Digging For Dinos - A Colorado Quarry Reveals Its Prehistoric Treasures

FRUITA, Colo. - We were standing in a dusty 150-million-year-old watering hole.

Beside us, we imagined, were 50-ton plant-eating creatures, their immense bodies jostling each other for a chance at the precious water or the leafy greens that grew beneath the surface.

Today, however, their remains are fossilized in the now dried-up bottom of this time capsule that is now the Mygatt Moore Quarry in Western Colorado.

Almost 20 times a year, amateur teams of dinosaur-crazed people like ourselves dig through these remains of dinosaur bones that are so abundant that they are carted away with wheelbarrows to sludge heaps.

Everyone is looking for the same things - at least an intact dinosaur bone, tooth or tail spike; at best, evidence of a new species of dinosaur.

Our personal exploration uncovered two prizes, along with dozens of broken bone and tooth bits:

First, there was the gentle curve of an Apatosaurus rib, one of the most commonly known dinosaurs with a long curving neck and heavy tail. Formerly known as Brontosaurus, its nickname, thunder lizard, refers to the sound its 70-foot long body must have made as it traveled across the plains.

In contrast, we pulled an intact Allosaurus tail vertebra out of the layers of silt. Unlike the vegetarian Apatosaurus, Allosaurus was a fast-moving carnivore, and one of the most prevalent of its time. Nearly 35 feet long, it moved upright on two giant legs, with two smaller front arms equipped with huge claws.

(Although Apatosaurus was probably too big for Allosaurus to bring down, there is evidence it fed on its remains. Skeletons of Apatosaurus have been found with Allosaurus tooth marks on its tail bones).

The bones of such prey and predators found within a few feet of each other conjure visions of battle royals among giant prehistoric creatures a la "Juarassic Park."

So far, 12 different species of dinosaurs have been found at the Mygatt Moore quarry site, their bones often trampled by the feet of others arriving to drink at the watering hole.

This was our second dinosaur dig. But the wonder of first sight repeats itself: the recognition of dark carbon bone versus those all-too-familiar rocks; the realization that your discovery is not crushed, not partial, but complete and intact.

At such moments, the dust in your hair and the 90 degree midday Colorado heat no longer matters. You are seeing - and touching - what no human has seen before.

But discoveries don't come easily. Depending on the dig, you may spend two, three - up to seven davs in the field. By the end of the day, your bones are sore from sitting in odd positions, often laying on the rocky ground in order to approach a bone from the right angle.

More often than not, that mass in the middle of your digging area is heavy rock, which is hauled away by hand whenever possible.

A prize find

Although there is a wide range in age and physical shape among dig volunteers, patience is an absolute necessity.

Two people assigned to work a small area together may be lucky to uncover two museum-quality bones during their time at the quarry.

Most of the people in our dig were part of an expedition from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Almost every year the museum makes a trip through the area, regularly featuring a Dinosaur Discovery Expedition dig as part of the experience.

Paolo Vido, a nurse from Italy, came the farthest; he was on his first visit to the United States. Though Paolo uncovered only one bone, it was a 5-pound monster legbone that he had to dig out of solid rock. We nicknamed his find the Paolosaurus, pending laboratory identification.

A walk through time

The Mygatt-Moore quarry may be unique. Besides several new species having already been found here, the quarry - named after its 1981 discoverers - has its own interchange off Interstate 70 two miles east of the Utah/Colorado border.

The size of the bonebed itself has yet to be determined, but it's hard to dig anywhere in the immediate area of about a square mile without making contact with bone.

Even passersby can get a feel for the experience. The 1 1/2-mile Trail Through Time, near the exit, gives hikers a view of the quarry as well as a walk through an area containing extensive dinosaur skeletons.

Few of us could explain why they'd want to spend a week of precious vacation paying someone else to do work that is beneath most prison road crews. But Dinosaur Discovery Expeditions are often booked more than a year in advance.

With the renewed interest in dinosaurs created by the 1993 release of Steven Spielberg's movie "Jurassic Park," dig participation started setting records and there has been no slowdown since.

Film crews from around the world have visited Dinosaur Discovery Expedition dig sites in such places as Argentina, Mexico and Indonesia.

Dinosaur Triangle

A wealth of dinosaur bones has been uncovered in what is termed the Dinosaur Triangle - Grand Junction, Colo., north to Vernal, Utah, then west to Price, Utah. In a small area, visitors can find dinosaur nests, tracksites and quarries.

In response to the wave of public interest, new facilities and exhibits have opened in all the Dinosaur Triangle communities.

One of the newest places to see dinosaurs without the dirt is at Devils Canyon Science and Learning Center here in Fruita. It's owned and operated by Dinamation, the parent company of Dinosaur Discovery Expeditions.

The center has numerous hands-on exhibits. Preschoolers can even get a taste of sandbox paleontology by unearthing simulated fossils made of plastic. There are also a number of interpretive displays including casts of dinosaur footprints and an audiovisual room which acquaints patrons with discoveries in several of the Dinosaur Triangle area quarries.

At the center of the 22,000-square-foot museum is the lab where bones from the Mygatt Moore Quarry are brought for cleaning and preparation. We had a chance to work on some of the bones we brought in from the field, using tiny drills that instinctively seem to know the difference between bone and rock. Some of the larger bones, brought in from the field in plaster casts, often take years to piece together.

A place for children

Kids are an important focus for Dinamation. Family Dino Digs are offered in the quarry five times a year, with entertaining and learning activities for the kids while their parents participate in genuine research.

"It's fun, sure, and it's hard work, but it's also real science," says Michael Perry, Dinamation's executive director. "This is no theme park ride.

"One of the most significant finds at the quarry was made in 1994 by a 14-year-old. So we don't underestimate the part kids play."

That discovery was by a Colorado girl on a Dinosaur Discovery Expedition with her father. Her find may be the first fossil egg ever discovered from an armored dinosaur - a creature covered with sharp plates.

At the museum, youngsters are entranced by 14 half-sized robotic dinosaurs, including one that hisses and spits water. (These are the same amazing electronic creatures that tour the country, their most recent visit in Seattle being to the Pacific Science Center. When not on the road, the display is housed here in Fruita.)

Held rapt by raptors

Dinamation's tie between their Dinosaur Discovery Expedition digs and the life-size robots is an important one. When a new dinosaur is discovered, and is pieced together into a complete animal, it is brought to life via animation.

Utahraptor, a dinosaur discovered nearby in 1991, is one of the most popular new exhibits - partly due to the coincidental release of Jurassic Park at about the same time as the discovery.

The film's scriptwriters had to alter scientific accuracy in order to create Velociraptor, the aggressive dinosaur in the movie that hunted in packs. The actual animal was, in life, only man-sized and not threatening enough for the plot.

But in a textbook case of life imitating art, Utahraptor was discovered after most of the filming had been completed. Not only was the real Utahraptor close in appearance to the Velociraptor, but its size came very close to the exaggerated character that the writers thought they were creating especially for the film.

Nicknamed "Super Slasher" by his discoverers, he sported 2-inch serrated teeth, a skull 1.5 feet long; blade-like claws 10 inches long on his hands, and a 15-inch killing claw on each foot.

This weaponry was all attached to a body that grew to 20 feet and weighed close to a ton.

Dr. Jim Kirkland, the discoverer of Utahraptor, is the Dinamation staff paleontologist who led our expedition as he does many others for the organization.

After fossil evidence is studied, the bones of Utahraptor and other new animals from Gaston Quarry in eastern Utah will be displayed at the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum in Price, Utah . . . another stop on the Dinosaur Triangle.