Community Forums

JustJoeAZ · 06-01-2015, 10:21 AM

I was wondering if there are any other people on here that digs for trilobites too.

I just got back from Black Cat Mountain with Bob Carroll in Oklahoma.

Looking forward to heading up to Delta,Utah for the next dig.

powderman · 06-02-2015, 07:20 PM

I am curious. Are they hard to find?? I recall when I was in high school some 60 years ago, we had a teacher take us back to a strip mine area. You could just pickup a piece of shale rock and split it open to find Trilobites, leaves and many other insects features inside. I thought that was really cool, as probable half the time when it split open there would be something inside. Kinda like opening presents.

JustJoeAZ · 06-02-2015, 11:50 PM

It's great when you do find a nice piece to prep and bring it alive.

Here's a link to Bob's site at Back Cat Mountain Black Cat Mountain Oklahoma Trilobites

We sat and broke rock all day and only found a few so that's what makes it interesting when you do find a piece that's good.

Up in Utah you can go to U-Dig in Delta which is open to the public.

I have a friend who has a dig site back in there too.

RanCarr · 07-05-2015, 12:09 AM

There was a place on a limestone hillside in LaVerge TN that had many different kinds of fossils in the rocks. They were very easy to find, and other areas seemed to have none.

We got a load of soil dumped one time to fill a low spot and it had coral of all things. At one time this part of TN was underwater.

mikeyrocks · 09-27-2015, 11:11 PM

I've collected Territella in Wyoming. I passed the Wyoming fossil fish beds and stopped at the museum there in SW Wyoming. I didn't stop in the sites to play because my friend who has a claim was in Denver doing the rock, gem and fossil show. I haven't had any luck yet finding any dinosaur bone or coprolite (dino poo) although I have tried. I now have an acquaintance to go dig bone with, on his last trip out he collected some pieces but he is doing it on private land. It's pretty much a no-no anymore on public lands.
As far as Trilobites...there are a few fee dig sites in the Delta area that are chock full of 'Bugs'. My one friend ran one for several years but has since passed on or I would recommend him to you.
There's fossil coral in N. Arizona up on the Mogolan Rim, also fossil coral in Virginia and then there's Petoskey stone up in Michigan. Fossil coral is also found in Florida.
Loads of fossil ferns leaves and fossil plants in central Pennsylvania.
Fossil Sand Dollars in N. California is another nice material.
Well that's some off the top of my head that I'm aware of or have collected.
Happy hunting......mikey

JustJoeAZ · 10-08-2015, 10:51 AM

Mikey,

I've been up in Kemmerer, WY at Butte National Monument what a nice area.
I also went out to St. Clair in Penn. for the ferns.
I've been at Delta area and also we go to Nevada for trilobites.

If you go to Capitola in Cal along the beach pass the old waste area you will find old whale bones along the beach there.

Don't know if you go to the Tucson gem & mineral show but if not it's the place to go.

2016 Tucson Gem Shows Schedule

mikeyrocks · 10-08-2015, 10:58 PM

Yes JustJoeAZ I've even been a vendor for a few years at the Electric Park Show. Been going to Tucson and Quartzsite for 18 years or so. Now I just do the Desert Gardens Show in Quartzsite each year....occasionaly the QIA Pow Wow here as well. I've given up my Eastern shows in PA, NJ, VA, NC, Wash. DC, IN, also given up most of my western shows in Denver, Santa Fe, Durango, Mesa, Bakersfield, Vista, Wickenburg, Lake Havasu. It became too much like a job and not enough money to be worthwhile. I also disliked the thought of having an appointment to be somewhere on their time schedule rather than mine. I love my traveling and don't want a schedule and I'll work hard but no jobs please. That is what my pension and SS are for. Retired 9 years now and just turning 65 next month....double elevens....11/11/50. Just a kid here in Quartzsite.