NY Sites Sought

[Carl]

Hi All,

I have a friend looking for sites no more than 2 hours from Ogdensburg, NY. Any suggestions? 

Thanks for any help at all!

 

[Jeffrey P]

I've heard of Ordovician fossils around Watertown- trilobites. Also north of Ogdensburg is Ottawa and I recall reports in the Forum of Ordovician fossils found there including trilobites.

[Fossil-Hound]

@Carl you will want to check out Penn Dixie. The site is full of trilobites along with a neat pyrite bed and other fossils. The Moscow formation is present with the famous Smoke Creek trilobite bed. The fossil in my profile picture is an Eldredgeop rana from the site.

[Kane]

@Fossil-Hound I think the OP stipulated "no more than 2 hours drive from Ogdensburg," and PD would be about 4.5 hours away  

 

[Fossil-Hound]

4 minutes ago, Kane said:

@Fossil-Hound I think the OP stipulated "no more than 2 hours drive from Ogdensburg," and PD would be about 4.5 hours away  

 

 

Shhhhh... Don't tell him... It's worth the drive...

[Carl]

On 6/13/2017 at 5:24 PM, Jeffrey P said:

I've heard of Ordovician fossils around Watertown- trilobites. Also north of Ogdensburg is Ottawa and I recall reports in the Forum of Ordovician fossils found there including trilobites.

Oooh! That could work! Any more specific info available?

On 6/13/2017 at 8:48 PM, Fossil-Hound said:

 

Shhhhh... Don't tell him... It's worth the drive...

Thanks Kane & Fossil-Hound. As good as that sounds it's just way out of range.

[Raggedy Man]

2 hours ago, Carl said:

Oooh! That could work! Any more specific info available?

Thanks Kane & Fossil-Hound. As good as that sounds it's just way out of range.

You should persuade your friend to augment his criteria. It severely dimishes his options. 

[doushantuo]

"two hours" by plane?

[Raggedy Man]

14 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

"two hours" by plane?

Niccce! Good call bud!!

[Carl]

2 hours ago, Raggedy Man said:

You should persuade your friend to augment his criteria. It severely dimishes his options. 

Oh he knows

[Jeffrey P]

6 hours ago, Carl said:

Oooh! That could work! Any more specific info available?

Thanks Kane & Fossil-Hound. As good as that sounds it's just way out of range.

If you search Ottawa and Watertown on the Forum, stuff comes up- a lot in the case of Ottawa. Also, the fellow who leases the Beecher trilo bed near Rome lives in Watertown, probably knows sites around there, plus would probably be a real good person to know. Try googling Beecher trilobite bed and his name should pop up.

[FossilDAWG]

Ottawa has just been through a period of historic flooding with many homes and cottages along the rivers washed away.  River levels are still significantly above normal.  Unfortunately many of the collecting sites I know of are along the shorelines.

 

There are exposures of the Verulam formation with many Ordovician fossils in roadcuts and river beds between Kingston and Moira, Ontario.  At one time I collected trilobites and a crinoid from river bed exposures in the Moira River just downstream from the dam, where the 401 crosses the river.  That was years ago, and it would of course also depend on how high the river is when your friend visits.

 

Moira is 2 hr 5 min from Ogdensburg, not counting time to get across the border into Canada.

 

Don

[Carl]

Thanks, guys!

[Kane]

As Don said, water levels are still not quite normal yet due to the flooding. Collecting along the rivers (Rideau and Ottawa) can net some good finds, but it is advisable to be discreet and not call too much attention to yourself. I would not, for example, bring in a lot of equipment. A small hammer might be fine. If you go to Strathcona Park, you will see that the shallow Rideau River has a base of fossiliferous black shales, and there are small chunks on the shoreline with ample specimens of Pseudogygites and Triarthrus trilobites in addition to various nautiloids. Here's a link to my gallery of what you can expect. The Ottawa River near the Parliament Buildings has mostly been rehabilitated with imported limestone to buttress against erosion, but there are still some isolated pockets of brown shale if you are willing to walk west. Again, I would not bring tools or make a big mess.

 

If you go to the Carleton University campus, along the river you may find some good shale as well. But be mindful of the currents. Not too far from there, on Booth Street, is the Geological Survey of Canada - a place I frequented as a kid to dig through their stacks and who were kind enough to provide my young self a bedrock geology map of the region.

 

If you do decide to make the trip to Ottawa, you may also find it is a lovely and interesting city. During the summer, the Byward Market is fantastic: plenty of outdoor patios, great cuisine, and an open produce market with various fish and cheese shops. If the mood strikes, pay a visit to the Museum of Nature, which has a fairly good collection of fossils and particularly dinosaurs. The mineral exhibit is also worthwhile, and I personally quite enjoyed both the mammal dioramas (something I've always was enraptured by since I was a kid when we would make annual school visits) and the live bug exhibit that might appeal to your inner entomologist  

 

There are outcrops throughout the Ottawa valley, such as in Manotick. Also, if you go west toward Lincoln Fields on the parkway, along the shore are some limestones that can include some large tabulate corals.

 

I would certainly recommend Ottawa for rolling in some fossil collecting and enjoying many of its amenities. Lodging in a central location (such as Rideau Street) can prove fairly affordable, too. It is by far one of our best cities, along with Montreal, Quebec City, etc., for a good mix of culture, heritage, and fossils. You can easily lose a week in Ottawa without exhausting its potential.