abctriplets Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 Our giant summer road trip (18 states, 20 days, almost 7,000 miles) began at a road cut in St. Leon, Indiana, finding trilobites. I haven't unpacked those yet, so I'll start this trip report with Part 2, the Kemmerer Fish Dig. After the extended family left to head home (there were 11 of us for a few weeks), I took my family on an extended fossiling adventure. First stop was the south-western corner of Wyoming. Just outside of Kemmerer, we stopped at the American Fossil Quarry (http://www.fishdig.com/) for a full day of splitting fish. The quarry wasn't that far out of town, and the roads were actually quite decent. (In a minivan, this is always a concern of ours.) We even had cell-reception for most of the drive! At a fork in the road we turned left, down the driveway into American Fossil's quarry. (on the other side of the road was Fossil Safari at Warfield Fossil Quarry - the difference is that at American Fossil, you get to keep all that you find, and I think there are better services - a guy at our hotel had a giant plate with a tiny fish to bring back....I would have cut it down) The quarry itself was a small area, with some areas to the left and right staked out by the professionals. We were focused on the middle section, a few rows of rocks that had been pulled off the quarry wall. They were divided into an older section (left) and a newer section (right), with the difference being that the newer section the rocks were a bit more damp, and didn't split as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 We were given a brief tutorial, and a hammer and a flat chisel blade, and we went to work. Each of the us had water bottles, gatorade, and cooling towels. But as the day wore on, the heat would eventually get to us. But with our gloves on, we went to work! We would split rocks in half, and then split those halves in half, and then split those..... A good chunk of rock could keep you occupied for quite a while. But all 3 kids were able to do it on their own (they are just about 10 years old), and it kept their interest for the whole day. It was an amazing treasure hunt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 As the day went on, other families and individuals came and went, staying for shorter durations, yet there was rock to spare for all! Occasionally we'd watch what was going on at the quarry wall, as the guys were searching for the head of one of the turtles that had been found the previous week (I hope Seth will share a pic soon of that discovery!) As we found items, we added them to the shelving that they had marked for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 We ended up liking the facility a lot. There was a porta-potty, a few shaded areas, picnic tables for lunch, and we were even given some extra water once ours ran out. But the best thing (for us), was that they had a cutting station. With 90 minutes to spare in our day (and with storm clouds approaching), we were shown how to use the rock saw. We used a wheelbarrow to cart over all of our finds from the shelving, and my wife went to work cutting down the pile of rock, into travel-sized pieces (we still had thousands of miles to drive). I went to work packing and organizing the fish (the kids were terrified that their finds would get mixed up). I ended up using padded priority-mail envelopes, that sealed nicely, and labeled them with sharpies. They survived the trip home! Getting out of the quarry was a bit of a challenge. An interesting tidbit is that the rock is so soft that the cars and machinery driving on it pulverized the ground into an inch to 2 inch layer of dust. We were all coated by the end of the day! But getting up the hill was a bit of a challenge for my minivan (which also has trouble with my parents' driveway in snow or light ice). But after one failed attempt, I reminded my wife that I had to gun the car to get out of my parents' driveway, so she backed up, revved the engine, and we were on our way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 Home now, I have started unpacking our finds. Here are the ones found by my kids (I think I have another 2 tables-full to show, probably tomorrow) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 I haven't identified the species of the fish yet, but it seems the kids found a few different ones? (they also found a few sticks, and some fish poop...) We also don't quite know what to do next. A few still need some prep work done....but we don't have the skills or experience. Here's one my son found, and the guy at the quarry said we should glue it back together, and then excavate down from the top? Here's another from my daughter's pile that looks like it could be better: And another. Not sure why they didn't save the other half of these fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 And another. Tomorrow I'll post what my wife and I found (a lot of hers are going to go to her classroom - the school district just decided that 8th graders should learn Earth Science, so she's setting up a new curriculum). And I'll also share the large plant that one of my daughters found - a palm inflorescence. In many pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDudeCO Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 So glad you all had a great trip to Kemmerer! Seth and Pat are great guys that really know what they are doing up there! I took the liberty of starting your identification process. These are the 2 most common fish you will find up in those quarries! Congrats on an awesome day! Maybe next time I will see you there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 Thanks! It was an amazing experience, and we definitely want to do it again! (maybe with some side trips to Utah this time....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 That's some amazing stuff! I gotta get up there someday... “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 Great trip report it felt like I was right there, minus the dust. Can't wait to see your other finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 Looking good, can't wait to see the rest of Your finds! Glad Y'all had a good trip and got back safely! Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 Ok, here are the ones that my wife and I found: Quite a few that were headless, which was sad. It seems the larger blocks had come away from the walls right in the middle of the fish. A few of the blocks had multiple fish in them, and there's one that I need to try to reveal a 3rd fish (top of pic). Here are 3 closeups: And then here were some that haven't been split properly, or need better revealing: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 And then here is our most interesting find. My daughter split this apart (so it's in a few pieces). It was the only decent plant of the day (save a few sticks my son is proud of...), and appears to be a palm inflorescence. She kept both halves (left half, right half) of the rock when it split. And while it survived the drive, it looks like in our rush to cut rocks down, we trimmed too much off of one of the chunks of the right half Any idea if this is worth saving and prepping professionally? She's really proud of it, and I don't know what to do in order to best display it. As you can see, there's a few fish in the rock as well, and there might be more layers of the leaves further down? Here's a closeup of the left half: And here's a closeup of the right half (in 3 pieces): And here's a closeup of the fish head on the bottom of the right plate: Seems to be bigger, and have more spiky teeth than the usual Knightia and Diplo. Maybe a Phareodus?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 @abctriplets, I do believe the fish head on your last photo is, indeed, Phareodus testis. Even as a partial, it will be a neat specimen with those teeth P.S. I think it is positioned up-side-down in your photo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted July 27, 2017 Author Share Posted July 27, 2017 21 minutes ago, Peat Burns said: @abctriplets, I do believe the fish head on your last photo is, indeed, Phareodus testis. Even as a partial, it will be a neat specimen with those teeth P.S. I think it is positioned up-side-down in your photo Yes, evidently he didn't think too much of the aesthetics of his corpse's alignment next to the plant before he died..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 @abctriplets this is a great trip report. You made quite a haul! Well done. The palm is very interesting. If you're interested in having anything prepped for you, feel free to send me a PM and we can work out the details. 1 Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 Pretty neat finds and a nice trip report! Good work! Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 Always nice to see how much fun folks have on fossil hunting trips. Nice report with lots of pics. Love the Phareodus snout! RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sseth Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 That head also has the possibility of being a mooneye. After removing some of the matrix we should be able to tell for sure. 1 _____________________________________ Seth www.fossilshack.com www.americanfossil.com www.fishdig.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 @sseth, Mooneye? What in tarnation is 'mooneye'. Never heard of that? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 modern moomeye + Hiodon Eocene mooneye = Eohiodon. I think it's pretty rare in the Green River formations. At McAbee in British Columbia, Eohiodon rosea is the most common fish. Don 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sseth Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 16 hours ago, FossilDAWG said: modern moomeye + Hiodon Eocene mooneye = Eohiodon. I think it's pretty rare in the Green River formations. At McAbee in British Columbia, Eohiodon rosea is the most common fish. Don @RJB The scientific name is Eohiodon. We typically find abut 1 per year, although I am sure they are often mistaken for another fish. I have seen folks mistakenly think they are a juvenile Phareodus or even a Knightia alta. They are a very neat little predator. Called mooneye because of the shape of their eyes. _____________________________________ Seth www.fossilshack.com www.americanfossil.com www.fishdig.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalmayshun Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 wow, you made it so I'd like to go with my grandchildren....great report, thanks. The palm inflorescence looks like a sea grape to me....any chance some plant like that grew back then...as you can see I know nothing ( less than nothing if that is possible) about plant fossils - I do have a fossil of sea grass from Wisconsin, but it is nothing special...your plant is great. Hope you are able to get these prepped and identified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalmayshun Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 Incidentally, when i travel from Florida to Michigan, I always stop at the St. Leon roadcut. Cool finds always. This year I am planning to also stop at the Quarry Spoils north of there, Paulding County community Fossil Garden... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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