![]() ![]() I decided to spend my time break down some of the larger blocks and see how many trilobites I could find. It also meant there were plenty of big blocks of shale in the quarry that had been recently pulled out with the backhoe. On a summer weekend day the place will often be packed with dozens of people. I arrived at the quarry on what happened to be their opening day for the season so there were only about ten people at the quarry. There is also a rare, burgess shale like, soft bodied fauna in certain layers of the quarry but it really takes a trained eye to identify it, as to most people it just looks like a black stain on a black rock. Besides the trilobites there are a number of other fossils including brachiopods, algae and phyllocarids. Only a handful of complete Altiocullus at the quarry in a season and a complete Olenoides only shows up once every few years. There are two rare types of trilobites found in the quarry Altiocullus (2 species) and Olenoides (2 species). If you spend a few hours splitting rock at the quarry and have a sharp eye you’re more than likely going to see all four of those. There are 4 species of trilobites commonly found at the quarry Elrathia kingii, Asaphiscus wheeleri, Bolspidella housensis and Peronopsis interstrictus. U-Dig is located in a particularly fossiliferous section of the Middle Cambrian (505 million years old) Wheeler Shale. Plus, I was basically guaranteed to find some complete trilobites even if they were just common species. I decided that take a day off and “rest” by visiting U-Dig to split some nice soft shale. I had been going on three or four days straight of not finding a decent complete trilobite, so not only was my body feeling a bit worn out, but I was getting pretty frustrated. The process involved days of moving heavy overburden and cracking hard limestone with a sledgehammer. For a hourly fee, they supply tools, helpful guidance, unlimited rock to split and you get to keep everything you find.įor the previous week I had been in search of rare trilobites in the deserts of Utah and Nevada. It’s a great place for pretty much anybody to find their own fossils including families, kids and people who’ve never collected a fossil. I dug my first trilobite there more than 15 years ago, and countless others have been introduced to the world of fossil collecting at U-Dig. It contains one of the most prolific trilobite assemblages in the world. Stay overnight in Delta, although we stayed overnight in Filmore further away because rooms in Delta were booked. Staying somewhere close by will ensure you can get an early morning start to avoid the heat of midday.U-Dig ( a private, fee-dig trilobite quarry near Delta, Utah. ![]() Expect that your car will get dusty on the outside from traveling along the dirt road.Wear a hat and sunglasses, or at least sunglasses.Bring a lot of drinking water and snacks.If you don’t, plan to swelter in the sun like an egg frying on a sidewalk. If you do go in the summer like we did, head out early. These folks are an encylopedia of other sites in the U.S. that offer a bounty of prehistoric goods. While we are casual fossil diggers, there are some folks who are serious about their efforts. It just seems like it’s in the middle of nowhere.Īlong with spending quality time with each other, my family (a teen, a pre-adolescent, and my husband) enjoyed the company of other fossil diggers. Within a few hours we found several trilobites of various quality. This means uncovering trilobites that are intact and not broken in half by a sloppy chisel and hammer technique. If you don’t have a clue–we didn’t, the folks that who work at U-Dig Fossils are happy to help by demonstrating how to get the best results. Trilobites, hard-shelled creatures that trolled the bottom of the sea, have turned into excellent fossils that aren’t hard to find if you know just how to crack open flat sheets of shale. Located in a landscape of limestone shale, U-Dig Fossils is on a 40 acre site that was once inhabited by marine life 500 years ago. That said, a trip to U-Dig Fossils is splendid indeed. If you’ve ever thought, “I’m in the middle of nowhere,” you need to verify by heading here. Plus, the last twenty miles to get to the dig site is on a dirt road. A roughly 52 miles west of Delta type of detour. ![]()
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