The Garden Park Fossil Area Additional Information The
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Sites Collecting Dinosaur Richest America’s Marsh C. O. by Apatosaurus of Illustration A Self Guided Tour through of one of of one of through Tour Guided Self A Program. Geocorps the through Management and the Geological Society of America America of Society Geological the and Management Depot in association with the Bureau of Land Land of Bureau the with association in Depot This project was organized and funded by the Dinosaur Dinosaur the by funded and organized was project This 5600 - 276 - (719) Sheriff County Fremont area. the call: emergency an of case In grown to appreciate the history and prehistory of of prehistory and history the appreciate to grown enjoy your visit to Garden Park and hope you you hope and Park Garden to visit your enjoy Picture Provided by the Dinosaur Depot can be better prepared for the future. We hope you you hope We future. the for prepared better be can staggering and by understanding past events, we we events, past understanding by and staggering The sheer scope and history of life on Earth is is Earth on life of history and scope sheer The 9036 - 269 (719) us. bought has animals these studying 81212 Colorado City, Cañon compared to the understanding of Earth’s past that that past Earth’s of understanding the to compared 9020 - 269 (719) Blvd. Gorge Royal 612 prehistoric girth and power is insignificant insignificant is power and girth prehistoric 81212 Colorado City, Cañon Center History and Museum dinosaurs have as flamboyant exhibitions of of exhibitions flamboyant as have dinosaurs Ave. Macon 516 Regional Gorge Royal quality, and size. However the value these these value the However size. and quality, Library Public City Cañon are virtually unmatched in terms of quantity, quantity, of terms in unmatched virtually are 6379 - 987 (800) The dinosaur skeletons found in Garden Park Park Garden in found skeletons dinosaur The 81212 Colorado City, Cañon Allosaurus. and Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, 2331 - 275 (719) #A Blvd. Gorge Royal 330 names such as Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus), (Brontosaurus), Apatosaurus as such names 81212 Colorado City, Cañon Depot Dinosaur Blvd Gorge Royal 403 dozens of specimens, including many household household many including specimens, of dozens Commerce of 8500 - 269 (719) The Garden Park fossil quarries have yielded yielded have quarries fossil Park Garden The Chamber City Cañon 81212 Colorado City, Cañon skeletons, and they have not been disappointed. disappointed. been not have they and skeletons, st. Main East 3028 come to Garden Park to search for Dinosaur Dinosaur for search to Park Garden to come Management Land of Bureau record. Scientists from all over America have have America over all from Scientists record. prehistoric life through examination of the fossil fossil the of examination through life prehistoric paleontology, which is the science that studies studies that science the is which paleontology, sources: following Area has played a critical role in the field of of field the in role critical a played has Area and Geology of the Garden Park area, contact any of the the of any contact area, Park Garden the of Geology and For over a century, the Garden Park Fossil Fossil Park Garden the century, a over For Area Fossil Park Garden The For more information about the History, Paleontology, Paleontology, History, the about information more For Paleontologists for Playground Additional Information Additional Park: Garden The Paleontologists Dall DeWeese—Dall Theropods were bipedal, predatory dinosaurs that lived and hunted DeWeese was a local throughout the Mesozoic era. Their large, powerful jaws helped Photographer Unknown Photographer Edward Drinker Cope– One celebrity of some hunt large prey such as sauropods and stegosaurus. They vary of the preeminent renown who had won drastically in size, the smallest measuring only a few inches and the paleontologists of the late fame for his exploits on largest measuring 55 feet (16 meters). Therapods from Garden Park 1800s was E. D. Cope. During hunting expeditions to include Ceratosaurus, Allosaurus, and Torvosaurus. his prolific career, Cope Africa, Alaska, and published over 1,200 scientific South America. He was papers and named over 1,000 also well known in the species. Cope was well known area for his excavation Dallas “Dall” DeWeese for his highly publicized rivalry of dinosaurs from Photo provided by the Royal Gorge Regional with Othniel Charles Marsh, Garden Park. Museum and History center Credit: Dmitry Bogdanov which was called the ―Bone Torvosaurus, a theropod found in Garden Park Frederick Kessler—Professor Kessler was another Cañon City Wars‖ in the press at the time. Edward Drinker Cope school teacher who excavated dinosaurs the area. In the late Ornithopods were dinosaurs that were common in Colorado during Oramel and Ira Lucas—In the summer of 1876 while hunting 1930s he and his students were hired by the Denver Museum of the Jurassic. The small ornithopods found in Garden Park were in the hills above Garden Park, Oramel Lucas, a schoolteacher in Nature and Science to excavate a stegosaurus skeleton from similar to theropods in that they were bipedal, however they were Cañon City stumbled across several large dinosaur bones. When Garden Park. herbivorous. The ornithopods varied greatly in shape and size; the the discovery was reported to E. D. Cope, he immediately began small, fleet footed dinosaurs found in Garden Park stand in stark funding excavations in the area with Oramel and his brother Ira Edwin Delfs—Edwin Delfs was sent to Garden Park by the contrast with their larger, directing the work. Cleveland Museum of Natural History to search for dinosaur crested duck billed bones. Over three summers, Delfs and his students excavated the Photo by Matthew Brady or Levin 1ndy or Levin Brady byMatthew Photo relatives found in younger Othniel Charles Marsh—Professor remains of a large sauropod dinosaur near four mile creek. rocks. Some Ornithopod O. C. Marsh of Yale University was dinosaurs found in Garden well known across America during Bryan Small and Kenneth Carpenter—During a geological Park are Camptosaurus, the late 19th century for his work in survey of the Garden Park area, Carpenter and Small discovered the fossilized remains of a nearly complete Stegosaurus which Dryosaurus, and Othnielia. Othnielia, a type of small Ornithopod Paleontology and his infamous on display at the Dinosaur Depot rivalry with E. D. Cope. Although was excavated by volunteers from the Denver Museum of Nature Marsh rarely went into the field, he and Science and the Garden Park Paleontological Society. Stegosaurs were robust herbivorous dinosaurs easily recognizable had many specimens sent to his by their alternating rows of back plates and paired tail spikes. Their offices and he is responsible for plates are believed to have been used for temperature regulation or naming and describing many The Dinosaurs communication purposes and their spikes were probably used for dinosaurs, including Triceratops, defense. The stegosaurus discovered by Frederick Kessler was Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus), Othniel Charles Marsh Sauropods were a group Credit: Dmitry Bogdanov named the Colorado state fossil in the 1980s. Stegosaurus, and Allosaurus. of large, long-necked Illustration by O. C. Marsh dinosaurs that thrived Marshall P. Felch—Although O. during the Jurassic C. Marsh rarely collected in the period. They were the field, he organized and financed largest land animals to fossil quarries in the Garden Park ever live on earth, area that were overseen by a local reaching lengths of up to Brachiosaurus, a type of sauropod rancher named Marshall Felch. Grandchildren of Marshall Felch Marshall of Grandchildren 130 feet (40 meters). - Although Felch had very little These dinosaur were exclusively herbivorous and it is believed that formal training, he was able to their primary defense from predators was their sheer size. Some of send over 270 crates of fossils to the sauropods found in Garden Park include Apatosaurus Marsh in spite of obstacles such (Brontosaurus), Amphicoelias, Diplodocus, Haplocanthosaurus, as vandalism to the quarry, deaths Marshall P. Felch Camarasaurus, and Brachiosaurus. Stegosaurus, the largest known stegosaur in his family, and flooding. Background Illustration Carlby Dahlgren, 1892 Photograph provided by the Great the by provided Photograph The Garden Park Fossil Area A Self Guided Tour Dinosaur Depot—The Dinosaur Depot is a natural history museum devoted to the study of Dinosaurs and 50 Miles 1 mi 2 mi 3 mi 4 mi other prehistoric life. On display is a petrified tree, a 6 Cañon City foot long fossilized fish, fossilized bones from dozens The Garden Park Fossil Area Park GardenFossil The of dinosaur species, and a nearly complete stegosaurus skeleton. Volunteers in the Museum Preparation Cope-Lucas Quarries Laboratory can be seen carefully preparing real Dinosaur N. 5th st. dinosaur bones and other fossils. Depot High st. Marsh-Felch Quarry N. 15th st. Phelps Ave. Red Canyon Road Field Ave. Cleveland-Delfs Quarry Royal Gorge Boulevard Gorge Royal 9 Central Ave. Dozier Ave. Highway W “Cañon City Al” standing guard outside the Dinosaur Depot City/County Road S N Point of Interest The Quarries 50 E Cope-Lucas Quarries (pictured below) - In 1876 Oramel Lucas was working as a school teacher in Garden Park while taking a break from his studies at Timeline of the Excavations in Garden Park Oberlin College. While hunting in the hills above Small- Garden Park, he stumbled across several dinosaur Marsh-Felch quarries (1877, 1883-1888, 1900-1901) Stegosaurus quarry (1991) bones which he reported to the paleontologist Edward DeWeese quarry (1915-1916) Drinker Cope. Cope, eager to acquire dinosaur Cleveland-Delfs quarry (1954-1957) Cope-Lucas quarries (1877-1883) specimens, immediately began excavations at several Kessler quarry (1937) sites in the hills with Oramel Lucas and his brother Ira 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s directing the work.