Joshua Porter visited Mastodon State Historic Site in April
for his 8th birthday. He then decided to invite some of
his school friends to join him for last month's annual Fossil
Day event at the site.
School chums Francis Rappleye, Joshua Porter and Austin
Walker (l to r) |
Eight-year-old Joshua, 9-year-old Austin Walker and 8-year-old
Francis Rappleye are all 3rd graders at MICDS in St. Louis.
Francis was the first of the trio to find a prehistoric
fossil. Missouri Department of Natural Resource (DNR) workers
brought in loads of rocks from nearby quarries so kids could
try their luck at fossil hunting.
The
kids attending the fossil day were given hammers and also
protective eyeglasses so they could pick away at the rocks.
At first, Joshua and Austin went at the rocks with a lot
of heavy pounding. That left them with only tiny pieces
of rock. Those rock splinters didn't show any full fossil
shapes.
But, Francis chipped away at his rocks with lots of soft
hits from his hammer. He was rewarded by larger pieces of
rock.
He said, "I chipped off a large piece of rock. When I turned
it over, you could see the whole fossil."
Missouri is one area of the country with the large deposits
of preserved samples of prehistoric remains. The Mastodon
State Historic site gets its name from the number of bones
from elephant-like mastodons that roamed this area thousands
of years ago.
The state historic site is located near Imperial, Mo.,
in what is called the "Kimmswick bone bed." That's because
the rocks in the area show evidence that early humans and
mastodons shared this area during the last ice age, from
10,000 to 35,000 years ago.
The DNR has built a museum on the site. It has a reconstructed
skeleton of a huge mastodon as well as models of huge bears
and giant ground sloths from the same period. (For more,
visit www.mostateparks.com/mastodon.htm.)
While the MICDS kids were relatively new at the fossil
searching, 13-year-old Tim Poropat of Kirkwood had more
experience.
Tim Poropat |
Tim is an 8th grader at North Kirkwood Middle School. This
was his third time at the Mastodon site. But, he's got a
collection of fossils from around the country at home.
"I've even got some dinosaur bones that I picked up in
the Badlands of Montana. There were bones just laying around
on the ground when we visited there," he said.
Some of the prehistoric samples Tim has at home came from
earlier trips to Mastodon.
Last
month, he was looking for a specific type of fossils. He
wanted to find some star-shaped fossils called Bryozans.
Those prehistoric animals were known as "reef builders."
They helped build reefs when this part of the country
was underwater. When they died, their remains sank to the
bottom and were embedded. Then, when the water levels fell,
they were a part of the rock that covers much of Missouri.
Tim got his interest in geology from his father, Rick.
In turn, Rick got his interest from his father. "My dad
took me to gravel pits when I was even younger than Tim,"
he said.
Rick
went on to major in geology in college. But, the market
for new geologists wasn't too strong when he graduated.
Therefore, he went into mapmaking and now works as a cartographer
for the Department of Defense in St. Louis.
His interest in geology is now a hobby. He is a member
of the Eastern Missouri Society of Paleontology. He was
manning one of the booths at Fossil Day while Tim was chipping
away at his rocks.
Tim wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. "I'd
probably work in a museum," he said.
How
the Mastodon State Historic Site came into being is a good
lesson on how individuals can make things happen against
long odds.
The area was known for years for its large number of prehistoric
remains. But, it almost was lost to commercial development
in the 1960s.
The state had acquired lots of land for building of Interstate
55 south from St. Louis. After the highway was built, surplus
land-including the fossil site--was put up for sale.
Local residents, led by Presiding Jefferson County Judge
Walter Steinburk, asked for more time to get a park bid
ready. But, in 1974, the Missouri Highway Department put
the land up for sale and developers entered the high bid
of $568,725.
Four housewives organized the Mastodon Park Committee.
Included in the fund-raising was $8,000 raised by local
school kids. Finally, in 1976, the land was turned over
to the DNR for use as a state park.
