The End Of An Era: The Sth Story

[FossilForKids]

This will be a long post but I think it's worthwhile reading. About 2 years ago Bob Ernst past away. This was the man that help put the fuana of Shark Tooth Hill on the map. He established or re-opened roughly 8 quarries of possibly the worlds finest Miocene shark and marine mammal fuana. Universities and museums as well as private collectors benefited from his 30+ years of digging and generosity. He was also a very good friend of mine who helped me learn the tricks to locating and properly digging in the "bone bed". If you want to know more about this legend in the world of Paleontology and what he has accomplished simply Google his name.

I visited his land, now up for sale, this past weekend just to walk, remember, and take a few pictures. It was a moving experience and also a bit shocking. The quarries are overgrown, evidence of "fossil poachers" was plainly evident and some potemtially out standing fossil concretion badly damage if not destroyed. I was quite saddened by this seen at first but then the memories came rushing back to me.......Digging with Bob and his "Nasally" pitched voice and uncanny ability to find the best fossils......helping visitors all around experience a once in a lifetime event for most of them.......Being given thousands of small and less than perfect teeth for my kids program...etc...

So I've chosen to leave Bob's land behind not in remorse but full of incredible memories and fossils. The next couple of posts are some of the pictures I took so you can experience a taste of what was commonly known as...."Bob's Land"

[FossilForKids]

Here are two two large concreations that have had the outer layer removed but luckily know further damage. The longe one is most likely a sealion skull as evident by some of the pieces that surrounded this nodule. The larger concretion is a whale skull wit most of the mandibles missing.

[FossilForKids]

Here are a couple of interesting photos. One is a "nest" of several large nodules with some damafe and all missing their outer shell and the other has a vert nicely displayed in it. It is important to understand the people that damage these nodules are only looking for one thing.....Megs

[FossilForKids]

This last post gives you a look at some of the actual quarries but first the small grassy hill with trenches at the bottom of it is the Actual Shark Tooth hill which was right next to Bob's land. The squarish hill with obvious excavation is Slow Curve which is where most of the public digs occured. The small quarry was know as the Snake Pit because you needed a jackhammer to reach the layer and the hammer would cause Rattlesnakes to come out of their holes. The distant long quarry is the backside quarry of an even large V-shaped quarry known as the West Quarry. This was by far the most productive quarry.

[KevinG]

which is one reason why I am hesitant to go to the hill.

I would hate to destroy something through ignorance.

I need to find a library.

Thanks for the photos...any more?

The picture of the west quarry is amazing, that is a LOT of dirt that was moved.

[FossilForKids]

Kevin these nodules were carefully removed by a loader and placed in the open. These were not damaged accidentally. Where most people dig is the Bone bed which is basically a garbage pile of disassosciated teeth, bones etc....

[KevinG]

So the nodules and vertebrae were damaged by misguided fools or on purpose?

[FossilForKids]

So the nodules and vertebrae were damaged by misguided fools or on purpose?

They were damaged by fools looking for an easy meg who ignored the obvious bone structure'

John

[makoken]

Any word on the fate off the property? That's not where you went on your last 4 day trip is it? It will be ashame if Bob's property is lost to development.

[FossilForKids]

Any word on the fate off the property? That's not where you went on your last 4 day trip is it? It will be ashame if Bob's property is lost to development.

The land is under probate to be sold. I'll leave the details out but suffice it to say this is not what Bob wanted. If you look at the color of these teeth you can tell they didn't come from his land. There is a hill south of Hang Glider. That we call Sheep Hill. That where we'v been digging and it's usually off-white/tan with manganese but I did find a pocket of fire zone. I did walk Bob's land to take the photos on this trip but there is no way I would dig there as long as his family owns it.

John

[makoken]

The land is under probate to be sold. I'll leave the details out but suffice it to say this is not what Bob wanted. If you look at the color of these teeth you can tell they didn't come from his land. There is a hill south of Hang Glider. That we call Sheep Hill. That where we'v been digging and it's usually off-white/tan with manganese but I did find a pocket of fire zone. I did walk Bob's land to take the photos on this trip but there is no way I would dig there as long as his family owns it.

John

Do you dig to the left or right of the bike trail(path-road?) ? Just wondering alot of white teeth. BTW great finds!

[FossilForKids]

Do you dig to the left or right of the bike trail(path-road?) ? Just wondering alot of white teeth. BTW great finds!

The right of the bike path is now off limits. Everything to the right has been very weel dug. Now go pass the hill to the left back down the road and that's Sheep Hill.

[makoken]

The right of the bike path is now off limits. Everything to the right has been very weel dug. Now go pass the hill to the left back down the road and that's Sheep Hill.

Not sure if I've been that far back. Is the area to the right off-limits because of the developer that bought the property? I heard that that fell through? It looks like the sheep hill area is producing some nice teeth.

[FossilForKids]

The area to the right is fenced off with no tresspassing signs.

John

[makoken]

The area to the right is fenced off with no tresspassing signs.

John

I guess it's been awhile since I've gone over that far. Hopefully the bad economy will slow down the development out there.

[Dare2Dream]

This last post gives you a look at some of the actual quarries but first the small grassy hill with trenches at the bottom of it is the Actual Shark Tooth hill which was right next to Bob's land. The squarish hill with obvious excavation is Slow Curve which is where most of the public digs occured. The small quarry was know as the Snake Pit because you needed a jackhammer to reach the layer and the hammer would cause Rattlesnakes to come out of their holes. The distant long quarry is the backside quarry of an even large V-shaped quarry known as the West Quarry. This was by far the most productive quarry.

Thanks for the great pics! The sth auction was last week or so, any word of the results? I heard the main problem was that Bob didn't have a will otherwise he would have made sure that BVMNH would not get cut off from sth, which would be quite sad. I checked with BVMNH, the auction really didn't give them a chance to try to collect funds since the price was not known in advance.

[makoken]

This last post gives you a look at some of the actual quarries but first the small grassy hill with trenches at the bottom of it is the Actual Shark Tooth hill which was right next to Bob's land. The squarish hill with obvious excavation is Slow Curve which is where most of the public digs occured. The small quarry was know as the Snake Pit because you needed a jackhammer to reach the layer and the hammer would cause Rattlesnakes to come out of their holes. The distant long quarry is the backside quarry of an even large V-shaped quarry known as the West Quarry. This was by far the most productive quarry.

The slow curve site is the one I was fortunate enough to go to a couple of times thru the musuem before Bob passed. Great pics.

[coolclay]

Does anyone have any updates. I am going to be traveling through the area next week, and I am hoping to search for fossils to use for teaching at the non-profit I work for called the Catalina Island Marine Institute. Are there any places along the Kern river that anyone knows about. I was hoping to contact Bob, and see if I could get access to his property since I work for a non-profit and everything will be going for education purposes. I did not realize he had passed away until now. Either way if anyone knows anything that could help that would be great!

[FossilForKids]

Does anyone have any updates. I am going to be traveling through the area next week, and I am hoping to search for fossils to use for teaching at the non-profit I work for called the Catalina Island Marine Institute. Are there any places along the Kern river that anyone knows about. I was hoping to contact Bob, and see if I could get access to his property since I work for a non-profit and everything will be going for education purposes. I did not realize he had passed away until now. Either way if anyone knows anything that could help that would be great!

Currently there is NO digging allowed on Bob's property. If you need a few fossils such as teeth and verts I'll be glad to give you some.

John

[coolclay]

Currently there is NO digging allowed on Bob's property. If you need a few fossils such as teeth and verts I'll be glad to give you some.

John

I know there is currently no digging on his property but there must be other exposures of the formation in the area. Also we would love any marine fossils you could possibly donate. We teach fish lab, shark lab, marine mammal lab, and invertebrate lab, and compare and contrast the differences between today's living organisms, and ancient organisms. So any bones, verts, teeth, mollusks, or pretty much anything can be incorporated into our classes and highly valued. You can see our website here CIMI

Thanks so much!

[FossilForKids]

I know there is currently no digging on his property but there must be other exposures of the formation in the area. Also we would love any marine fossils you could possibly donate. We teach fish lab, shark lab, marine mammal lab, and invertebrate lab, and compare and contrast the differences between today's living organisms, and ancient organisms. So any bones, verts, teeth, mollusks, or pretty much anything can be incorporated into our classes and highly valued. You can see our website here CIMI

Thanks so much!

Send me your address and I'll send you a nice package of STH stuff and Kettleman and Scotts valley sand Dollars

John

[coolclay]

PM sent, I see now you live in San Jose, we will be swinging through there on Aug. 29+30, and can do a pick up/ and chat if you're available. If you would like to do the pick up/chat please email your number and address to coolclayATgmail.com.

I was also wondering if anyone knows if there is anywhere worthwhile looking along the Kern river or if the site along China Grade Loop rd is still accessible. I would imagine the river must cut through the formation at some point.