Scylla Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Last year I got a call from my friend Gary. I have collected with him a few times and I have volunteered to help him with educational activities that he runs for middle and high schoolers many times over the years. He was wondering if I could go on a paid dig with him to a quarry near Rome, NY famous for triarthrus trilobites with soft tissues preserved. The deal was we each pay a fixed price, but we get to keep up to five trilobites each. Prepping could be provided for an additional fee. Other fossils we find were free to keep, but the dig owner reserved the right to keep exceptionally large or rare finds. After finding out more about the quarry and realizing it was home to the "gold bugs" I committed to go. It took about 3 or 4 months before Gary, the quarry owner and I finally were able to coordinate an open date to go, but that just made the anticipation build even more. We drove the 260 miles and met up in a pre-arranged parking lot. The quarry owner is a famous fossil hunter and now makes his living purely finding, prepping, buying and selling fossils. Despite that he has donated many prize fossils to museums and universities including new species and has been included on several academic papers such as this one. We'll call him Mr. M. (M for mysterious) We got to the quarry and unloaded our tools. Mr. M was a fountain of information about trilobites. The history of the quarry is fascinating all by itself as well. A quick Google of Beecher's trilobite beds will give you plenty of additional data about the place and the history behind it. This is the section that Walcott dug in before he later discovered the Burgess Shale. So, after a quick geology lesson we got to work. Gary found a beautiful example within 5 Minutes of starting, and he was up to about 4 before I found my first one 3 hour later. But I had paid the blood price to the fossil gods with the sharp shale. So I was rewarded with trilobites!!! I have a lot more to show, but it will have to wait for later. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Congratulations, Gus! A dream of almost every trilobite collector on here! Sometimes, the fossil gods do demand a blood sacrifice, though. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 1 minute ago, Fossildude19 said: Congratulations, Gus! A dream of almost every trilobite collector on here! Sometimes, the fossil gods do demand a blood sacrifice, though. Sometimes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 1 minute ago, Scylla said: Sometimes? Depends on the quality of fossils you want to find. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Thanks for showing dinky thumbnails of the trilobite but big closeups of your gashes! Love it. I would have jumped on the opportunity to collect there, too, if I could afford it. Is this the same guy who is/was a TFF member that posted that amazing plate of pyritized blastoids a few years back? I think he got the Golden Drool Bucket for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Got gloves?!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phevo Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 5 hours ago, caldigger said: Got gloves?!!!! And risk the wrath of the fossil gods !?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Sharks Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 When were you there Gus? I made the trek in early September and loved every minute of it. Mr.M also told me that he's never doing something like this again, so if you haven't already been, you're out of luck. There's no limit to what you can accomplish when you're supposed to be doing something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peto Lithos Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 I believe that this was after September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 9 hours ago, Northern Sharks said: When were you there Gus? I made the trek in early September and loved every minute of it. Mr.M also told me that he's never doing something like this again, so if you haven't already been, you're out of luck. That is a downer. I was going to ask how one can get included. Finding one of these has been a long time dream, though I know many people can say the same thing. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted May 31, 2019 Author Share Posted May 31, 2019 21 hours ago, Wrangellian said: Thanks for showing dinky thumbnails of the trilobite but big closeups of your gashes! Love it. I would have jumped on the opportunity to collect there, too, if I could afford it. Is this the same guy who is/was a TFF member that posted that amazing plate of pyritized blastoids a few years back? I think he got the Golden Drool Bucket for it. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to control the size of the pictures. They are all the same size on my phone. I think it is that same member but I'm not sure. He has an instagram that is just a string of GDB's 19 hours ago, caldigger said: Got gloves?!!!! Yes, just loose too much dexterity with them. 14 hours ago, Northern Sharks said: When were you there Gus? I made the trek in early September and loved every minute of it. Mr.M also told me that he's never doing something like this again, so if you haven't already been, you're out of luck. I was there September 5. I must have just missed you! I think that is true for the Walcott quarry, the NY DEC is stopping further digging in that direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 3 minutes ago, Scylla said: Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to control the size of the pictures. They are all the same size on my phone. Bah, cellphones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 56 minutes ago, Wrangellian said: Bah, cellphones! You're right. Well back to the story. One of the interesting features of the quarry are bands of volcanic ash within the shale. Bands above and below the Trilobite layer allowed isotopic dating of the trilobites. The weak band with moss growing in it is the lower ash layer in this photo of the quarry wall. The well layered shales are full of fossils, just not complete, pyritized trilobites. You can find graptolites, coiled and straight cephalopods, and even some brachiopods in those layers. The trilobites are found in 2 or 3 thick, almost flinty layers that do not break along the bedding plane well. This is because those layers were deposited rapidly as mud slides and the rapid deposition helped with the soft tissue preservation. Another small triarthrus found in the upper bed. In this pic you can see how the trilobite layer shatters into sharp shards and yes, I had gloves 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 The whole time Gary and I were breaking this upper shale layer, Mr. M was removing overburden. Finally the lower trilobite layer which is the floor of the quarry was uncovered for about a 2 x 2 foot area. We got to split a few chunks of this very rich layer off as well. Gary found the only trilobite good enough for Mr. M to keep. It was probably 2-3 cm, but I choose to remember it as about 6 cm. Somehow it keeps growing each time I tell this story. Here are some close ups of some of the bugs Anyway we had to remind Mr. M to take his payment at the end of the day ( he forgot ) and we wrapped up our finds and Mr. M kept the best ones so they could be prepped. Lots of aluminum foil was used to protect the finds. We left very happy and tired. So several months go by ( Mr. M said he wouldn't be able to prep the bugs until after the Tucson show) and Gary and I are planning our trip to Penn Dixie to dig with the experts. he finds out that his bugs were done! they were beautiful and he even got one with eggs! I was a bit jealous, but then the Friday we were heading up to Penn Dixie, Mr. M texts me that mine are done too! I quickly arrange to pick them up in person on my way home from Penn Dixie instead of leaving them at the mercy of the postal system. We had a great time at Penn Dixie (see here) and I got to collect with many big league collectors (you know who you are). Monday morning we headed out from Buffalo to Rome and that magical parking lot. We weren't the only fossil hunters there. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 We saw this suspicious vehicle there too. Mr. M invited Gary, my two boys, and lucky me back to see the quarry again! I was not saying no! This is a picture of 5 of the 6 happiest fossil collectors on the planet: The boys did well, the younger was lucky enough to find one good enough that Mr. M kept it. Haha. He was just giddy to be able to dig in the Beecher beds. I was really satisfied with the ones I collected and went on a tour of the Beecher side of the quarry: I also saw where Walcott's camp was and this area where Mr. M thinks Valiant did the original digging: I even got to find a few trilobites from Utah since Mr. M was discarding prep waste and splitting that led to some cute finds of species new to my collection. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 Here are some more pictures of trilobites. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 and more 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 and last but not least my FOTM entry: In his email, Mr. M explained some about these 5 trilobites, "You had a good trip. 2 bugs had eggs. One extremely high quality ventral (even with the visible crack). One large 2.5cm lateral with a near perfect claw on a leg tip. And one small dorsal that was pretty good. First bug is a good size ventral. We did everything we could to get the top piece to fit tight but often these pieces dry out at a different rate and will never fit right. The bug is absolutely stunning. We can fill the crack but we don't like to as the fill often changes color slightly over the years. I wouldn't touch it." and "Here is the very large lateral you found. The tip of the head appeared to have been cleaved by the hammer. Still a nice bug. The legs are a bit spotty, typical with larger bugs as there often isn't enough pyrite in the system to fill them when they fossilized. The first thoracic leg has a beautiful and perfect tripartite claw tip. These are actually more rare than eggs. " So, I'm still glowing in the endorphin rush of golden trilobites. The best part is the boys actually got to dig there too, that was an unexpected surprise. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 Impressive. I'm starting to see it being worth the money you paid (if you've got it)... You did bring home some of the other (non-trilobite) things too, didn't you? Walcott himself would have been proud! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 BTW what age did they date those ash layers to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 7 hours ago, Wrangellian said: Impressive. I'm starting to see it being worth the money you paid (if you've got it)... You did bring home some of the other (non-trilobite) things too, didn't you? Walcott himself would have been proud! Yes, I did. Mr. M also found some of those digging chisels that Walcott used at the campsite. Walcott apparently had them custom made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 That's pretty cool. Those closeups of your tools and the broken shale look like they could have been taken by me at my local Cretaceous site... but no soft-bodied preservation here, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 9 minutes ago, Wrangellian said: BTW what age did they date those ash layers to? I think he said 466 MY ago. There was a range but that is about right. The Ordovician ended around 450 MY ago I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 I'm asking so I can update the data on my Timescale if necessary. The Ordo ended about 444mya and 466 would put it in the Middle Ordo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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