"Fossil Fish Capital of the World"
and
"Gateway to the West"
Coal Mining
You can see the strips of coal in the road cut. The operation converted to strip mining and became the world's largest open pit coal mine.
It still produces about 5 million tons annually.
Fossil Butte National Monument
Some of the world's best preserved fossils are found in these flat topped ridges and the Fish Lake that contains fishes, insects, plants reptiles, birds and mammals.
The archaeologist at the visitor center is showing how they uncover the complete fossil.
( I couldn't get away from the reflection of the spotlights)
The variety of creatures is amazing
A large crocodile.
The size of the horse ( a couple of feet) surprised me, and that the horse and fish would all come to their demise at the same time.
Snakes - yike!
These are only a few of the displays - so amazing that there are so many in this one place.
Well, here we are at the entrance/exit to the visitor center and nothing to do but participate in the crayon rubbings!
(The older we get, the younger we go)
Now, our real life wanna be archaeologist is testing his strength, endurance and skills in retrieving some of our own fossils. The work looks hard and it is!
That should split it
hmmm, nothing in that one😒
The layers of rock are so numerous and so thin. It so hard to imagine how all these were actually laid down, and now we get to go exploring for the variety of things left here.
Back at the tour office, they help clean up the specimens and try to explain what we have.
The big box at the right contains a dinosaur footprint.
Tour guide cleaning up the pieces.
I guess we "caught our limit"
Lou's biggest piece will be a very long process to uncover the whole fossil.
His finger is tracing the spine of the fish - total length about 2 feet.
Nice to return to the camp site and see the geese playing in the water.
And then for shopping---
"The Mother Store"
first department store by James Cash Penney.
The receipt for our clothing said
"Store 001"
UPDATE: July 17, 2022
Bill Gates founded the company TerraPower and recently announced plans to build a Natrium Nuclear Reactor here in Kammerer, Wyoming.
"The Natrium technology is one of the fastest and lowest-cost paths to advanced clean energy that can change the world."
(they say!)
This should turn this sleepy little town into a boom town.
Come buy your real estate now!
lol
