EXCAVATING TYPE SPECIMEN OF BRACHIOSAURUS ALTITHORAX RIGGS from south side of Riggs Hill. Photograph taken in 1900, reproduced by permission of the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago). See also [figure 39]. (Fig. 22)
The locality, which covers parts of about 180 acres of public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management, has been fenced and posted to discourage vandalism, and has been designated the Fruita Paleontological Area.
In order to evaluate the importance of the locality and to make plans for its future development and protection, the Bureau of Land Management held the Fruita Paleontological Workshop on March 28-30, 1977, to which were invited several renowned vertebrate paleontologists and archaeologists together with interested local personnel of the Bureau, the National Park Service, and the Museum. All remarks and prepared speeches were taken down by a shorthand reporter and were reproduced for the attendees in the 83 page unpublished “The Fruita Paleontological Report.”
SKELETONS OF TYPICAL DINOSAURS OF MORRISON FORMATION.[29] A, Camptosaurus, a small dinosaur about 11 feet long; B, Apatosaurus, a gigantic dinosaur about 76 feet long; C, Allosaurus, a large carnivorous dinosaur about 30 feet long; and D, Stegosaurus, a large armored dinosaur about 24 feet long. (Fig. 23)
The close association of Late Jurassic mammalian and reptilian fossils, as found at the Fruita site, is of considerable interest and importance, but is by no means unique, for similar associations occur elsewhere in Colorado, and in Wyoming, Europe, and Africa. Of those in the United States, the quarry at Como Bluff, near Laramie, Wyo., is considered by most of the experts to be the most outstanding. Of the material unearthed at Fruita thus far, which includes bones of some of the large dinosaurs found earlier by Riggs, remains of some of the smaller dinosaurs and a complete skull of the moderately large flesh eater Ceratosaurus are considered the most important.
Freshwater clam and snail shells abound in some beds of the Morrison, particularly in limestones, and occur sparingly in other types of beds. The shells occur mainly in The Redlands, particularly about 1½ miles west of the Fruita bridge. Some of these shells that are filled with agate are sought by rockhounds.
Dinosaurs on the Move
