Hell Creek, Montana, USA
Where the Dinosaurs Are
Paleontologist Jack Horner strides swiftly across the mountainous terrain overlooking Montana’s Hell Creek Formation. He knows these rugged hills well, having spent the past 11 years here unearthing the remains of Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and various duck-billed dinosaurs. On this hot summer morning, he is guiding four women under an unrelenting sun—initially along the main trail, then through ravines and down a steep gully. The group comes upon a patch of bones protruding from the clay, and Horner casts an expert eye. “Juvenile triceratops,” he says after a brief examination.
Exploring with Horner is part rugged outdoor workout, part evolutionary adventure, which helps explain why some 40 people trek to this remote part of Montana each summer to join him on his fossil hunts. This year’s team—mostly twentysomethings dressed in dinosaur T-shirts or sporting dino tattoos—has set up camp on a private ranch about an hour outside the town of Jordan (population 364). Many of the young fossil hunters are Horner’s students from Montana State University, who spend the summer here as crew chiefs, teaching the less experienced how to survive these badlands. The rest are volunteers, chosen each year from more than 700 applicants for two- to three-week assignments in the field. Southern boys, retirees, European paleontology buffs, and curious college students are all represented.
Montana has been a hot spot for dinosaur diggers for more than a century. Hell Creek in particular, just north of Jordan in northeastern Montana, became famous when legendary paleontologist Barnum Brown excavated the first documented T. rex here in 1902. He collected literally tons of giant reptile bones by blasting these hills with dynamite. Then he shipped the fossils east using manpower, horse and carriage, and train.
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I wish I started this blog earlier. But at least I’m starting it now. Welcome to my world.
