Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Nebraska
Produced by the Division of Publications Harpers Ferry Center National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C.
National Park Handbooks, compact introductions to the great natural and historic places administered by the National Park Service, are designed to promote understanding and enjoyment of the parks. Each is intended to be informative reading and a useful guide before, during, and after a park visit. More than 100 titles are in print. This is Handbook 107. You may purchase the handbooks through the mail by writing to Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC 20402.
United States. National Park Service. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska. (National park handbook; 107) Bibliography: p. Includes index. Supt. of Docs. no. I29.9/5:107 1. Vertebrates, Fossil. 2. Paleontology—Miocene. 3. Paleontology—Nebraska—Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. 4. Natural history—Nebraska—Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. 5. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Neb. I. Title. II. Series: United States. National Park Service. Handbook—National Park Service; 107. QE841.U59 1980 566′.09782′99 80-607119
James H. Cook examines a fossil fragment at the quarries near Agate Springs Ranch about 1918.
Besides fossils, Cook also collected Indian artifacts and kept many of them on the walls of his study in the ranch house.
Imagine that you are a healthy young man, raised conservatively in Michigan several years after the end of the Civil War. You are a skilled all-around hunter and trapper. The railroad has just spanned the continent, and stories of the West, its dangers, its people, and its opportunities come to you frequently. You and a friend decide you must see this land for yourself, and you save your money carefully against the day when you will be ready to go west. Around 1869, at age 12, that day comes.
At Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, you meet several cattlemen who tell you and your friend where to get work as cattle herders. Before many years have passed you have been a cowpuncher in Texas, you have fought Comanches, and you have bossed a ranch crew for a wealthy Englishman. You go on to fight the famous Apache Chieftain Geronimo as a scout with the U.S. Cavalry, and you befriend a famous Sioux chief, Red Cloud. You marry, buy a ranch in western Nebraska, and raise a family. And you become something of a legend in your own time, your ranch known for its hospitality to Indian, scientist, traveler—to one and all, rich or poor.