Dan and Barb: Fishing for Fossils at the Warfield Quarry, near Kemmerer, Wyoming

On the way to our place, Dan and Barb passed Fossil Butte National Monument. They expressed interest in hunting for fish fossils at one of the private quarries and we said we would love to join them! You may recall that several years ago had also “Gone Fishing” with another friend Mark Wolbrok,

We loaded up in Dan and Barb’s Jeep, (its not a place for most SUVs), it was about a two-hour drive to the quarry. The operators recommended that everyone should stop at the National Monument first, but because of the hot weather, we decided to visit the museum after digging.

Arriving at the quarry a youngster showed us his fish fossil His excitement rubbed off on us and as soon as we finished the orientation, we all started to chisel apart the slabs looking for our own. There were two places where fossil crocodiles had been found and were now closed.

After splitting smaller slabs which contained fish fossils, we decided to try our hand at splitting large blocks. It was a multiple person effort as the rocks are heavy!

Dan and I positioned one large slab as Barb used her chisel to split the rock. It actually required multiple chisels to get a good split and when it finally did, she found four different fish fossils.

Meanwhile Renita was taking pictures and splitting smaller slabs. The quarry provided a heavy-duty cart and after loading it full we rolled it to the trim saws.

Dan and I trimed the fish fossils into manageable shapes, Dan had found a large slab that held five fish fossils and he was able to trim it so it would fit in the jeep. What a find!

He also found a crocodile coprolite! Renita and I were both envious as we looked at his crocodile “poop” specimen. You can actually see what the croc had been eating and it was not a surprise that there were fish scales in the coprolite.

Our four hours of digging went quickly, and loading the jeep we next went to the Fossil Butte Museum. Besides examples of all the fish, reptiles, plants, birds, and even mammals discovered, a new exhibit used holograms to show the fish swimming in the ancient lake.

We all enjoyed our time and Renita and I hope to head back next year. If you are in the area, be sure to try your hand at a different type of fishing. Clear skies