed the gate. The dam itself is part of the trail we pay to use with the fee. I believe it was intervention by Polly, the Dallas Paleo Society field trip leader, who convinced them to let us park there again. You can see on Ryan's map how much farther we would have had to walk otherwise.

If by the quarry you mean the bank where most of the collecting takes place I don't know if it's private or city owned. I've heard it both ways but I believe you are probably right. The lake is owned by the city but the site may be private. If it was posted in the past the signs were removed because I've never seen one in the 3 or 4 years I've been going.

it would be a huge loss if we couldn't collect there. It's great for kids and seems to be an almost inexhaustible source of common Pennsylvanian material.

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Bob, the quarry I am speaking of is at the other (south?) end of the lake and completely different from the city-owned collecting area.

As far as the main spot in the spillway, a few years back our club (PSA) met the rancher who still grazes his cattle on that parcel. He was so nice and even opened the gate for us so we didn't have to climb it. Unless someone does something incredibly stupid I think we will have Jacksboro for a long time.

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