Part 6

As exhibit material it was without rival. It was mounted as found, lying on its side, the bones fixed in death in the matrix in which they had been preserved—a fitting climax to the 13 consecutive years that had seen an unknown sandstone ridge in Utah become Dinosaur National Monument.

In those 13 years the Carnegie Museum had taken from the quarry parts of 300 dinosaur specimens, 2 dozen of which were mountable skeletons. Ten different species were represented. It was the best collection of Middle Mesozoic monsters in the world.

In the years that immediately followed, the still-rich “dig” was worked by two other organizations—the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Utah.

But finally the museums had reaped their harvest. The fruits of the harvest had gone to enrich many of their finest displays. However, still buried in the untouched part of the wall were the remains of still more dinosaurs. All that was needed was to reveal them. The 67° tilt of the rock made it a perfect exhibit face. Strip off the overlying layers, expose the skeletons, and relief them in place. This had been Douglass’s idea as far back as 1915, when he recorded it in his diary.

PROTECTING THE QUARRY

But Douglass was not the only one to realize the necessity of preserving this unique fossil record of the dinosaurs for people of today and the future to see on the spot. Officials of the Carnegie Museum realized the extraordinary nature of the deposits and their contribution to our knowledge of the past; and they were not long in taking steps to protect the dinosaur quarry. To preserve it for science, they sought to lay claim to it as a mineral property. But their claim was disallowed by the U. S. Department of the Interior, because fossil bones could not be classed as a mineral within the meaning of the mining laws.

The museum pressed its case, this time with results—but not what they expected. The outcome was not the establishment of a mere mineral claim, but of a national monument. Under the provisions of the Antiquities Act, to safeguard and preserve objects and areas of significant scientific or historic interest, the dinosaur quarry and 80 acres of surrounding land were declared a national monument on October 4, 1915. Less than a year later it was included in the newly created National Park System.

Several things contributed notably to this action to protect the quarry. They were: the exceptional preservation of the bones; the number, variety and completeness of the skeletons; the relative abundance of skulls, consisting of 8 or more in a complete state, and about an equal number of incomplete ones; and the finding of the first complete tails.

In 1923, knowing that the quarry was protected, and that the scientific collection of the fossil bones for museum exhibit was at an end, Earl Douglass turned again to the idea of making a perfected exhibit of the fossils right where they lie. His letter to Dr. Walcott, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, reads, in part, “I hope that the Government, for the benefit of science and the people, will uncover a large area, leave the bones and skeletons in relief and house them in. It would make one of the most astounding and instructive sights imaginable.”

This is precisely what the Government had in mind and, through the agency of the National Park Service, intended to accomplish. Plans for an in-place exhibit were drawn up. But many years were to elapse before the plans passed from blueprint into reality.

In the meantime, the quarry entered the second phase of its existence, a dormant period from a scientific viewpoint, but one in which the forces of the future gathered ground.

During the 1930’s the monument served as a transient camp. A. C. Boyle was installed as resident geologist and custodian for the Park Service. Under his guidance a program for the general development of the area was carried on, financed largely by WPA funds. This entailed, among other things, the deepening and widening of the quarry cut, and the construction of buildings later to accommodate the monument staff and exhibits.

The American Museum of Natural History became interested in the development at this time and, through its curator of fossil reptiles, Barnum Brown, sought to initiate a joint effort with the Park Service for exhibiting the quarry remains.

PRESENT DEVELOPMENT

It was not until September 1953 that the years of Park Service planning bore fruit, and the work of developing an in-place exhibit for the monument was begun. Many factors operated to spring the project into being, not the least of which was the active interest and wholehearted support of Horace M. Albright, a former Director of the Service.

Theodore E. White, formerly with the Smithsonian Institution and with Harvard University, was placed in immediate charge, under the supervision of Jess H. Lombard, the superintendent of the National Monument. His task, and that of his associates, was to expose the remaining specimens in the quarry wall and work them out in bas-relief.

A shelter had been built over the working space and power tools were introduced for the first time. Using compressed air, the rock was scaled off with jackhammers and “paving-breakers,” until most of the overburden had been removed. Subsequent probing into the bone layer was done with smaller chipping hammers, mallet, and chisel. This operation continued through 1954 and 1955 as, slowly and carefully, the extent of the skeletal material was determined. It comprised parts of several large dinosaurs, sufficient in quantity to justify the next step—the construction of a building to enclose the quarry face.

Erection of this unusual structure, the first of its design to be attempted, commenced in 1957 and it was opened to the public in the following year. Now, as one of the many development projects in its MISSION 66 program, the National Park Service has resumed the delicate work of uncovering this corner of the ancient world and preserving it in-place for all time.

The Scene Today

If you stand at the overlook, you will see the Green River, Split Mountain, and a rolling plain to the south that stretches to a hazy line of mountains. To many, it is an unfamiliar land that lies strangely subdued beneath a blazing sun and an intensely blue sky.

That blue sky is the key to the kinds of plants and animals that live in this part of the monument. They live most of their lives under blue sky, and, even when clouds do form over the mountains and drift across the lowlands, the results are disappointing. A high wind, dust and sand, a few drops of rain, and the storm is over.

The climatic conditions under which local plants and animals live are conditions of extremes. On summer days the temperatures may rise above 100°, although the nights are usually cool. During the winter, temperatures may skid to 30° below zero or more. It is not uncommon for the thermometer to remain below zero for weeks on end. But the most influential climatic factor is water—and there is little of it. The total yearly precipitation is a little less than 8 inches! It is interesting then to find such a wide variety of plants and animals that not only survive but flourish under such rigorous conditions.

The methods used by plants in adapting to arid conditions are interesting and varied. The wide-spreading, shallow root system and thick stem of the cactus enhance collection and storage of water. These strange plants are quite plump with stored water in the spring when the snows melt, but they gradually lose this plumpness during the dry summer, and by autumn many seem lifeless.

Other plants conserve their water by minimizing the loss through their leaves. This may be done in a number of ways. The leaves of the spiny greasewood are covered with a waxy substance that inhibits water loss while the leaves of the sagebrush are covered with hairs or fuzz that serve the same function. The leaves of the juniper are scale-like and really don’t look like leaves at all. The most direct method of preventing water loss through leaves is to drop the leaves themselves, and this method is used to a greater or lesser degree by many desert plants. The serviceberry is a good example of this method. In late summer it looks dead, and yet the following spring finds it robed in green and covered with flowers.

In contrast to the frugal habits of the plants just described, the cottonwoods seem lavish indeed. Usually big trees, they spread a canopy of green in whose shade rest birds and animals alike. Have you ever rested under a cottonwood? If so, you will remember it as being cool even on the hottest days. Part of the coolness was due to the hundreds of gallons of water which are transpired through the leaves each day. Because cottonwoods require so much water, they usually grow along streams or near springs. Frequently they are seen along dry ravines where their thirsty roots tap the subsurface drainage that lies hidden below. Like the other plants however, when the supply of water becomes inadequate they shed their leaves and wait for the next spring. Fast growing, usually of large size, and wasteful of water where water is dear, the cottonwood seldom lives two hundred years while the twisted juniper on the dry, rocky ledge frequently lives as much as five hundred.

Inconspicuous through most of the year are the flowering plants. Some of these are annuals—plants that grow from seeds, mature, bloom, produce seeds, and die in the span of a few short weeks. When the snows melt and the sun warms the earth, the seeds that survived the winter germinate. The usually barren hillsides produce spots of green that soon spread to form patches as more and more plants mature. Lupine and locoweed are purple and heliotrope splashes color along the roads, while the fragrant, white, evening-primrose dots the sandy hillside. Scarlet gilia and Indian paintbrush add a touch of red to the scene, and orange is provided by the mallow.

April, May, and early June provide the best flower show as spring rains supplement the moisture from melted snow. Their races won, their seeds produced, the annuals wither and fade away as the temperatures rise. By the first of July little remains of the splendid show.

Two plants do brighten the desert scene in August and September. Most common is the rabbitbrush, a plant that grows almost everywhere. It is rather inconspicuous except in late summer when its brilliant yellow blossoms turn the whole shrub golden. The other is the bee plant of which there are two species: one has yellow blossoms, and the other has purple. These tall plants grow along washes, stream courses, roads, and irrigation ditches. Their delicate blossoms are always surrounded by insects drawn by the nectar the flowers produce in great quantities.