Bone Cabin Quarry

Summary

Bone Cabin Quarry is a dinosaur quarry that lay approximately 55 miles (89 km) northwest of Laramie, Wyoming, near historic Como Bluff. During the summer of 1897 Walter Granger, a paleontologist from the American Museum of Natural History, came upon a hillside littered with Jurassic period dinosaur bone fragments.[1] Nearby was a sheepherder cabin built entirely out of fossil bones, hence the name "Bone Cabin Quarry."[2][3] After Granger's discovery in late August 1897, the quarry was kept secret until early 1898, when the manpower could be amassed to undertake a full-scale excavation. Henry Fairfield Osborn, curator of the American Museum of Natural History headed the expedition.[4] The bones of perfect skeletons lay thickly crowded.[4] As of 1905, 483 parts of dinosaur were found, packed in 275 boxes with a weight of 100,000 pounds (45,000 kg).[4] The excavation area was only 7,500 square feet (700 m2).[5] Bone Cabin Quarry was excavated from 1898 until 1905, when the productivity of specimens thinned.[6] Some of the dinosaurs found at the Bone Cabin Quarry include Stegosaurus, Allosaurus and Apatosaurus. Gargoyleosaurus is also known from the Bone Cabin Quarry West locality.[7]

Bone Cabin Quarry
Bone Cabin Quarry in its first year of excavation, 1898
Location
Bone Cabin Quarry is located in Wyoming
Bone Cabin Quarry
Bone Cabin Quarry
Location in Wyoming
Bone Cabin Quarry is located in the United States
Bone Cabin Quarry
Bone Cabin Quarry
Location in United States
LocationWyoming, U.S.
Coordinates41°58′02″N 106°17′28″W / 41.9671°N 106.291°W / 41.9671; -106.291

The Ornithopod Species Dryosaurus altus is also present in the Bone Cabin Quarry.[8]

From the Annual Field Report of the American Museum of Natural History, 1898:[9]

On June 12th a rich strike was made in opening "Bone Cabin Quarry". This is where the larger part of the year's collection was secured. The work was arduous and additional help was needed. P. Kaisen was engaged at the end of June. The party stayed here until the close of the field season on October 1st.

About 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Bone Cabin Quarry, a further quarry, called Nine Mile Quarry, was opened up in June 1899, near Nine Mile Crossing of Little Medicine Bow River. An incomplete Brontosaurus skeleton was recovered.[10]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Brinkman 2010, p. 59.
  2. ^ "Clipping from Evening Star". Newspapers.com. 15 December 1906. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  3. ^ Brinkman 2010, p. 58.
  4. ^ a b c "Clipping from Chattanooga Daily Times". Newspapers.com. 29 January 1905. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  5. ^ "Clipping from The Anaconda Standard". Newspapers.com. 25 November 1906. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  6. ^ Martin, Anthony J. (2006). Introduction to the study of dinosaurs. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. ISBN 1-4051-3413-5. OCLC 61130756.
  7. ^ Currie, Philip J.; Padian, Kevin (1997). Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. San Diego. ISBN 0-12-226810-5. OCLC 37141172.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Brinkman 2010, p. 197.
  9. ^ "1898 Jurassic of Wyoming". research.amnh.org.
  10. ^ Brinkman 2010, p. 87.

Sources edit

  • Brinkman, Paul D. (2010). The second Jurassic dinosaur rush : museums and paleontology in America at the turn of the twentieth century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-07473-3. OCLC 671811941.

Further reading edit

  • "Dinosaurs, by William Diller Matthew". Project Gutenberg. 16 September 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  • Morgan, Vincent L.; Lucas, Spencer G.; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (2002). Walter Granger, 1872–1941, paleontologist. Albuquerque, N.M.: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. pp. 6–8. OCLC 49875915.
  • Osborn, Henry Fairfield; Granger, Walter (1901). Fore and Hind Limbs of Sauropoda from the Bone Cabin Quarry. Dinosaur contribution. n° 6. [New York]: [The Knickerbocker Press]. OCLC 492540463.
  • Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1904). Fossil wonders of the West : the dinosaurs of the Bone-Cabin Quarry. OCLC 79547012.
  • McIntosh, John (1 January 1990). "The Second Jurassic Dinosaur Rush". Earth Sciences History. 9 (1). History of the Earth Sciences Society: 22–27. Bibcode:1990ESHis...9...22M. doi:10.17704/eshi.9.1.6282582245666570. ISSN 0736-623X.
  • Colbert, Edwin H. (1968). Men and dinosaurs; the search in field and laboratory. London: Evans Bros. ISBN 0-237-35103-X. OCLC 11819296.
  • Loomis, Frederic Brewster (December 31, 1901). "On Jurassic stratigraphy in southeastern Wyoming. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 14, article 12". hdl:2246/1545 – via digitallibrary.amnh.org. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • "9 / Five-Toed Horses and Missing Links". Beasts of Eden. University of California Press. 31 December 2019. pp. 104–114. doi:10.1525/9780520939400-012. ISBN 9780520939400. S2CID 226807806.
  • "Wyoming's Dinosaurs (and one Columbian Mammoth)". WyoHistory.org. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  • "Clipping from The Age". Newspapers.com. 15 January 1949. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  • "Clipping from The Donaldsonville Chief". Newspapers.com. 4 March 1905. Retrieved 1 January 2023.

External links edit

  • "Mindat.org". www.mindat.org.
  • "Fossil Bone Cabin". Atlas Obscura. 6 June 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  • TGPP Photos
  • Google Maps