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Mazon Creek Spots


Sasquatch1112

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So being a newbie in hunting fossil’s I decided to go somewhere near. I went to the creek and collected rocks which I thought were nodules, to find out they aren’t. Is there any advice on where to find the fossils and what they look like.

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You came to the right place! Welcome to the forum.

 

Were you in the creek? Where you were determines if there are concretions to be found. Also, both banks of the creek are private property everywhere except the access points. Don't hunt the banks unless you have the landowner's permission. They don't mess around. You may be arrested and charged with criminal trespass if you have any fossils or other rocks. Getting permission to hunt the creek or the spoil heaps from the strip mines is the ideal way to go. You can also hunt the public areas -- more on that later.

 

Take a look in this thread at the topic labeled "Sometimes you gotta whack them" for an idea of what to look for, but until you are VERY familiar with Mazon Creek fossils use the freeze/thaw method to open them and not the hammer. I'm sure a few of the other Illinois guys will chime in with additional info. Stay tuned.

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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52 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

You came to the right place! Welcome to the forum.

 

Were you in the creek? Where you were determines if there are concretions to be found. Also, both banks of the creek are private property everywhere except the access points. Don't hunt the banks unless you have the landowner's permission. They don't mess around. You may be arrested and charged with criminal trespass if you have any fossils or other rocks. Getting permission to hunt the creek or the spoil heaps from the strip mines is the ideal way to go. You can also hunt the public areas -- more on that later.

 

Take a look in this thread at the topic labeled "Sometimes you gotta whack them" for an idea of what to look for, but until you are VERY familiar with Mazon Creek fossils use the freeze/thaw method to open them and not the hammer. I'm sure a few of the other Illinois guys will chime in with additional info. Stay tuned.

I went to the park not the creek. But now I’m intrigued about the creek. So the banks are private  property, is the river bed privet too? Also where is a public acres point I could go to?

Edited by Sasquatch1112
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43 minutes ago, Sasquatch1112 said:

I went to the park not the creek. But now I’m intrigued about the creek. So the banks are pricey property, is the river bed pricey too? Also where is a public acres point I could go to?

You can access the creek at bridges and other places that are not on private property, but until you do a lot of reading and research on this forum and elsewhere online you won't do very well on the creek itself because the outcrops are sporadically distributed and it's a long walk/paddle to get to them and back out -- we're talking 10-mile range round trip, and that's a tedious trip with a ton of rocks in tow. Besides that, the banks are off-limits because a landowner doesn't appreciate anyone decreasing the area of their property by digging it out and throwing it in the river. In addition, the bed of the creek needs to be exposed at a very low water level for any amount of success. Also, you would need someone to drop you off and pick you up at any access point because if you park on the shoulder your car may be ticketed and/or towed. You should stay out of the creek until you are well acquainted with the area and get to know a few of the locals or go collecting with someone who is familiar with the area. I would gladly take you if my health would allow it. Unfortunately, I can no longer walk more than 50 feet or so without gasping for breath. If you try it by yourself you will go home with very little, if anything, that's worth the HUGE amount of effort it took to get it.

 

Your best bet is the park where you started and the other public access. Look in the areas as far from the parking lot as you can get. If you don't feel like an explorer in the jungle then you're not it far enough. When you look at the area on Google Earth you will see bodies of water laid out in roughly parallel lines. The land between them is the spoil piles from strip mining. That's where you want to hunt. Ninety-nine percent of it is on private property and the one percent that isn't has been hunted clean. Meet as many locals as you can and ask for permission to look. The worse they can do is say no. If you talk to 100 people and only 1 of 20 says yes, you will have 5 spots that are your own and, believe me, those will keep you busy for a long time. Stay in touch with locals you meet so you can find out about any new construction or other excavation or road projects in the area.

 

As I mentioned, stay tuned until the others who collect MC chime in. Maybe one of them will let you tag along. Join ESCONI (Earth Sciences Club Of Northern Illinois) -- it'll be the best $20 you ever spent if you're serious about fossils. They do two trips annually to a private spoil pile in Braidwood. The next is coming up in August or September. Search "Mazon" on this forum and read all the entries thoroughly. It will give you insights into the how, why, when and where, It's not as easy as it was 30 years ago, but I would estimate that only 10% of the concretions existing have already been found, so there's plenty of material still out there. 

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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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Also I was looking on google maps and I couldn’t find anyone that was owning any land that had spoils or was owning land in the park.

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@Sasquatch1112 The picture that you posted is if Monster Lake, the Tipple are is on the other side of the road. There is a road entrance to the left of your picture, a little farther down the parking area that you show on your picture. Just step over or around the chain and walk down the road and the Tipple area will be on your right hand side, Again the place that I am describing is on the other side of W5000N. If you park in the parking lot that is shown on the pic that you posted, you could also just walk across the road and keep walking straight into that field and you will be at the Tipple in a few minutes.

 

Here are a couple pictures of mine and they show the Tipple area at 3 different time frames. these pictures are exactly the same, the only thing that is different is the year it was taken. @Mark Kmiecik you might like these pictures if you had not seen them before.

 

The first pic is from 1971-

 

The road by the machine, which is the Tipple, is the road that i mentioned above with the chain. As you can see from this picture, they were still working the area and the reclamation of the area by adding seeds, etc. had not started.

 5cf87fdc49fd5_57405-1971(1).thumb.jpg.087a157a1d43e6fe4aeaaf63f3ee67cc.jpg

 

This next picture is from 1993 after operations had stopped and vegetation has been taking back the area due to reclamation from a number of years prior.

 

5cf87fe67fdea_57406-1993(1).thumb.jpg.8ddf50db96b27e4017b6b88a52264785.jpg

 

The last picture is from 2012 and as you can see, the the area is very overgrown, but fossils are still found there. Tipple Hill is the partially barren hill on the lower left hand of the picture. You can compare it with the pictures above and see how Tipple machine was right there in the first picture. Again, this area is to the top of the picture that you posted, across the road (W5000N).

 

5cf87fbaeec50_57407-2012-US-NT(1).thumb.jpg.248d25aafc022ff113a1d660e2fcc1fb.jpg

 

 

 

 

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Here is a picture similar to yours that I posted 2 years ago, it shows the same area and the Tipple Area.

 

IMG_0421.thumb.JPG.b211c8365525e960db68a2aa5dab23f2.JPG

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The areas of which Ralph provided photos are open to the public, except where fenced or posted, open from March 1st through September 30th, and a place you can begin your MC fossil hunting. Just don't expect too much the first couple or three times around. You'll do more exploring than collecting until you get "the lay of the land", and that is as it should be. You will find that there are pockets that will yield concretions more readily than others and this will take lots of footwork and questions and you will begin to know which areas to search and which to avoid with experience. The area is HUGE and the terrain is VERY difficult, especially in productive areas as those are the ones that have not been frequently searched. Take two buckets and a rock hammer or long screwdriver with you. Two buckets to evenly distribute the load as you head back towards the car, and the tool to pry up the concretions only partially visible above ground. You will not be digging. Just pick up what you see on the surface and make notes where you found concretions. More will weather out in that spot during winter and you can pick them up next time around. You can dig but it takes too much time for not enough return. You'll find more by walking around than by digging and it's much less effort for a greater return. As you get to know the area you can ask specific questions here and we'll give you definitive answers. We can give you specific spots right now, but you may never find them or they may have been picked over recently. It's best to see what's up first and then research the possibilities. We'll give you site specific information, but neither Ralph nor I will put you on our "sweet spots" unless you put in some effort on your own and we see that you are serious about your endeavor. As I said before, less than 10% of the concretions that exist have been recovered, so there's plenty to be had and you should be able to find at least a few on your own. Don't hammer the concretions in the field. You can lightly tap them to see if they are ready to crack, but don't waste collecting/exploring time on getting them open. You can open them when you get home.

 

The areas north and south of the road are open to you. If you spend a full day you will be totally exhausted by the time you leave. Take water and food with you. Consider bringing a roll of toilet paper and watch out for poison ivy and poison sumac. Familiarize yourself with both of these plants before going. Squatting in sumac will ruin your day.

 

P.S. -- all the ridges containing piles of overburden in Ralph's first photo are/were literally covered with concretions from top to bottom. The problem is getting there. You will understand once you're there.

Edited by Mark Kmiecik
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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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@Nimravis Yes, I have seen those photos and many others of all the pits and the shaft mines that were made in the 50's and later, both aerials and ground level. The entire area of spoil covers 160 square kilometers. That's why I am confident that only a very small percentage of available concretions has been recovered.

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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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20 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

@Nimravis Yes, I have seen those photos and many others of all the pits and the shaft mines that were made in the 50's and later, both aerials and ground level. The entire area of spoil covers 160 square kilometers. That's why I am confident that only a very small percentage of available concretions has been recovered.

These are pictures (3 old Tipple ones) that I had made and paid for, these are not from a site that has them available. I had to select the area that I wanted and zoomed in to capture what I wanted. After that is done you have to pay for it, otherwise the info is not clearly visible and has watermarks all over it. This is a company that strictly deals in topos and recent and old aerial shots. It is a very cool site.

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6 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

These are pictures (3 old Tipple ones) that I had made and paid for, these are not from a site that has them available. I had to select the area that I wanted and zoomed in to capture what I wanted. After that is done you have to pay for it, otherwise the info is not clearly visible and has watermarks all over it. This is a company that strictly deals in topos and recent and old aerial shots. It is a very cool site.

There are other photos, not as detailed as yours that were shown to me by members of ESCONI in the 90's of most of the mined area that I was told were aerials made by the State of Illinois Bureau of Mines and Minerals as part of the plan for subsequent land reclamation. I wonder if perhaps the old photos have a common source?

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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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On 6/6/2019 at 2:54 PM, Mark Kmiecik said:

@Nimravis Yes, I have seen those photos and many others of all the pits and the shaft mines that were made in the 50's and later, both aerials and ground level. The entire area of spoil covers 160 square kilometers. That's why I am confident that only a very small percentage of available concretions has been recovered.

I agree.  There are still many concretions to find!  I have been out to Pit 11 about 7-8 times this spring.  The last time was last weekend (June 3rd).  That is late, but I wanted to get enough to freeze and thaw this summer.  The weather was very bad in March and early April.  We were snowed out twice in April!   That said I do have a fair amount of concretions to process.  If I come away with about a half a 2.5 gallon bucket each trip, I'm happy.  As others have said, it's very overgrown and the ticks and mosquitoes are out in force now.  Poison Ivy is very plentiful, too!   Last year, I made a trip in mid-July (9th), because it was cooler than normal morning (50s).  It was hard to find my familiar landmarks, but I did come away with some nice shapes.

 

Cheers,

Rich

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